Want to Serve on the NTA Board? | Tour Operators, Hurry: July 1 Deadline
June 19, 2012
Interested in advertising in Tuesday? E-mail Karla DiNardo.
TODAY’S ARTICLES
Want to Serve on the NTA Board? The Journey Begins Here.
Tour Operators, Hurry! July 1 Deadline is Quickly Approaching.
Summer Special: Get $600 Cash Back from ADP
New Blog Post (with 100% More Video!)
NTA’s Reddekopp Speaks in Beijing
Twitter Use on the Rise among U.S. Adults
Three Days Remain to Promote Your Company in August Courier!
Tourism Cares for Sacramento
New Directories This Week!
Industry News and Updates
Want to Serve on the NTA Board? The Journey Begins Here.
Do you want an opportunity to serve on the NTA board? The Nominating Committee is now accepting applications from tour operators, tour suppliers and destination representatives interested in serving on the NTA Board of Directors. Please contact Beth Ward to receive an application and more details. Applications are due Aug. 17.
NTA’s election process, updated last year, was introduced to ensure continued, strong board leadership for NTA’s future. Here’s the step-by-step process for nominations and elections:
1. A call for nominations! Contact Beth for the application. The open positions are:
- secretary/treasurer (tour operator) (Executive Committee)
- vice chairman (tour operator) (Executive Committee)
- three tour operator director positions (two-year terms)
- one supplier director position (two-year term)
- one DMO director position (two-year term)
2. The Nominating Committee will go through its normal process of vetting all applications. Then the committee will nominate one candidate per position, being mindful of qualifications, geographic representation and business type. 
3. Once those nominations are announced in October, members may choose to complete an application by Nov. 12 to run "from the floor" and be placed on the ballot.
4. When elections open in December, members can vote on each position individually, including candidates from the floor. Operators will vote for operator candidates and officers, suppliers for supplier candidates, and DMOs for DMO candidates.
5. Members can learn more about the candidates and ask questions during "Meet the Candidates" sessions. Watch for a schedule of these sessions; some will occur prior to Travel Exchange ’13 and one will be in Orlando.
6. After members have a final opportunity to vote at Travel Exchange, elections will close, and the 2013 NTA Board will be introduced in Orlando.
Tour Operators, Hurry! July 1 Deadline is Quickly Approaching.
We admit it: We’re giddy over all the high points of San Diego, this year’s host city for Contact 2012. As if the education and evening plans weren’t enough, the Fam tours
are truly gush-worthy! Each tour is designed to acquaint you with some of the best tour products in all of Southern California, but to participate in them you need to register for Contact and sign up for a tour by July 1! Here’s a quick look at each:
- Los Angeles is the highlight for the pre-Contact Fam tour, Aug. 13–16. Enjoy this jam-packed, close-up look at Universal Studios Hollywood, the Grammy Museum and the Huntington Library, plus a Cirque du Soleil "IRIS" production that showcases movie-making and the history of film.
- The Post-Contact Fam tours, Aug. 19–22. If you’re in the mood for some of the West Coast’s most enthralling theme parks and scenic beaches, then take part in a beautiful Anaheim/Orange County & Beach Cities tour. This one includes the outdoor spectacular Pageant of the Masters and a day at Disneyland topped off by the dazzling light show World of Color, plus time at Knott’s Berry Farm and Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.
- Prefer to taste world-class wines or experience the thrill of a hot air balloon ride? Then hop on board the Palm Springs and Temecula tour for tastings and tours in the Temecula wine country before heading to Palm Springs Desert Resorts for a desert adventure.
If you can’t join us on the pre- and post-Contact tours, you can still sign up for one of the four sightseeing tours that take place on Aug. 16, the first day of Contact.
But first you have to register!
Join us at Contact and ‘fam’-iliarze yourself with all that San Diego has to offer!
Summer Special: Get $600 Cash Back from ADP
NTA Corporate Partner ADP is offering a special summer promotion just for NTA 
members. ADP helps their clients save time and money with a full menu of payroll solutions. Now, for a limited time, you can get up to $600 cash back when you sign up for payroll processing.
Spend less time on payroll and more time on your business! See this special offer to learn more, and take advantage of this great member benefit! The offer ends June 29, 2012.
Visit NTA Online to see all the Corporate Partner discounts available to NTA members.
New Blog Post (with 100% More Video!)
Doing big things and making the most of your time go hand-in-hand, and that’s what gets tackled in the latest post on the Do Big Things blog.
