Tuesday Newsletter – April 27, 2010
April 27, 2010
induVolume 30, Issue 17
Interested in advertising in Tuesday? E-mail Kelley Burchell at kelley.burchell@NTAstaff.com.
TODAY’S ARTICLES
NTA Hits the Road
Additional Days of Free Admission to U.S. Parks
Apply to Sit on the Board for the Corporation for Travel Promotion
Could Your Insurance Provider be an NTA Corporate Partner?
Get Your Fam Trips Posted at NTAOnline.com
Common Mistakes to Avoid Making on LinkedIn
The U.S. Welcomed 54.9 Million International Visitors in 2009
Read About the Convention ’10 Host City in the May Courier
Reach 20,000 Group Leaders and NTA Operators
Tourism Cares at the Grand Canyon
Sales Manager Position Open with Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway
It’s that time of year when NTA hits the road to promote use of NTA tour operators and grow membership. Last week, NTA’s legislative consultant Steve Richer, CTP, was at the Travel Professionals of Color conference in Nassau, Bahamas where he met with hundreds of travel agents looking for tour operator partners. He is presently in Acapulco representing NTA at Tianguis Touristico-one of the largest trade shows for the Mexican travel market. He met with nearly 300 potential members in an effort to grow our Mexican product offerings. If you’ve been watching NTA’s fan page on Facebook, you know that NTA Vice President of Communications Catherine Prather is currently at COTTM promoting inbound travel to the United States from China with a number of NTA members in our U.S. Pavilion.
In May, NTA heads to Rendez-vous Canada in Winnipeg. There are more than 750 companies attending Rendez-vous and 115 of those are NTA members, all looking to increase their Canadian tour business and promote Canada as a destination. After that, NTA is off to Pow Wow in Orlando. We will be there to promote our tour operator members to inbound operators looking for new business partners. Since more than 280 of the attendees at Pow Wow will be NTA members, it is sure to be an exciting event. To wrap up May, NTA president Lisa Simon, CTP, will be off to The Gambia to attend the Congress of the Africa Travel Association, an NTA strategic partner.
While busy, this time is used to continue to bring the diversity of product and market to you. For more information on NTA’s outreach programs or to view our industry calendar, click here.
Additional Days of Free Admission to U.S. Parks
To mark the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day and celebrate the launch of the Obama Administration’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced a schedule of free admission days.
All national parks, national wildlife refuges and many areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management will offer free admission on June 5-6, Aug. 14-15, Sept. 25 (Public Lands Day) and Nov. 11 (Veterans Day).
More details about fee free days and activities are available for:
Apply to Sit on the Board for the Corporation for Travel Promotion
The U.S. Department of Commerce is currently accepting applications for 11 board positions that will serve as incorporators of the Travel Promotion Act and establish the Corporation for Travel Promotion. The Corporation for Travel Promotion is a nonprofit entity which will serve to enhance communications of U.S. entry policies and otherwise promote leisure, business and scholarly travel to the United States.
Applicants should be travel industry leaders with knowledge of international travel promotion and marketing and who have expertise and experience in specific sectors of the travel and tourism industry and must also be a U.S. citizen. In addition, individuals cannot be federally registered lobbyists or registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended. Those selected for the initial Board must be able to meet the time and effort commitments of the Board to establish the new Corporation. Priority may be given to individuals with experience as a Chief Executive Officer or President (or comparable level of responsibility) of an organization or entity in the travel and tourism sector in the United States.
For more information and links to the applications, click here.
Could Your Insurance Provider be an NTA Corporate Partner?
The Berkley Group is currently NTA’s official corporate partner for both travel protection plans and liability insurance. This corporate partner contract expires June 30, and Berkely has expressed their desire to continue serving NTA members. As a result, Berkely will submit a proposal to continue its official corporate partnership with NTA.
NTA is seeking additional referrals for companies that offer both a travel protection plan and liability insurance to extend the opportunity for them to submit an RFP as well. If you are currently working with an insurance company that offers both travel protection and liability insurance at the national level and are pleased with the service and rates you receive, please share your information with NTA. Submit the company name and the name and phone number of a contact to NTA Vice President of Sales Karla DiNardo.
Get Your Fam Trips Posted at NTAOnline.com
Familiarization trips are a great way to introduce your destination to the NTA tour operators. Do you have an upcoming Fam trip that you’d like to promote? If so, send your information to NTA to be added to the Member Fam page of NTAOnline.com. Fam listings include include bullet point details on upcoming Fams available to NTA tour operators.
