Travel Exchange Registration Is now Open! | Blastoff! New Sponsor to Host Icebreaker at Travel Excha
April 10, 2012
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TODAY’S ARTICLES
Travel Exchange Registration Is now Open!
Join Next Week’s Free Online Sessions about Travel Exchange
Blastoff! New Sponsor to Host Icebreaker at Travel Exchange
More Things to Love
Owners Network ‘Makes Every Meeting a Gratifying Experience’
NTA Leaders Meet with Officials, Media in China
This Just in: Courier Increases Circulation to Include UMA Members!
New Members in March
Volunteers Made a Difference in Pensacola
Industry News and Updates
NTA Job Center
Travel Exchange Registration Is now Open!
Registration for Travel Exchange, Jan. 20–24, 2013, is open!
Each year, NTA’s show brings together the most diverse group of buyers and sellers in any travel industry show—including 100 buyers who tell us they only go to NTA. Now, by joining with UMA, we’re doubling the size of the show and your opportunities to meet and partner with industry colleagues!
Register by Friday, April 13, to save up to $200 during the Early Bird and earn your chance to win one of these fabulous prizes!
Prizes for Tour Operators (buyers)
- Registration to Travel Exchange (That’s right … you’ll get your money back!)
- Free NTA dues for 2013 (You can save up to $485 for your company.)
- Registration for Contact 2013
- A pair of tickets to see Blue Man Group while you’re in Orlando
- Dinner for two at NASCAR Sports Grille at Universal City Walk while you’re in Orlando
- An Apple iPad (the new one!)
Prizes for Tour Suppliers and DMOs (sellers)
- Registration to Travel Exchange (That’s right … you’ll get your money back!)
- Free NTA dues for 2013 (You can save up to $1,735 for your property.)
- Full-page ad in the on-site Travel Exchange program
- A seminar sponsorship and attendance package to Contact 2013 (Your destination or property gets all the seminar sponsor perks, including being able to attend this operator-exclusive event—a $3,000 value.)
- An Apple iPad (the new one!)
Want to register now and pay later? No problem. Simply choose the "pay by check" option under the payment type, and we’ll invoice you.
See you in Orlando!
Join Next Week’s Free Online Sessions about Travel Exchange
With registration for Travel Exchange opening today, we’re eager to help you understand everything about your association’s premier annual event. Join us for
Travel Exchange: Explore, Expand, Excel—a series of Webinars that provides facts about the five-day show and gives you a chance to ask questions to our presenters. The free sessions, tailored to specific audiences, will run next week. Watch your e-mail for an invitation!
Each session, hosted by NTA members, will dive into the details of Travel Exchange ’13, including a peek at the schedule, a glimpse at the layout of the floor and a review of the NTA you love plus the benefits of more business opportunities.
NTA is joining with the United Motorcoach Association to create a new collection of travel professionals on one floor. If you’ve got questions about this innovative show, we’ll be sharing answers! Questions about the Webinars? E-mail Jason Terwilliger, NTA’s education and research manager.
Blastoff! New Sponsor to Host Icebreaker at Travel Exchange
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex has just become NTA’s newest sponsor, hosting the Icebreaker at Travel Exchange! On Sunday evening during Travel Exchange (Jan. 20–24), you’ll be treated to an insider’s visit to the KSCVC. And while you’re exploring, you just might meet an astronaut! Here’s what else you can look forward to:
Sneak peek at Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit: Set to open in summer 2013, this $100 million exhibit is the marquee element of the KSCVC master plan. You’ll get a preview of the home for the space shuttle (all 65,000 square feet of it!), where guests will see how the spacecraft worked in flight and get a unique, up-close look at the complex vehicle.
Shuttle Launch Experience: As a guest "crew member," you’ll strap in for a launch replication that immerses you in the sights, sounds and feelings of a space shuttle launch.
IMAX® Theaters: KSCVC is home to the only back-to-back 3D IMAX theaters in the world. One five-and-a-half-story-tall IMAX screen features Space Station 3D, filmed by 25 astronauts and cosmonauts and narrated by Tom Cruise; the other features Hubble 3D, an inspiring and unique look into the Hubble Space Telescope’s legacy, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Rocket Garden: As you marvel at eight vintage rockets from t
he Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs, you’ll see firsthand just how small early spacecraft were.
Exploration Space: Explorers Wanted: Live theater, interactive experiences and large-scale multimedia presentations display exciting possibilities of travel beyond our home planet.
The evening at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex also includes great food and socializing, of course. You’ll hear more about this unique event at Travel Exchange as we get closer to liftoff.
What are you loving this month? We posed that open-ended question to NTA members Lisa Itel, Elizabeth Baranik, Richard Maxcy and Dené Sinclair, and their responses were just as broad as the question! Check out the Do Big Things blog to see what they’re loving and feel free to share your current favorites in the blog comments section, or e-mail them to Chris Reed to be featured in a future blog post!
Owners Network ‘Makes Every Meeting a Gratifying Experience’
Members of the Owners Network gathered at NTA HQ last week—via Skype, telephone and in person—to engage in executive networking. Following a session with a financial advisor, the group discussed a range of common issues that included 
insurance, succession planning, executive burnout and compensation.
