Tuesday Newsletter – June 22, 2010
June 22, 2010
Interested in advertising in Tuesday? E-mail Kelley Burchell at kelley.burchell@NTAstaff.com.
TODAY’S ARTICLES
A Funny Thing Happened at NTA Convention…
Rhode Island to Host New NTA Tour Operator Event: CONTACT
NTA Members Receive Discount on Top Inbound Market Research
Easily Add Photos to your NTAOnline.com Profile
Voting Now Open for Save Our Sites 2011 Grant Recipients
Offset Your Carbon Footprint Using NTA’s Carbon Calculator
U.S. Outbound Air Travel Up 6 Percent in March 2010
What is RSS and How Do You Use it?
Industry News and Updates
A Funny Thing Happened at the NTA Convention…
Dawn Rueckl, 2010 Convention Chair, shares her Convention story and has a special message for NTA members in the video below (click video to watch).
We want to hear your story! Send it to Dawn (written or as video) at NTAConvention10@gmail.com.
Remember, check the blog frequently to watch and read your colleagues stories and get updates about Convention 10.
Rhode Island to Host New NTA Tour Operator Event: CONTACT 
CONTACT, NTA’s newest tour operator event, will be held August 1-3, 2011, in Newport, Rhode Island. One of a suite of member-driven events, CONTACT is designed for professional education and casual networking.
CONTACT—developed by a committee of NTA members—offers three educational tracks built to address the three main areas of running a tour company:
- CEO/owner
- Sales and marketing
- Operations
Accommodations will be at the Newport Marriott, which sits waterfront facing the Harbor with a view of Rhode Island’s famous sailboats. The rate for tour operators to attend is US$169.
This is also a wonderful opportunity to explore Rhode Island. A pre-FAM tour with a culinary theme is being offered before the event, and the opening Icebreaker will be held at the stunning, historic Rosecliff Mansion, which has served as the background for scenes from movies like "The Great Gatsby," "True Lies" and "Amistad."
Suppliers and DMOs: Put your company front and center at CONTACT ’11 through sponsorship. Sponsoring is the best way to leave a lasting impression with the attending operators and set you apart from your competitors. Sponsors receive complimentary registrations to attend, plus sponsor benefits perfectly designed to promote your organization to industry buyers. Contact Karla DiNardo at 800.682.8886 (U.S. and Canada) or +1.859.226.4232 to reserve your spot today or click here for more details.
NTA Members Receive Discount on Top Inbound Market Research
The top five U.S. inbound markets account for 71 percent of all inbound visitors to the United States. To stay informed on these top markets, subscribe to Travel Market Insider’s Travel Trade Barometer and save 5 percent as an NTA member.
TMI’s Travel Trade Barometers cover the UK, Canada, Germany, Mexico and Japan. With a Barometer subscription, you’ll gather insights on current booking patterns, intent to book and more-specific to your destination or business. The Barometer offers subscribers a cost effective means to assess and monitor product awareness and demand. And, most importantly, the data comes from active travel professionals working in-country.
To take advantage of this NTA member discount, complete this order form or contact NTA Director of Marketing Lisa Thompson with questions.
Easily Add Photos to your NTAOnline.com Profile 
Did you know that you can upload images and your company logo to NTAOnline.com? Images in your online profile increase your online marketing and highlight your destination, attraction or tour product.
Adding images on NTAonline.com is quick and easy. To get started, first log in using your e-mail address and password. The Member Log In box is the blue box that appears in the middle of the NTAonline.com homepage or on the right-hand side of any interior page.
Next, select "Update Your Profile" from the right-hand side of the page. Review and edit your company’s information and add images by selecting the links in the light blue box.
Need help? We’ll do it for you! Send your images and other updates to the NTA member services department and we’ll make your updates.
Voting Now Open for Save Our Sites 2011 Grant Recipients 
For the second year, Tourism Cares, NTA’s official philanthropy, has opened the polls for the public to vote for a site they would like to see supported with a Save Our Sites grant.
