NTA News - March 2011
NTA News is a compilation of stories from Tuesday newsletter, which NTA members receive each week.
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March 2011 Top Stories
Industry & Association News
NTA Members Report Strong Finish for Year
Convention '11 Is Going to Fabulous Las Vegas. Join Us.
7 Things You May Not Know about NTA
NTA Board to Push for Support of State Tourism Budgets
Promote Your U.S. Destination/Product to the China Tourism Market
80 Percent of Operators Are Looking. Will They Find You?
Industry News and Updates
Business Tips
Top 8 Social Media Truths
5 Factors that Motivate Most
Which Travel Web Sites Pack the Biggest Punch?
9 Steps for Increasing Group Sales
NTA Members Report Strong Finish for Year
The Fourth Quarter 2010 Economic Snapshot Survey of NTA members is complete, and the findings are an exciting cap on a good year of recovery for the majority of our members.
NTA tour operators and DMOs again reported increases in sales volume and/or visitors in the fourth quarter 2010 over the same quarter of 2009. The best news from the fourth quarter of 2010 was from NTA's DMO members, who saw a 37 percent increase in visitors over the second quarter 2010-going from 51 percent reporting increases in the second quarter 2010 to 70 percent reporting increases in the fourth quarter! Tour suppliers were the only group that saw a slight decrease from the second quarter to the fourth quarter, with 55 percent reporting increases in the second quarter and 53 percent reporting increases in the fourth quarter 2010.
Join NTA today for the educational tools, business-building opportunities and continuous industry news to support your bottom line growth, too.
Convention '11 Is Going to Fabulous Las Vegas. Join Us.
Travel writer David Cogswell of Travel Pulse describes NTA's Convention as "impressively conceived and executed" and "one of the most effective forums for a business meeting I have seen." It's a show you don't want to miss.
Registration for Convention opens April 19. If you're interested in buying from or selling to any segment of the North American travel industry, you belong at Convention '11. (But you must be a member to attend! Join now.)
7 Things You May Not Know about NTA
We're particularly proud of Nos. 5 and 7.
- 76 percent of NTA tour operators package travel within North America.
37 percent package travel into North America from abroad.
45 percent package travel outbound from North America to countries around the world.
- The NTA Online member search engine is used nearly 8,000 times a month.
- NTA tour operators move 9 million travelers a year.
- NTA members represent more travel product and have access to more business-to-business networking than in any other association in the industry. That includes product in every U.S. state, every Canadian province and more than 40 countries.
- 1,500 tour operators, 1,500 tour suppliers and 600 destinations from around the world have all chosen NTA as their avenue for expanding their businesses.
- NTA's China Inbound Program-which includes tour operators registered to serve the leisure group market, discounted COTTM participation for all member segments, and the NTA Visit USA Center in Shanghai-was created to place NTA members in a first-choice position for the quickly expanding Chinese tourism market coming into North America.
- NTA enjoys a high annual member retention rate of 90 percent, and in 2010 we had more operator members than 2008.
NTA Board to Push for Support of State Tourism Budgets
It's only the beginning of March, and the NTA leadership have been busy. NTA's Board of Directors met for the first board meeting of 2011 in Tampa, Florida, in conjunction with the UMA Expo.
One of the biggest discussions was how to support our U.S. state DMO members. Based on the ongoing financial struggles that are plaguing many U.S. states, the NTA Board developed a resolution to help state legislators see the value of fully funding state tourism offices. (NTA's government relations efforts are funded by membership dollars.)
Following through on the Board's efforts to support our members through industry partnerships, NTA President Lisa Simon, NTA Chairman Cathy Greteman and NTA Public Affairs Advocate Steve Richer spent part of last week in D.C. to attend the Sister Cities International conference. The three then headed to New York for more meetings with:
- American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA): Tony Gonchar, President
- African Travel Association (ATA): Eddie Bergman, Executive Director
- Brazilian Tour Operator Association (BTOA): Jose Gherardi, Director
- Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO): Fernando Abreu, Deputy Director
- Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C. and First Vice Minister of the Cuban Foreign Ministry: Ambassador Bolaños
- Congressman Jo Bonner (R-Ala.)
- Congressman Sam Farr's office: Tom Tucker & Debbie Merrill (D-Calif.)
- Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI): Michael Gehrisch, President and CEO
- Dominican Republic Tourism Board: Lucien Echavarria, Director
- Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C.: The Honorable Hani Nagi, Consul
- Egyptian Tourist Authority: ElSayed Khalifa, Director
- Interactive Travel Services Association (ITSA): Art Sackler, Executive Director
- Israel Ministry of Tourism: The Honorable Haim Gutin, North American Director
- Luxury Travel: Jennifer Fernandez
- Mexico Tourism Board: Alfonso Sumano and Gabriela Ibarra
- Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska)
- United Motorcoach Association (UMA): Victor Parra, President and CEO
- U.S. Tour Operator Association (USTOA): Terry Dale, President
Our leadership is dedicated to supporting our members by strengthening the North American travel industry. Join NTA today to be part of this leading, advancing association.
Promote Your U.S. Destination/Product to the China Tourism Market
China is the fastest-growing market for the United States, and by 2015 it is projected to become the 6th-largest arrival market (up from 16th in 2008).