"Our conversations about issues both on and off the agenda are the real benefits of meeting together," said network member Chase Poffenberger, executive vice president and co-owner of Academic Travel Abroad. "These people are so thoughtful about their businesses, and the professionalism of this group makes every meeting a gratifying experience."
The Owners Network, which meets two to three times a year, is open to all NTA members who own their tour company and are interested in discussing challenges and solutions.
You can meet with members of the Owners Network this August, during an open forum discussion at Contact ’12 in San Diego. Participants will determine which hot topics they want to explore. Do you need advice regarding compensation of tour directors and financial benchmarking? Are you frustrated by working with airlines and contract negotiations? Come to Contact to ask questions and share tips with your colleagues in a lively, informal session!
If you want to discuss joining the network and attending either the Contact session or subsequent meetings, contact Jason Terwilliger, NTA’s education and research manager.
NTA Leaders Meet with Officials, Media in China
Visits from China to the United States increased 36 percent last year, and NTA leaders were in Beijing last month to meet with government and tourism leaders and solidify the association’s presence in this growing market.
Speaking to the media covering a meeting were, left to right, Paul Cerula with Brand USA; Lisa Simon, NTA president; Jim Reddekopp, NTA chairman and CEO; Haybina Hao, NTA director of international development; and David Yu, NTA chief representative, China. The group met with journalists from some 18 Chinese media outlets, including Travel Weekly, United Times and China Travel News.
This Just in: Courier Increases Circulation to Include UMA Members!
Beginning with the April issue, Courier magazine is digitally delivered to 900 UMA members monthly, including 650 motorcoach operators. This is in addition to the
1,500 NTA tour operators that currently receive Courier on a monthly basis and Courier‘s current print circulation of 6,000. Given Courier‘s offering of original, first-run articles with in-depth product features, destination coverage, business trends and industry news, this added distribution certainly boosts Courier‘s already strong position in the marketplace as the No. 1-valued travel trade publication (rated by NTA tour operators).
Are you interested in promoting your company or product in Courier magazine? Start with the May issue and receive a cover position (May cover space is available and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis)! Also, be sure to check out Courier‘s editorial calendar to see which other issues you’d like to advertise in as well to reach not only NTA buyers, but UMA buyers, now, too!
Contact advertising@ntaservicesinc.com or 859.264.6559 today to reserve your space in Courier magazine. The NTA Services staff looks forward to hearing from you!
Fourteen new members started calling NTA their association in March. Located in eight U.S. states and Turkey, Guam, Canada and Tanzania, they include two tour operators, a DMO and 11 tour suppliers. For more details and contact information, follow this link.
Volunteers Made a Difference in Pensacola
Tourism Cares volunteers did it again! Last week in Pensacola, more than 200 travel industry volunteers, representing 80 different companies, made an enormous impact at two sites: the Pensacola Lighthouse and Bayou Texar.
Here’s what volunteers accomplished at the Pensacola Lighthouse:
- Painted 4,000 feet of fence
- Painted 23 rooms covering almost 6,000 square feet
- Repaired and painted 5,000 pickets
- Laid more than 1,800 square feet of sod
- Planted 660 jasmine and 48 azalea bushes
- Built 2,400 square feet of flower beds
- Mulched more than 5,000 square feet of flower beds
- Cleared brush from an area covering 2,400 square feet
And here’s what they accomplished at Bayview Park, Bayou Texar:
- Planted 2,500 native salt marsh grasses along 600 feet of shoreline to stabilize the park shoreline and protect it from harmful pollutants and excess runoff
- Hand pulled a half-ton of root material from invasive reed grass
- Prepared an additional 500 square feet of intertidal area for planting by removing invasive reed grass along the shoreline
- Contributed nearly 200 hours of volunteer time
To view images on the Courier Facebook page, click here. Along with the hands-on help, Tourism Cares awarded a $5,000 grant to the Pensacola Lighthouse to continue the restoration work.
And the hits keep coming. Watch for the announcement in May of Tourism Cares’ fall give-back project, scheduled for World Tourism Day, Sept. 28.
Senior Tourism Sales Manager with Experience Columbus (Ohio)
The Senior Tourism Sales Manager promotes and sells Columbus as a leisure destination for group tours to tour operators, bus companies and wholesalers; achieves specific individual and team sales quotas; works on product development in response to current industry trends.
Qualifications: Minimum of five years’ experience in hotel or convention bureau sales preferred; sales account management experience; degree from an accredited institution in hospitality management or marketing preferred. Strong verbal and written communication skills; ability to handle multiple projects; well organized; detail oriented, excellent customer service skills; professional and personable manner; ability to travel; attend local, regional, national events on evenings and/or weekends.
Submit your résumé and cover letter by April 25 to:
Vice President, Finance & Administration
Experience Columbus
277 W. Nationwide Blvd., Ste. 125
Columbus, OH 43215
You can also submit by fax (614-221-5618) or e-mail: Resumes@ExperienceColumbus.com. No phone calls please. Experience Columbus is an equal opportunity employer.
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