PHOTO: Pam Inman was named president of NTA last summer. (Photo courtesy of NTA)
The National Tour Association (NTA) wrapped up its annual conference, the Travel Exchange held in New Orleans Jan. 18-22., with its priorities and strategies in order, according to Pam Inman, named president of the National Tour Association last summer. NTA's Travel Exchange was held in New Orleans Jan. 18-22.
"Now that we're at the end of conference I have to say I'm so excited about everything I'm hearing even since we've left about people who have been able to do business at the conference," said Inman. "One company did several million dollars on the tradeshow floor. I'm very pleased with Travel Exchange. We've sent evaluations to the attendees to hear their thoughts, and how we can improve and make it better for next year, which we're going to do."
NTA set its priorities for its legislative activism in the coming year, with four main areas of concentration.
• Cuba - "We want to be very involved in all the discussion that's going to go on with Cuba and opening up the nation's trade policy so that our members can take their clients to Cuba and also Cuban visitors can come to the U.S.," said Inman.
• Intrastructure modernization - "We feel that it's very important," said Inman. "There's a piece of legislation in Congress that is going to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration and there's also surface transportation budgeting. So both of those we feel like are important to improve the existing infrastructure in our country so we can be ready for the influx of more tourists."
• Visa Waiver program - "We want to reinforce the importance of the Visa Waiver program, and part of that is urging for its expansion," said Inman.
• Support the U.S. National Park system. "I know the President has put money in the budget for that," said Inman, "and we want to support the improvement of the parks system because so many of our tour operators take groups into the national parks."
The China Market
NTA wants to continue to expand its China inbound program. The number of tour operators working in the China inbound market has risen to 200, more than a quarter of the membership, and the market's growth potential is staggering.
Estimates of how many Chinese tourists will travel abroad by 2025 range as high as 200 million. "They start out going to the gateway cities," said Inman, "but more and more they want to go to the national parks. They want to come to Middle America to see exactly how Americans live, not just go to the big cities. One of things we're trying to do is make sure that our members are prepared for these Chinese visitors."
First International Chairman
NTA selected Jorge Cazenaze, general manager of Cazenaze Argentina, as NTA chairman for 2015, a move that helps to confirm NTA's status as an international, not exclusively domestic organization.
"It is very exciting that we have our first international chair," said Inman. "Jorge Cazenaze is from Argentina. I think he brings a whole new perspective to our tour operator mentality. I think he is going to be a great asset to us. Of course we want to shore up our North American base but at the same time to build up our international base."
Rescheduling the Annual Conference
One of the things NTA has been hearing from members is that they want their conference moved back to December. For the last three years NTA has held its conferences in January.
"We listened to the members and we are moving travel exchange back to fourth quarter because that's what we kept hearing over and over," said Inman. "Even in the short time I've been on board that's the one thing I kept hearing from tour operators who said they liked having it in the fourth quarter because they could plan their trips or do their business development for the next year. And for the suppliers, they can push out their new products for the next year as well."
The annual convention will return to December in 2016, when it will be held in St. Louis.
"That means we'll have two shows that year," said Inman. "That will be an exciting challenge in and of itself, but it will get us back on the fourth quarter track."
NTA will have its next conference Jan. 31-Feb. 4, 2016, in Atlanta. Its next conference after that will be Dec. 11-16, 2016, in St. Louis.
The association will not extend its partnership contract with UMA (United Motorcoach Association), under which agreement the two associations combined their conferences. The "co-locating" of the conferences and the combining of a number of the functions will not continue.
"In Atlanta we'll be in the same building on the same day but we're not going to be doing any joint meetings," said Inman, but added that though the associations have abandoned the idea of combining their conferences, the relationship is a productive one.
"We have a great relationship with UMA,," said Inman. "I'm glad we tried the partnership. And there may be other things in the future we partner on."
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
