April 2009 Board Meeting Update
Tucson, Arizona
The NTA Board of Directors held its second meeting of the year April 25 and 26 in Tucson, Arizona. Here is a recap of the meeting:
Pioneer Award
The board selected two nominees to honor with this year's Pioneer Award. Gordon Bell, who will receive the award posthumously, was owner of Three Valley Gap Heritage Ghost Town and Chateau Three Valley Lake in Revelstoke, British Columbia. In 1961, Bell and his wife started the heritage town, which now contains numerous historic buildings and is a popular tourist destination for travelers from all over the world.
NTA also will honor U.S. Representative Sam Farr, D-California, who has been an advocate for the travel and tourism industry for more than a decade. Farr, who is a long-time friend of NTA's and the industry, has served as co-chair of the Congressional Travel & Tourism Caucus since 1997.
The NTA Board established the Pioneer Award in 2005 to honor individuals whose accomplishments have resulted in a significant change in the travel industry from which NTA and its members have benefited.
Update on Bylaw Vote for Shared Memberships of Arts and Cultural Organizations
The board reviewed the parameters of a change to the bylaws, which was brought to the tour operators for vote earlier this year. The change would allow small arts and cultural organizations, such as ballets, symphonies, and museums with nonprofit status, to come together and hold a single membership within the association. The value from the tour operator perspective is to bring these under-represented entities into membership so they can more readily become valuable components of future itineraries.
There had been some concern that a great number of these entities could come together to unfairly compete or that it would benefit financially well-to-do nonprofits. The intent is focused on small nonprofits and large organizations, which already hold NTA memberships, would not see the value in the joint, or shared, membership.
As such, the board approved re-opening the bylaw vote, allowing for discussion at the Tour Operator Spring Meet in Monterey. The parameters are that no more than 10 nonprofit arts and cultural entities within an area of dominant influence can come together under one of these shared memberships.
Member Services Enhancement to Serve Tour Operators with Multi Brands
The board approved a membership listing option to bring value to NTA tour companies that operate autonomous brands. The member services enhancement will allow tour companies to obtain a separate brand listing in the NTA Membership Directory (both printed and online) as well as in the appointment scheduling system for these individual brands. This update also will better serve NTA DMOs and suppliers as they can have more targeted business appointments, for example.