The Save Our Sites program also gives travelers an opportunity to make donations while on vacation and give back to preserve and enhance natural, historic and cultural sites around the world that are important to save for future generations.
The following four organizations eligible for Save Our Sites voting are:
Delta Blues Museum and Delta Blues Foundation: a museum where visitors find meaning, value and perspective by exploring the history and heritage of the unique American musical art form of the blues.
Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail: The Crooked Road: a more than 300 mile driving route in rural Southwest Virginia based on the traditional music of the region.
Backstreet Cultural Museum: a museum where visitors can experience the culture of New Orleans through displays of dance, music, culture and costumes.
The Apollo Theater: To celebrate and honor the legendary performers who have helped build its legacy for over 75 years, the Apollo Theater has installed a Walk of Fame in front of the landmark building boasting the names of some of the Apollo’s most famous stars including Gladys Knight & the Pips, James Brown and Smokey Robinson.
Offset Your Carbon Footprint Using NTA’s Carbon Calculator 
NTA and Sustainable Travel International teamed to bring members a tool to offset their company’s or organization’s carbon emissions. Use the new Carbon Calculator on NTAonline.com to offset your company’s travels, your everyday business practices or even offer the opportunity to customers.
If you are not yet familiar with how to use a Carbon Calculator, listen to this Webinar from Ted Martens with Sustainable Travel International, an NTA strategic partner. In it he discusses global climate change, the role of carbon offsetting and carbon management and exactly how to use NTA’s Carbon Calculator. Find out how a Carbon Calculator works and the many benefits for your company and the world. To listen to the audio and follow along visually, click on the PowerPoint presentation then open the mp3 file.
U.S. Outbound Air Travel Up 6 Percent in March 2010
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. outbound non-stop air passenger market totaled 3.3 million in March 2010, increasing 6 percent compared to March 2009. See below for highlights of air traffic to overseas regions, Canada and Mexico in March 2010:
- Traffic to Europe grew 1 percent for the month but decreased 1 percent for the year.
- Asia grew 13 percent for the month and was up 9 percent year to date.
- Canada increased 11 percent for the month and grew 5 percent for the year.
- The Caribbean increased 11 percent in March and increased 6 percent year to date.
- For the month, air traffic to Mexico was flat. For the year, air traffic to Mexico decreased 2 percent.
- South America was up 3 percent for the month but flat year to date.
- Central America was up 2 percent for the month but down 1 percent year to date.
- The Middle East was up 44 percent in March and 38 percent for the year.
- Oceania increased 11 percent for the month and 15 percent year to date.
- Africa increased 18 percent for the month and 16 percent for the year.
The Office of Travel and Tourism Industries collects, analyzes and disseminates international travel and tourism statistics for the U.S. Travel and Tourism Statistical System. To see data tables of monthly estimates of U.S. air travel abroad by world region, click here.
What is RSS and How Do You Use it? 
RSS usually stands for "Really Simple Syndication," but is sometimes referred to as XML. Online, there are potentially millions of authors writing about millions of topics each day. This volume of information can be very difficult to keep track of without some type of automated system. RSS files (which are also called RSS feeds or channels) simply contain a list of items. Usually, each item contains a title, summary, and a link to a URL.
To read the RSS feed, you need a news reader, or aggregator. Many e-mail platforms and internet browsers have built-in RSS feeders. Click here to see several popular RSS readers based on what internet browser you use.
Finally, select the RSS button on the news Web sites or blogs you visit most to "subscribe," or basically add the feed to your RSS reader.
For more information on RSS feeds, click here to read information from USA.gov or from CNBC.
Here’s a look at recent research, statistics and news that may apply to you and your business:
- Read CNN’s update from the Gulf Coast.
- Read this article from Canada.com about voluntourism from a traveler’s perspective.
- See the rankings for the world’s top ten rollarcoasters.
The links in this article are not monitored by NTA staff. Any bad links, expired pages, etc. are due to the constantly changing nature of Web sites.
Click here for the Tuesday archive.