Board Meeting Updates
2011
January 2011 Board Meeting, Tampa, Florida (January 20)
The NTA Board of Directors held its first meeting of the year in Tampa in conjunction with the UMA Expo.
To show support for the funding of state tourism offices, the board approved the following resolution. It can be sent to state legislators, backed by personalized background, to build the case for funding tourism efforts.
Whereas, tourism is one of the top employers throughout the United States and North America, and
Whereas, tourism is one of the top three industries in every one of the states in the United States with the potential for even more job growth, and
Whereas, state governments have considered reducing or eliminating funding for their individual states at a time of revenue shortfalls, and
Whereas, such actions have resulted in a loss of jobs, income, and tax revenues for states that followed this theory,
Therefore, be it resolved by NTA, North America's largest association for packaged travel, that it discourages states from pursuing this strategy which will only hurt them both economically and in tax revenues generated.
The NTA Board approved developing strategies for members to have access to business and education on the religious travel market. Religious travel involves everything from people of faith traveling on pilgrimages and conducting mission trips to members of a church simply taking a group vacation together, such as a cruise. Many members already in the market and may not even be aware. Through education and facilitating business connections, NTA plans to bring these market opportunities to the industry.
The board committed to fully exploring all aspects of expanding the NTA-UMA Convention to include other markets and associations, including the American Bus Association. The board stated that it will not rush this significant decision. As a foundation for this review, NTA will use responses from a member survey that was conducted in January. NTA and UMA will hold its first convention together in Orlando, Jan. 19-23, 2013. Dates and locations also have been set for Feb. 16-20 2014, in Los Angeles and Jan. 17-21, 2015, in New Orleans.
The board also named Lee Carter and Catherine Prather as officers of the corporation with titles of senior vice presidents for the association. Karla DiNardo will serve as president of the newly formed NTA Services, which produces the association's various publications, including Courier magazine and the Trip Planner series.