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Tuesday Newsletter – Feb. 23, 2010

February 23, 2010

Volume 30, Issue 8


American Express OPEN 

Interested in advertising in Tuesday? E-mail Kelley Burchell at kelley.burchell@NTAstaff.com.

TODAY’S ARTICLES
MONTAGE Memo 10: Expand/Expandir Your Markets and Contacts
Arizona Park Closings
Update on Peru and Portugal
Twitter Tips to Get More Followers
Tourism Cares Announces 2010 Academic Scholarships
NTA’s Newest Corporate Partner: ADP
Magical India PDT Added to 2010 Line-up!
Get the Facts on Green Consumers in a Free Study
Shop, Save and Support NTA!
Catch up on NTA Events in March Courier


MONTAGE Memo #10: Expand/Expandir Your Markets and Contacts   Seville     

Potential business partners from 10 countries have already registered for MONTAGE. Discover new product, meet new partners, connect with your overseas counterparts and experience the popular destination of Seville … all at MONTAGE, April 14-17.

Tour Operators
Build relationships with tour operators and suppliers on four continents. MONTAGE is your way to find new product ideas and broaden your product reach through trusted partnerships.
 
DMOs and Tour Suppliers
Take advantage of the open marketplace at MONTAGE. No restrictions on attendance. No boundaries to selling. The buyer-to-seller ratio is 5 to 1 (at press time), with buyers from nine countries. This group of buyers is looking for North American partners-places to stay, things to do and see. If you’re selling any aspect of the North American travel market, you need to be at MONTAGE.

Read why Larry Friedman is attending MONTAGE as a DMO.
 
For more about MONTAGE and how attending can help expand your business, visit the MONTAGE Web site.

To get the most exposure at MONTAGE, take advantage of sponsorship opportunities to receive a variety of benefits including complimentary registration fees and promotions before, during and after the event. Contact NTA Sponsorship Manager Melisa-Beth Rooke at 800.662.8886 (U.S. and Canada) or +1.859.219.3549 to reserve your sponsorship today!  

No restrictions on attendance. No Boundaries to Selling. That’s MONTAGE. Register today. 

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Arizona Park Closings 

Due to six different State Park budget cuts totaling $8.6 million, the Arizona State Park Board voted Jan. 15 to close 13 Arizona state parks by June 3 and keep nine open. An additional four parks in Arizona remain closed due to previous budget cuts.

These park closures paint the picture of the ripple effect brought on by budget cuts at the national, provincial, state and local levels. Contact NTA for assistance with situations like this, and the association can help with communication to elected leaders and other grassroots advocacy efforts. At a national level, NTA is working to support legislation that will secure marketing grants for destinations as well as marketing funds for national parks and public lands.

Also, NTA knows that tracking the ROI of the group/packaged travel market is critical to the destination. Tour operators, please use NTA’s Online Tracking/ROI System to help end parks closures and other drastic measures at our destinations.

Click here to go to the Arizona State Park page to see what parks will close and when.

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Update on Peru and Portugal  

Five days of rain leading to landslides in Peru and flash flooding on the Portuguese island of Maderia have led to many questions about travel in those areas.

According to NTA member the Portugese National Tourist Office, the destruction from mudslides was concentrated where three rivers (small streams) flow to the sea and fortunately every hotel and tourism service—including airport and ferry terminals—are working normally. For more information on Maderia, please click here for official releases from the Madeira Regional Secretary of Tourism and Transports.

NTA member PromPeru has reported that there was no damage to Machu Picchu Citadel from recent landslides in January. PeruRail has stated that the restoration work on the railways is moving along quickly and service to Machu Picchu is on target to reopen in April as planned, in time for the peak summer and fall travel season for North American visitors. Click here to visit PromPeru’s official travel site for more information on Machu Picchu, as well as Cusco and the surrounding areas of the Sacred Valley which remain open to visitors. 

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Twitter Tips to Get More Followers   Twitter

If tweets and hashtags sound more like breakfast than an avenue to engage more customers, take a look at American Express Open’s nine tips for getting more Twitter followers. We listed a few snippets below, but, to see the full list of helpful information, click here

  • Create a solid profile.
  • Tweet often.
  • But tweet within reason. Be wary of over-tweeting for fear of overexposure and being tuned out.
  • Use Twitter tools:
    • WeFollow and TweetTop help find people tweeting about specific topics and industries.
    • LocalTweeps and NearbyTweets track down people in your area.
    • JournalistTweets and Twitterati follow popular journalists and bloggers.
    • The Twitter search option keeps up on any mentions of your Twitter handle, your business, and your industry.

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Tourism Cares Announces 2010 Academic Scholarships  Tourism Cares

Tourism Cares, NTA’s official philanthropy, is pleased to announce the opening of its 2010 academic scholarship offerings. Do you have a future travel and tourism leader deserving of a scholarship? Read on!

  • Educating future leaders of the tourism industry is vitally important to the mission of Tourism Cares—to preserve the travel experience for future generations.
  • The current endowment Tourism Cares administers, which includes the NTA as well as American Society of Travel Agents scholarship funds, totals more than US$1.7 million. There are 56 scholarships awards this year, totaling more than US$81,000, representing a range from US$1,000 to US$5,000.

