What Does Your Company Stand For? | Members Receive DMO Awards
September 18, 2012
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TODAY’S ARTICLES
What Does Your Company Stand For?
Market Focus: Culinary, Ecotourism, Faith-based and Family Travel
Are You Taking Advantage of All Your Member Discounts?
Rhode Island Tourism Division to Host China Workshop
Members Receive DMO Awards
Update: First-timer Webinar Rescheduled for Thurdsay
Highlight your Business at Travel Exchange in December Courier
Video Takes You to Sacramento for Tourism Cares Project
Think "qazwsx" is Clever?
Industry News and Updates
NTA Job Center
What Does Your Company Stand For?
That’s what the new generation of employee candidates will be asking. Are you prepared to answer?
The new Tourism Cares seminar at Travel Exchange can help. Doing Well by Doing Good: Corporate Social Responsibility, Thursday, Jan. 24, at Travel Exchange will give you new ways to build your business, boost employee morale and improve your company’s image!
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a company’s sense of responsibility toward the community and environment, is important for the future of your
business.
In this seminar, you’ll learn why that is, and:
- The initial key planning stages for setting a CSR policy
- How to choose programs or strategic charitable partners
- How to communicate your CSR message to suppliers and customers
- Best practices and success stories from peers and nonprofit professionals
- And, ways for your employees to make a positive impact
Improve your company while improving the community all in one sweep!
For a look at other must-attend seminars, read Dark to Light: Travel Exchange Seminars Offer a Broad Range of Insight, in the September 2012 issue of Courier.
Get the full list of educational seminars at Travel Exchange here.
And, if you haven’t registered yet, it’s time! You can register for Travel Exchange here.
Market Focus: Culinary, Ecotourism, Faith-based and Family Travel
Keep current on key industry segments with the articles below, each with a link to an NTA member or event. If you have a news story or educational article about your organization’s involvement in a key industry market, send it for possible republication to Kevin Wright, NTA’s director of growth markets.
Culinary Travel
Summer in Whistler: From Cuisine to Cycling
NTA members to contact: Tourism British Columbia, Thompson Okanagan Tourism
Ecotourism
Top 10 Ecotourist Sites in the Great Plains
NTA members to contact: South Dakota Tourism, Nebraska Travel and Tourism, Montana Tourism Division, North Dakota Tourism Division, Wyoming Office of Tourism, Black Hills Badlands and Lakes Association,Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation
Faith-based Tourism
Spiritual Journeys: Faith-based Tours are Gaining in Popularity
NTA members to contact: Ed-Ventures, Faithful Holidays (Mayflower Tours), Globus
For Success in Faith Travel, Do Your Homework
NTA members to contact: The Priscilla Woman’s Tours, Select International Tours
Christians to Converge in Wittenberg, Germany, for Luther 500 Festival
NTA member to contact: Reformation Tours
Family Travel
Families are Fueling a New Travel Market
NTA members to contact: Columbia Crossroads Tours, Western Leisure, Collette Vacations, Tauck
Are You Taking Advantage of All Your Member Discounts?
"Thanks to the NTA Corporate Partner programs, my NTA membership doesn’t cost a thing! I save so much through the programs like FedEx, that I reap more from my member benefits than what I’m paying in dues. It definitely is a win-win!"
—Donna Cappa, Tulalip Tribes/Quil Ceda Village
Are you taking full advantage of your membership? NTA members have access to exclusive discounts from NTA Corporate Partners on payroll processing, insurance, credit card processing, shipping and office supplies. Details are below. Could your membership be paid for?
Payroll Processing
ADP (for U.S. members only) offers:
- A 20 percent discount on payroll processing costs
- FREE month of payroll processing services
- Waived one-time setup fee
Insurance
Aon Affinity Berkely Travel offers:
- NTA tour operators can receive up to 35 percent compensation on Travel Protection Plan sales.
- NTA tour operator members may qualify for premium credits as high as 15 percent off already low NTA member rates on insurance.
Learn more about Aon Affinity Berkely
Credit Card Processing
Capital One offers:
- No setup or underwriting fees
- Transparent and competitive rates
- Gift and loyalty card programs
- No annual or monthly minimum fees
- 24-hour customer support
Shipping
FedEx (for U.S. members only) offers:
- Up to 26 percent off select FedEx Express® U.S. services
- Up to 20 percent off select FedEx Express international services
- Up to 12 percent off select FedEx Ground® services
- Up to 10 percent off select FedEx Home Delivery® services
Office Supplies
Staples offers:
- Discounts on offices supplies
- Multiple ordering channels: online, fax or phone
- A 10 percent credit on digital copy projects
- Computer and technology supplies, furniture and more!
U.S. Members: Learn more about Staples
Canadian Members: Learn more about Staples
*Not all benefits/discounts are available for all members. Please review the information and disclaimers for each partner. These discounts are offered through NTA Corporate Partners, not NTA.
Rhode Island Tourism Division to Host China Workshop
New England travel industry professionals who are eager to attract the ever-increasing number of Chinese visitors can get insight and ideas during a workshop on Oct. 12 in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The product development workshop, hosted by the Rhode Island Tourism Division, will be led by Haybina Hao, NTA’s director of international development.