To get your trip posted, please e-mail the following information to fams@NTAstaff.com:
- Fam destination
- Dates of the trip
- Name of the sponsoring organization
- Contact person’s e-mail address
- Web link where more information is available
Common Mistakes to Avoid Making on LinkedIn 
When used correctly, LinkedIn can be a free way to find new customers and continue to build a brand reputation. When used incorrectly, LinkedIn could damage your company’s reputation and even your own. See a few examples below from American Express OPEN’s Anne Field or click here to read the full article.
MISTAKE: Coming on too strong in your profile. LinkedIn is a platform for the soft sell. Make sure you don’t sound like you are bragging.
INSTEAD: Get customers to brag about you on your profile.
MISTAKE: Promoting your product or service in a message or a group discussion. You can be tagged as a spammer and make users feel violated.
INSTEAD: Try to establish yourself as an expert on a topic and don’t make any direct sales pitches.
The U.S. Welcomed 54.9 Million International Visitors in 2009
The U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries has released its annual Year in Review report for 2009. The report shows that it was a hard year for the travel and tourism industry in the United States, with 3.1 million fewer visitors and 400,000 fewer jobs. To view the 2009: Year in Review in its entirety, click here.
Read About the Convention ’10 Host City in the May Courier 
With registration opening last month and momentum continuing to build, Convention ’10 in Montréal is shaping up to be quite a gathering. The May issue of Courier shines the spotlight on this year’s sophisticated and cosmopolitan host city in a pair of articles-the lead feature story and an end page essay. In addition to focusing on Montréal, the issue also covers a wide range of destinations including Italy, Canada’s Northwest Territories Nunavut and Yukon, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and the U.S. Canyonlands region. The business section includes information on the U.S.-Cuba Travel Summit, the TRIP Act and the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, as well as timely articles from Convention speakers Catherine Heeg and Larry Mersereau.
Bank of America—The Berkely Group (TPP)—Cherokee Heritage Center—Colorado Springs CVB—Fredericksburg Department of Economic Development and Tourism—Georgia Department of Economic Development—Maid of the Mist—Missouri History Museum—Myrtle Beach Area CVB—Rapid City CVB—Sparks Legends Development, Inc.
Upcoming Deadlines:
August Issue—Ad Space: May 26; Editorial: May 3—Theaters; Faith-based Travel; Greece & Turkey; Pacific Northwest (British Columbia, Oregon and Washington); Illinois; Indiana; Michigan; Minnesota; Ontario; Wisconsin.
September Issue—Ad Space: June 30; Editorial: June 7—Museums; Sightseeing Rail; Ski Resorts & Destinations; Alaska and Yukon; Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas); Germany, Switzerland & Austria. Georgia; Florida; North Carolina; South Carolina.
October Issue—Ad Space: July 28; Editorial: July 6—Annual Convention Issue; Great Plains (Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Dakota and South Dakota); London and Paris; Connecticut; Maine; Massachusetts; New Hampshire; Rhode Island; Vermont.
Please click here to view the 2010 Editorial Calendar online.
Reach 20,000 Group Leaders and NTA Operators 
Reserve your space today in the only publication for group leaders endorsed by NTA! Don’t miss your chance to be a part of NTA’s 2010 Edition of The Trip Planner for group leaders, publishing in August. This publication offers your company a great opportunity to have your product/destination/service in front of 20,000 actively planning group leaders and NTA tour operators.
Suppliers and DMOs are encouraged to promote themselves to buyers through display advertising. In addition to display advertising, tour operator members have the opportunity to purchase a listing in the Tour Operator Directory portion of the publication, which includes your company’s contact information, 75 words of text and a 4-color logo.
NTA operators ranked group leaders as the number one distribution channel that they would like to continue to grow in the future. Space deadline for The Trip Planner for group leaders is May 15, so don’t miss your chance to reach this key audience.
Contact your account executive at 800.682.8886, ext. 4241 or +1.859.226.4241 for more information and to reserve your space.
Tourism Cares at the Grand Canyon 
The Travel Corporation’s latest sustainable tourism is the Grand Canyon Conservation Day on May 3, in a project coordinated by Tourism Cares, NTA’s official philanthropy. Twenty staff from the Anaheim office have volunteered to restore parts the South Rim of the national park in a conservation project that will focus on much needed vegetation remediation. For more information on other private label Tourism Cares volunteer events, click here.
Sales Manager Position Open with Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is seeking an experienced sales and/or business development professional for the position of Sales Manager. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of successfully building business in the tourism / leisure-travel industry.
Qualifications: Degree in business, marketing, tourism or related field. Minimum three years experience in equivalent position with comparable company. Experience may be substituted for education.
For a full job description, please visit www.durangotrain.com/employment. To apply, please e-mail a cover letter with resume, including salary history, in confidence to bburton@durangotrain.com. Must be received by April 26.
Click here for the Tuesday archive.