"Making the Most of Your Time" features a video that asks what you do with 252,000 seconds, 4,200 minutes, 70 hours and five days, as well as three tips from Barbara Bowman, director of sales and division manager for Grand Junction Visitor & Convention Bureau.
So read the post, watch the video, and be sure to share your own tips in the comment section!
NTA’s Reddekopp Speaks in Beijing
NTA Chairman and CEO Jim Reddekopp Jr. spoke at the International Forum on China Outbound Tourism on June 14 in Beijing, discussing the impact of the latest U.S. visa reforms and how the U.S. travel industry is preparing for welcoming China travelers to the United States. Reddekopp’s appearance before 300 invited guests allowed NTA to foster important connections within the Chinese travel and tourism network.
Pictured above, left to right: Wenji Chen, vice president, China Travel Service Head Office; Dr. Xinjun Wang president, Ivy Alliance Tourism Consulting Co.; Reddekopp; Pilar Laguaña, marketing manager, Guam Visitors Bureau, and chair of NTA China Task Force; and Jiang Qi Kang, secretary general, China Tourism Association.
Twitter Use on the Rise among U.S. Adults
If you’re not using Twitter to share news about your business or destination, maybe it’s time to start. The Pew Research Center determined that 15 percent of U.S. online adults use Twitter, and 8 percent do so daily. And while 8 percent may not seem overwhelming, consider that 14 months before the most recent survey, only 2 percent used Twitter on a daily basis. A few notable findings from the survey of Internet users:
- 28 percent of African-Americans are on Twitter.
- One quarter (26 percent) of adults age 18 to 29 use Twitter.
- Urban residents are two times more likely to use Twitter than are rural residents (19 to 8 percent).
- From late 2010 to early 2012, the percentage of adults age 55 to 64 on Twitter grew from 4 to 9 percent.
Note: These percentages apply to Internet users, not all rsidents. To see more results, follow this link to Pew Internet.
Three Days Remain to Promote Your Company in August Courier!
The deadline to reserve your space in August Courier is this Friday, June 22. Courier is mailed to NTA’s 1,500 tour operators and also distributed digitally to UMA members. August Courier will feature Greece & Turkey, Pacific Northwest (British Columbia, Oregon and Washington), Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and Theaters & Broadway Shows. You don’t want to miss being included!
"Because of the broad and diverse membership that NTA serves, our advertising efforts expand beyond market reach. By advertising in Courier and partnering with NTA, we maximize our brand awareness, increase sales and market smarter."
—Elizabeth Baranik, Hard Rock International; NTA member since 1993
To reserve your space in the August issue, contact NTA Services by e-mail or call 859.264.6559 today!
Sacramento, California’s capital city and the gathering place for the California Gold Rush of 1849, has been chosen as the destination for the fall 2012 give-back volunteer program.
Scheduled to celebrate World Tourism Day, Tourism Cares for Sacramento invites hundreds of travel and tourism professionals to join with their colleagues to give back to historic sites in need of care and rejuvenation. Volunteers will arrive in Sacramento on Sept. 27 and work all day on Sept. 28. Registration is now available on the Tourism Cares Web site.
Travel industry volunteers will paint, landscape and rebuild areas in Old Sacramento, a National Historic Landmark District and State Historic Park located along the
Sacramento River. Bustling with activity, the district depicts a bygone era of America’s history with world-renowned museums, historic attractions, shopping, dining and entertainment. Much-needed work will also be done at Fort Sutter and other sites around the historic district. The city of Sacramento and its tourism highlights will benefit tremendously from the help of hundreds of enthusiastic volunteers who care.
Companies and individuals are invited to participate through attendance or sponsorship. Merchandise, monetary and in-kind sponsorships are available. For more information, visit the Tourism Cares Web site.
The new membership directories are in! The 2012–2013 NTA Membership Directory should be arriving on your desk this week, loaded with contact information for all categories of NTA members. New this year are icons that indicate the markets each tour operator reports doing business in: to, from and within North America—along with China. Also new is a second listing of tour operators sorted by location.
You can also view the directory online.
- Customer satisfaction is higher for low-cost airlines than for larger carriers, according to a recent J.D. Power and Associates study. An airline’s score takes a significant drop when it charges for the first checked bag.
- International visitors spent US$1.5 billion more in April 2012 than in April 2011. The $14 billion total represents a 12 percent increase and bolsters the case for the National Travel and Tourism Strategy released last month.
- Nearly 60 percent of U.S. survey respondents plan to take a summer vacation, with most (61 percent) planning a trip to another part of the country and half (51 percent) planning to stay in a hotel.
Click here for the Tuesday archive. 