Meet Deb: Dancing With An Agent
by Judy Jacobs /While the path to a career in travel is a varied one, there probably aren’t many people who can say they danced their way down it.
But one who did so—literally—is former competitive country western dancer Deb Dodd.
Dodd combined her passion for dance with a love of travel to create DATS (Dance Across the Seas) Travel in Warwick, R.I. For her, travel is a second career—and one that was a rather long time coming.
Competitive dancing
It all began with eight years of dance competitions. Dodd traveled around the country competing in events organized by the United Country Western Dance Council. At one point someone suggested it would be fun to do a dance business.
Reluctant to give up a successful career as an import coordinator for big box stores, Dodd decided to keep her day job but check out the travel industry with a six-month internship program at a local travel agency.
“I took some training and webinars with suppliers and learned how to put together groups during that internship,” she recalled.
“It started in July 2001 and the 9-11 attack came, which provided an opportunity for me to take a lot of training that was available at that time.”
Soon after Dodd completed the internship, she created a group cruise for dancers and from then on worked in the import business by day and on her group travel business at night.
Auspicious timing
During the years she developed her business, dance was rising in popularity.
“Dance is growing everywhere,” said Dodd. “Dancing with the Stars has increased an interest in dance and influenced the dance travel market. “
For more than a decade, Dodd continued to work in the import business, where she had six weeks vacation.
She took that vacation one week at a time and during four or five of those weeks she led groups, planning the group trips a year and a half beforehand.
A full-time travel career
Then two and a half years ago, Dodd took the plunge.
“My business grew so much that I decided to do travel full time,” she said. “I do what I love and I love what I do.”
At the beginning there were just two people running the agency. Dodd took care of the groups and an assistant handled FITs. Now Dodd has nine other agents, including three interns who are training to be agents.
Her staff includes a Disney specialist, a cruise specialist, and an all-inclusive specialist. One of her agents is developing a bus program for one-day and weekend tours that will visit places like wineries and New York City.
Dance vacations
When Dodd first started organizing the dance groups, she taught dance classes herself on her trips. She now hires instructors, which has helped her business grow.
The instructors, most of whom come from the Mid-Atlantic states, promote the dance vacations and cruises on their websites and at the events where they appear.
Dodd also does some local advertising and stages a twice yearly travel show that’s supported by her local chamber of commerce.
So far she’s arranged travel for 48 groups. Group travel makes up about 75% of her business. Although some of her trips involve ballroom and Latin dance, the real focus is on line and country western dancing.
Time to dance
Dodd arranges cruises and group travel to all-inclusive resorts. All of her programs include dance workshops plus plenty of time for dancing.
She’s currently putting together a dance cruise that will depart from the U.K. in May 2016 and will have dance instructors and participants from both the U.S. and the U.K. She hopes the effort will expand her business internationally.
In addition, Dodd manages the Jimmy Fortune Country Music Cruise. Fortune, a former member of the Statler Brothers, does the cruise every year.
She also puts together an annual group for country music fans who attend the CMA Music Festival held in Nashville in June.
Branching out
Although dance is her specialty, Dodd has gotten creative with her offerings.
She has done zumba cruises and fundraising cruises and is planning a quilters cruise in the Eastern Caribbean this summer.
The quilters cruise will feature two professional quilters who will conduct classes using a dedicated room full of sewing machines provided by a sewing machine company sponsor.