Tuesday Newsletter – June 10, 2008
June 10, 2008
Tuesday Newsletter June 10, 2008
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Register today to attend the 2008 NTA Annual Convention in Pittsburgh, Nov. 15-19. Whether your business needs are domestic, inbound, outbound or all of the above, you’ll find the partners you need and the business you want at NTA. Click here to learn more and to register. |
| Interested in becoming a Tuesday sponsor? E-mail Karla DiNardo at karla.dinardo@NTAstaff.com. | |
Volume 28, Issue 23
NTA EVENTS
Early Registration Helps You with the Tour & Travel Exchange
Travel Buyers Return to NTA Convention
Tourism Cares Ready for a Big Convention in Pittsburgh
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Board Nominations Announced, Floor Nomination Period Opens
Audio Available from the May 22 China Webinar
You Can Host a 2009 NTA Board or Leadership Meeting
Legal Advice on Fuel Surcharges
Volunteer to Help Your Association in 2009
"Green" Ideas Due to NTA June 13
INDUSTRY NEWS
Detailed U.S. Travel Statistics Available from OTTI
MEMBER BENEFITS
NTA Communications Survey Reminder
Three Days Left to Reserve Space in NTA’s Trip Planner
NTA EVENTS
Early Registration Helps You with the Tour & Travel Exchange
The 2008 NTA Annual Convention provides a great way for you to meet face-to-face with the most qualified professionals in the industry during the heart of the Convention – the Tour & Travel Exchange. The exchange, which utilizes a truly open-floor format, is the place where you can get down to business with your peers through a series of one-on-one appointments.
Tour suppliers and DMOs should consider registering early, as the benefit of having a lower registration number is two-fold. First, the prescheduled appointment phase of the Tour & Travel Exchange typically sells out quickly. Second, appointments are matched based upon registration number, so a lower registration number, which is assigned to early registrants, will help ensure greater results from your appointment requests.
For more information regarding the Tour & Travel Exchange, a full schedule of events and anything else related to Convention visit the Convention Web site. Questions can be directed to your Member Services Team at 800.682.8886 (U.S. and Canada) or 859.226.4444.
Travel Buyers Return to NTA Convention
NTA is inviting professional travel buyers to participate in a one-day Buyer-to-Buyer Exchange at the Pittsburgh Convention. For the second year, NTA is welcoming travel buyers such as travel agents, bank and educational travel planners to participate in an appointment session with NTA tour and travel packagers.
Again this year, participants can take part in the Buyer-to-Buyer Exchange, a prescheduled business appointment session that allows participants to both buy and sell from each other. Additionally, they are invited to attend the Saturday Luncheon, the NTA Destination Pavilion, the popular Wine and Cheese Reception, and the Best Western International Tour Operator Dinner.
More information on the Buyer-to-Buyer Exchange is available by calling NTA Headquarters at 800.682.8886 (U.S. and Canada) or 859.226.4444 or by e-mailing questions@NTAstaff.com. Travel buyers can attend for only $45.
Tourism Cares Ready for a Big Convention in Pittsburgh
The Tourism Cares staff is gearing up for the 2008 NTA Convention and has plenty in store for delegates in Pittsburgh.
Tourism Rocks (formerly Nevada Rocks), the annual dance party event sponsored by the Nevada Commission on Tourism, Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority and the Hard Rock Café, is sure to be a night to remember. This annual event, which will take place Monday, Nov. 17, at the Hard Rock Café Pittsburgh, is a great opportunity for you to relax with your clients, peers and friends and have a rockin’ good time. You also will be supporting Tourism Cares with your attendance. Tickets are available in advance for $40 through the NTA Convention Web site and will be available for $50 at the door.
The Tourism Cares Live Auction, which will feature 10-15 exciting items, will also be held Monday. If you are interested in donating an item to the 2008 Live Auction, please contact Natalie King. Also, there will be no silent auction this year.
New this year is a collaborative NTA and Tourism Cares Give Back project, which gives NTA members the chance to put their own twist on a local literacy campaign. Beginning in October and running through Friday, Nov. 14, a new and gently used book drive will be organized by Pittsburgh Cares that includes regional school districts, higher education institutions and businesses of all sizes. When delegates arrive in Pittsburgh, they will be helping sort the donated books, build pre-purchased book cases and eventually deliver these items. Please click here for more information on the project and how you can become involved.
To learn more about Tourism Cares and all of the ways they are working to preserve and enhance the travel experience visit http://www.tourismcares.org/.
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Board Nominations Announced, Floor Nomination Period Opens
The Nominating Committee met earlier today and nominated the following individuals to run for officer and director seats on the 2009 NTA Board of Directors:
Chairman and CEO
- Michele Michalewicz, CTP – Western Leisure Inc.
Vice Chairman/Chairman and CEO Elect
- Catherine Greteman – Star Destinations Inc.
Secretary/Treasurer
- Jim Reddekopp Jr. – Fly Away Holidays
Three tour operator director seats (two-year terms) will be filled. The candidates are:
- Sherri Guiborat – Mayflower Tours Inc.
- Laurie Lincoln, Main Street Tours Inc.
- Mahen Sanghrajka – Big Five Tours and Expeditions, Inc.
- Jim Warren, Exclusively Canada Ltd.
One DMO director seat (two-year term) will be filled. The candidate is:
- Greg Eckhart – Travel Portland
One tour supplier director (two-year term) will be filled. The candidates are:
- Carolyn Chrzan – Golden Corral
- Jim Kisselburg – Wyndham Hotel Group
Nominations from the floor will be accepted through July 1 at which time we will have a full slate of candidates for this year’s election. Announcement of the above candidates and information about nominations from the floor will appear on NTA Online under "This Just In" and in the July 1 edition of Tuesday.