The session will focus on understanding the expectations and preferences of the Chinese travelers and how restaurants, hotels, attractions and destinations can interest tourists who are ready to see more of the United States.
For more information about the China market, see this interview with NTA President Lisa Simon in Travel Market Report. You’ll also find a sidebar on the Rhode Island workshop. And for details about the workshop, including registration information, follow this link.
NTA members were prominent when awards were handed out recently by the National Council of State Tourism Directors and the Destinations Council. The ceremony, which was held in Boston by the U.S. Travel Association, honored excellence in tourism marketing and promotion.
Recipients of Mercury Awards from NCSTD included the following NTA members:
- Montana Office of Tourism
- Travel Oregon
- Alabama Tourism Department
- Virginia Tourism Corporation
- Visit California
- Visit Florida
- Visit Idaho
Among the winners of Destiny Awards from the Destinations Council were
the following NTA members:
- Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau
- San Francisco Travel Association
- Visit Phoenix
In addition, Diane Shober, tourism director for the Wyoming Office of Tourism, was named 2012 State Tourism Director of the Year. For details of the awards and a list of all the winners, follow this link.
Update: First-timer Webinar Rescheduled for Thursday!
You can learn the nuts and bolts of Travel Exchange during a Webinar Thursday at 2 p.m. ET. The free online session, hosted by your friends at NTA, covers appointment requests, schedule insights and professional development. Join us by computer or phone for the free how-to session. And if you miss it today, we’ll conduct another session next week!
Click Here to register for the Webinar on Thursday, Sept. 20.
Click here to register for the Webinar on Sept. 25.
Highlight your Business at Travel Exchange in December Courier
Advertise in the December issue of Courier magazine that will feature both NTA and UMA leading up to Travel Exchange in Orlando, Florida, Jan. 20–24! This issue will be sent to all NTA members, with bonus distribution to UMA motorcoach operators (900 buyers). It’s full of helpful, informative and fun Travel Exchange facts, making it a must-read issue!
The issue includes a special section on the Lincoln Highway, while the destination features will showcase Spain and Portugal; the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon; the Rockies (Alberta, British Columbia, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming); Alabama; Louisiana; and Mississippi.
Don’t miss out on the December issue of Courier. To reach your account executive call +1.859.264.6559 or email NTA Services for more information. Your deadline is Oct. 3.
Video Takes You to Sacramento for Tourism Cares Project
Tourism Cares is bringing the travel and tourism industry together for two days next 
week (Sept. 27 and 28) to give back to Sacramento, California, during the Tourism Cares for America volunteer program. This year’s project will mobilize the industry to restore and rejuvenate sites in Sacramento’s most historic districts. Volunteers will paint, landscape and rebuild in Old Sacramento and other sites within the city, including Fort Sutter.
"We are thrilled to have many NTA delegates participating in this exciting give-back," said Alyssa O’Driscoll, Tourism Cares’ development manager.
To get a better idea of the work ahead, check out the video about Tourism Cares for Historic Sacramento.
If we divulged your password in the title above, it’s because "qazwsx" is an e
xample of a common password that’s easily stolen. And once your password is stolen from one site, it often leads to other accounts of yours getting hacked. That warning, along with some advice, can be found in 3 Tips for Better Password Security on the Intuit Small Business Blog. It includes a link to a video that walks you through the creation of a safe, yet memorable, password. Or you can follow this link and go straight to the video.
- To keep passengers better informed about the status of their flight, most airports (88 percent worldwide) plan to create a mobile app by 2015, according to SITA,an international air travel organization. Most airports (70 percent) also plan to implement geolocation technology in the next three years to reduce passenger congestion.
- U.S. legislators file bill to streamline the screening process on baggage from Canada into the United States.
- International air traffic to and from the United States increased 8 percent during the first seven months of 2012, compared to the same period last year. The top three U.S. airports, measured by 2012 passenger traffic, are New York (JFK), Miami, and Los Angeles. International airports with the highest number of U.S. passengers are London Heathrow, Toronto and Tokyo.
Travel Alberta seeks a Business Development Director, Travel Trade USA.
Travel Alberta is the tourism marketing agency of the Government of Alberta that is
poised for its journey of excellence to become Canada’s pre-eminent tourism marketing agency.
As a Business Development Director with Travel Alberta, you support the tourism marketing efforts of Alberta, Canada, within the United States. You establish, maintain and support relationships with travel trade accounts; plan Alberta events and training for travel trade; and promote Alberta through various sales and marketing initiatives and strategic marketing partnerships.
Your knowledge of the tourism industry and ability to work with large organizations will enable you to act with conviction while providing strategic comments on the promotion of Alberta with the Travel Trade market. Your demonstrated business success and travels within the U.S. will enable you to develop new industry relations, utilize existing industry relations and create awareness for Alberta in the U.S. Your energy and leadership will help position Travel Alberta to be at the forefront of Canada’s travel industry by facilitating and assisting in the development of positive stakeholder relations, marketing and service programs.
To apply to this three-year term contract, e-mail a résumé and cover letter to HR@TravelAlberta.com by Sept. 18, 2012.
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