Undergraduate and graduate students may now apply for up to two scholarships through the Tourism Cares Web site, which links to the Tourism Cares STARS online scholarship application platform. Both the Web site and STARS provide scholarship descriptions, eligibility criteria and requested documents. The application deadline for the Tourism Cares Academic Scholarships is Monday, March 22, at 5 p.m. EDT. Scholarship recipients will be announced in May. 

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NTA’s Newest Corporate Partner: ADP      ADP logo

NTA strives to provide programs and discounts to members through exclusive corporate partnerships. If you missed it in your inbox yesterday, NTA Chairman and CEO Cathy Greteman announced NTA’s new corporate partnership with ADP—payroll service market leader. For over 60 years, ADP, AAA-credit rated and one of the most successful service companies in the world, has been serving the payroll processing needs of employers of every size. The partnership with ADP offers special discounted pricing and other benefits for select ADP services. Review the details of what we believe to be the best and most cost-effective way to process your payroll with ADP. Please note the offers are for U.S. members only and restrictions may apply.

To see a full list of NTA’s corporate partners, click here.

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Magical India PDT Added to 2010 Line-up!     

Back by popular demand, AKORN Destination Management is offering its Magical India Product Development Trip, Aug. 20-28. This program, customized for NTA tour operators, begins and ends in Delhi. During the trip, operators will experience the world famous Taj Mahal, play elephant Polo and learn about the incredible culture while visiting Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur.

Participants will also have the opportunity to extend the PDT on one of two optional add-on tours, Aug. 27-30. The first add-on tour—Shimla—travels from Delhi to Chandigarh and Shimla in the beautiful Himalayas. The second add-on—Varanasi—goes from Delhi to beautiful Varanasi, the place of pilgrimages since the sixth century B.C.

The PDT and add-on tours are open to two registrations per company, upon approval by the host, with a maximum of 12 registrations. The cost to register is US$848 for the PDT, US$547 for the Varanasi add-on and US$464 for the Shimla add-on. Your air fare in and out of Delhi is on your own. Single supplements for individual travelers can be added at a cost of US$360 for the main tour and US$135 for the add-on tours. Registration deadline is Friday, June 30. Questions about this Product Development Trip can be directed to Lisa Thompson in NTA’s marketing department

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Get the Facts on Green Consumers in a Free Study     

Community Marketing Inc., the market research, strategic consulting and communications specialists, announced the release of its 1st Annual CMI Green Traveler Survey Report. The report is being offered FREE to the tourism and hospitality industries in order to advance efforts toward greener travel. 

To receive a complimentary copy of the 150 page report, email your request to report@CMIgreen.com. Include your name, title and organization. You will receive a link to download a pdf of the report, plus updates to the study and announcements about future initiatives.

In order to help disseminate this important market intelligence throughout the tourism and hospitality industries, please feel free to forward this information and the link for requesting reports to your travel industry colleagues.

Check out NTA’s Keep it Green Web page for more about sustainability and how to implement it in your own business.

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Shop, Save and Support NTA!  

Have you visited NTA’s Member Mall lately? We are adding new vendors and incentives! Visit our vendor partners by clicking through from the NTA Member Mall. When you make a purchase from the vendor’s Web site, a portion of your purchase will go toward NTA which enhances the products and services we bring to you. 

If you have a vendor or shopping site that you’d like included, please e-mail NTA e-Manager Kate Bunnell.

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Catch up on NTA Events in March Courier     

The March issue of Courier shines the spotlight on a trio of NTA events—the recent Grassroots Symposium and Leadership Team meeting, the upcoming U.S.-Travel to Cuba Summit and MONTAGE. You’ll read about the progress members made during the leadership sessions despite the record snow that fell in Washington, D.C. An informative Q&A with Cuba expert Kirby Jones casts vision for the Cuba Summit, which will take place March 24-26, in Cancun, Mexico. Besides the feature stories on MONTAGE and golf resorts and destinations, the other March articles focus on Africa; the Toronto and Niagara region; Branson, Missouri; Arizona; Colorado; New Mexico; and Utah.

The Berkely Group (TPP)Bank of AmericaCapital OneCasa LomaEmpire State Building ObservatoryMaid of the MistMissouri History MuseumPensacola CVBQuechan Casino Resort

June Issue—Ad Space: April 1; Editorial: Past; Native Americans; First Nations; Western Heritage; Chicago; Gulf Coast (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas); Australia and New Zealand; Maryland; Washington, DC; Pennsylvania; Virginia; Hawaii. 

July Issue—Ad Space: April 28; Editorial: April 5; Zoos and Aquariums; Faith-based Travel; Southern California; Classic New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont); Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia; Kentucky; Ohio; Tennessee; West Virginia. 

August Issue—Ad Space: May 26; Editorial: May 3; Theaters; Faith-based Travel; Greece and Turkey; Pacific Northwest (British Columbia, Oregon and Washington); Illinois; Indiana; Michigan; Minnesota; Ontario; Wisconsin.

Click here to view the 2010 editorial calendar.

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