Audio Available from the May 22 China Webinar
The U.S. Commercial Service recently hosted a Webinar that focused on the Chinese outbound travel market to the United States. More than 80 participants took part in the hour and 40 minute session, which included discussion of NTA’s China Inbound Program.
In addition to answering questions about the NTA program, Commercial Service officials gave an overview of the Chinese outbound market and provided tips on working with Chinese travelers. It closed with an extensive question and answer session.
To listen to the full Webinar, click here.
You Can Host a 2009 NTA Board or Leadership Meeting
Hosting an NTA meeting is a great way to showcase your destination or venue to your association’s leaders. The bid process is now open for destinations interested in playing host to 2009 NTA Board of Directors and Leadership Team meetings.
Meetings available for bid include:
Interested parties should fill out the bid specification form and return it to NTA Events Manager Christy Cleveland by June 30.
Legal Advice on Fuel Surcharges
NTA’s May Question of the Month – How are you dealing with higher fuel costs and the handling of fuel surcharges with your customers? – has spurred great dialogue on the NTA member forums. Based on questions regarding fuel surcharges, NTA asked attorney Paul Cronin to address the issue.
To read Cronin’s advice, click here. NTA members can still comment on this issue, by logging on to the member forums. To access the member-only, password-protected forums, you will need your member ID and password, which were included at the top of the e-mail you received showing the headlines for newsletter articles.
Cronin has extensive experience, including 10 years as in-house legal counsel to a major tour operator and over20 years in private practice. He advises operators on avoiding pitfalls in the tour business by protecting their interests and preventing legal problems. Direct comments and inquiries to him at 617.527.2544 or PCronin@att.net.
Volunteer to Help Your Association in 2009
Would you like to help make a difference in your association? Do you like planning new programs, brainstorming or planning strategically for the future? If so, NTA has a number of volunteer opportunities to tap into your strengths.
NTA will begin planning for the 2009 Leadership Team and committees this summer and wants to hear from members who would like to serve. The first step to becoming a volunteer leader for NTA is to complete the Volunteer Interest Form. This form simply lets NTA know what areas you are most interested in, and in what capacity you’d like to serve the association – from in-person Leadership Team meetings to conference call committees.
If you have questions about volunteering for NTA, contact NTA Vice President of Marketing Lisa Thompson. Completed forms are due by Friday, June 27, and can be faxed to her at 859.226.4404.
"Green" Ideas Due to NTA June 13
NTA is continuing to solicit ideas to help "green" its Annual Convention this year in Pittsburgh. And, while you are continuing to hear about the changes that NTA is making to be more environmentally friendly, you can get involved by providing your suggestions.
Submit your best ideas for greening the Convention to NTA Vice President of Meetings and Events Lee Carter by June 13. The ideas will be passed on to the Pittsburgh Convention WOW Task Force in July, and the top suggestions will be incorporated into this year’s Convention planning. If your submission is selected, you’ll be recognized at Convention!
INDUSTRY NEWS
Detailed U.S. Travel Statistics Available from OTTI
The U.S. Office of Travel & Tourism Industries is a great resource for information on inbound travel to the United States. As part of its duties for the Department of Commerce, OTTI compiles month-by-month data on overseas arrivals to the United States and generates reports that include:
- Arrivals by continent and country
- Visitation for each of the 50 states
- Length of stay
- Port of Entry
- Visitor spending
The final 2007 report was released last week. Additionally, OTTI’s monthly updates are available on its Web site.
The OTTI site also contains information on the U.S. outbound travel market, export policies, market briefs and international promotion program and export expansion activities.
MEMBER BENEFITS
NTA Communications Survey Reminder
Last week, you should have received an e-mail from NTA asking you to participate in a brief survey about NTA’s communications vehicles. NTA surveyed the members on its communications last year and the 2008 Member Information Committee wants to follow-up on this survey and seek your feedback again.
If you have not completed your survey yet, please do so as soon as possible. It will only take a few minutes of your time and will provide valuable feedback to the Member Information Committee. For example, last year’s survey results revealed that 84 percent of NTA tour operators, 71 percent of NTA tour suppliers and 82 percent of NTA DMOs read Tuesday. More than 80 percent of each member category reported that they only read the articles they are interested in. As a result, NTA made it easier to do this by grouping Tuesday articles by topic.
NTA will be e-mailing you a reminder next week that contains a link to the Web survey. If you have any questions while completing the Web survey, please contact Sandy Stansfield, NTA research analyst at sandy.stansfield@NTAstaff.com.
Three Days Left to Reserve Space in NTA’s Trip Planner
The next publication in The Trip Planner series targets group leaders and offers a great chance for your company or destination to reach 20,000 group leaders, as well as NTA’s 1,400 tour operators.
The Trip Planner includes editorial that is specifically geared toward these 20,000 qualified group leaders who are actively planning tours, so don’t miss out on your chance to reach this influential group that has big-time buying power. Not only is there display advertising available in the publication but NTA tour operator members can purchase a listing with their logo.
The space deadline for The Trip Planner is June 13 so don’t miss your chance to reserve space for your company or destination. For more information click here, or contact your account executive at 800.682.8886, ext. 4241 (U.S. and Canada) or 859.226.4241.
| To ensure that you’re doing business with an NTA member, go to the NTA Web site home page and click on either "Tour Operator Search" or "DMO/Tour Supplier Search" at the top of the page. |