In 2008 the United States and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding to allow Chinese leisure travelers to visit the United States in group tours. Since then, total visitation from China to the United States has increased by 54 percent (as of November 2010), and total spending for 2010 (through September) was $3.6 billion, a 28 percent increase. And, the MOU just began its third phase which includes 24 Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, giving the U.S. travel and tourism industry access to 67 million more Chinese citizens.
How can your company capitalize on this and welcome Chinese visitors to your U.S. destination, property or tour group?
Join us at NTA's U.S. Pavilion at the China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market. You don't have to be an NTA member, but you do need to be selling a U.S. destination or product. COTTM, April 13-15 in Beijing, is the only business-to-business exhibition in China dedicated to the China outbound travel market. It's NTA's third year hosting the U.S. Pavilion at NTA which brings together U.S. operators, suppliers, destinations and attractions interested in reaching the burgeoning Chinese outbound-to-U.S. market.
"They're packed and ready to travel," said Lisa Simon (NTA President) of the Chinese tourists. "They're just trying to decide where to go. We're working to bring them to the U.S."
There are only 20 booths in the U.S. Pavilion and many are already reserved! You'll get a company booth, storage space and a central meeting area, but - most importantly - you'll have the opportunity to meet with the Chinese media and get listed in the Pavilion catalog for distribution.
Following COTTM, pavilion participants can opt for two Road Shows. The first is April 18th in Chongqing, a booming city of 32 million people in southwest China. The other Road Show is April 19th in Chengdu, one of the most important economic centres, transportation and communication hubs in Western China. These Road Shows, which targets the Chinese travel trade, is organized in conjunction with U.S. Commercial Service.
To join NTA staff and member businesses at this well-established trade fair, e-mail Ken Goode.
NTA has developed its own strong relationship with the Chinese travel industry through the NTA Visit USA Center in Shanghai, which opened in November 2010.
The center, which promotes leisure travel from China to the United States, has three priorities:
- to educate both U.S. and Chinese tourism professionals
- to facilitate connections between U.S.- and Chinese-approved tour operators and agents
- to market the United States as a tourism destination
80 Percent of Operators Are Looking. Will They Find You? 
Eighty percent of tour operators report using the NTA Membership Directory in their day-to-day jobs. Are they seeing you?
With contact information for all members, the NTA Membership Directory stays on desktops year-round as a critical business resource for members. Make sure you join NTA to be included in this go-to directory. But hurry, time is almost up. Deadline to be included is March 31. Join NTA today.
Top 8 Social Media Truths
For those of you who are still on the fence about entering the field of social media, Lena West offers encouragement and advice in an article on American Express Open Forum. Here are the high points of her list of social media truths:
- If you aren't using any form of social media yet, you need to get with the program.
- Don't worry about what people might say about you once you start using social media.
- Don't get caught up with "high school stuff." Social media applications are business tools.
- To avoid wasting time, figure out a social media schedule and stick with it.
- Learn how to toot your own horn without bragging.
- Avoid inadvertently over-sharing with your social networking updates.
- Point out what makes your company (truly) different from the rest of the businesses operating in your industry.
- Learn how to be personable without being personal.
To read West's full article, with detailed explanations of these pointers, click here.
5 Factors that Motivate Most
A story in Sales & Marketing Business Brief shares the motivational triggers that salespeople respond to most readily, according to author Tom Hopkins. And while the story focuses on spurring a sales force, you might also relate these incentives to other types of work and personal behavior:
1. Money: No surprise here. Cash is the carrot that's most effective.
2. Security: Holding on to a job means having a sense of purpose and a steady paycheck (see No.1).
3. Achievement: Reaching a personal benchmark can be its own reward.
4. Recognition: Receiving praise for behavior and the result is doubly satisfying.
5. Acceptance: Feeling included and valued leads to loyalty.
To see the full story, click here.
Which Travel Web Sites Pack the Biggest Punch?
Influencers in Travel maintains lists of the Internet's most influential travel sites, ranked daily using Klout's API, the standard for online influence. A Klout score represents a Web site's success in engaging their audience and is calculated using factors such as the number of followers, friends, retweets, commenters and likers.
Here's the No. 1 Web site for each of six different categories:
- Corporate influencers: Orbitz
- Independent influencers: Paul Steele
- Cruise vacation influencers: CruiseBuzz
- Travel marketing and PR influencers: HotelPRGuy
- Most influential tourist boards and DMOs online: visitPA
- Most influential airlines online: SouthwestAir
9 Steps for Increasing Group Sales
Chances are you're already implementing at least one of the nine tips from TravelMarket Report's Nick Verrastro. Chances are, also, that at least one of them will be new. They include ways to find new clients, manage and maximize your business with them, and multiply your success, such as
- Determine if existing clients belong to groups that are-or should be-traveling together.
- Supersize your group business through Webinars and value-add options.
- Don't assemble your own group-use pre-existing ones.
- Never miss the opportunity to ask for more business.
For all nine tips, read the entire story here.
- Ascend's annual business travel survey shows that after two years of attrition, corporate travel will rebound in 2011.
- A new survey from Smart Destinations shows how consumers define "value" in travel and describes how they seek it out.
- Ever considered living on a cruise ship? You might be surprised at the percentage of people who would willingly spend the rest of their lives on the open seas.