NTA Reaches Out to Agents at Travel Exchange
by Marilee Crocker /NEW ORLEANS––The National Tour Association’s second effort to attract travel agents to its annual Travel Exchange yielded a modest result numbers-wise. Still, agents and tour operators here were upbeat about the initiative.
“I want to let you know that every single member is excited you’re here. They all want to talk to you,” Lori Rempe, NTA’s manager of member relations told a small group of agents attending an orientation session on Monday morning.
All told some 3,550 travel professionals registered for the Travel Exchange, a business-building convention for three associations: NTA, the Faith Travel Association (FTA) and the United Motorcoach Association.
Ramping up
NTA invited agents to attend its annual Travel Exchange for the first time in 2014, when it was held in Los Angeles. “We realized we were missing that retail part; the travel agent part,” Rempe said.
Agent attendance was lower this year, with only 13 registering for the NTA’s two-day agent program, which included professional development seminars and networking opportunities.
Organizers attributed the lower agent turnout to the smaller population base in the New Orleans area. They anticipate a higher agent participation at Travel Exchange 2016, which will be held in Atlanta.
Interest in faith travel
Another factor in the lower agent attendance at NTA may have been the pull of the Faith Travel Association’s programming.
Some 43 agents signed up separately to attend Monday’s FTA Day. It included a general session along with a handful of education seminars and the opportunity for agents and faith leaders to meet with tour operators exhibiting in the Faith Travel Pavilion.
Launched at Travel Exchange a year ago, the Faith Travel Association is a sister organization to NTA. Its goal is to connect the players in what it estimates to be a $50 billion to $100 billion market worldwide.
Maria Di Rocco, MCC, CTC, a regional sales director for Central Holidays, was among suppliers exhibiting in the Faith Travel Pavilion.
Her booth saw a steady stream of traffic, and by lunchtime she had met with about 30 agents who were interested in getting into the growing faith-based travel market.
“Any new business we pick up will make it [attending FTA] worthwhile,” Di Rocco said.
Central Holidays, which sells almost exclusively through travel agents, does about 30% of its business in the faith-based niche.
It’s the exclusive North American distributor of tickets to the 2015 Passion Play of Sordevolo, Italy.
Rowena Drinkhouse, vice president of Reformation Tours, a Belleville, Ill., tour firm that specializes in Christian tours to Europe, said that by mid-day she had connected with nearly a dozen agents with whom she expected to do business.
“A travel agent has to know so much. It’s important that they ally themselves with specialists,” said Drinkhouse, who sits on the FTA Advisory Board.
Learning the ropes
On Monday morning, a half dozen agents attending an overview session on NTA and the Travel Exchange were told that NTA represents more travel product and provides more business-to-business networking than any other industry association.
“At NTA you’ll find something for every single one of your travelers. There are plenty of partners here on the floor for you to grow your business with,” said Sheri Guiborat, vice president of sales for Mayflower Tours in Downers Grove, Ill.
“We believe in the travel agent market. You made the right decision to come here.”
Travel Exchange is first and foremost a business-building event, Guiborat said. Last year’s event in Los Angeles generated $150 million worth of business.
Guiborat urged agents to take the opportunity to get educated and build contacts. “We have every type of travel here,” she said.
Learning the lingo
First, agents needed to learn the lingo of NTA, where tour operators are the buyers and the sellers are tour suppliers, including hotels, attractions restaurants and receptive services, and destination marketing organizations (DMOs), NTA’s Rempe said.
The goal of Travel Exchange is to connect the two groups, she said.
So why bring agents into the equation?
“We want more buyers,” said Suzanne Slavitter, CTP, vice president of Sports Empire, who chaired the NTA’s travel agent task force leading up to the 2014 Travel Exchange.
“We’re trying to build our reputation with agents.”
Slavitter, whose Lakewood, Calif., company sells sports and special events packages exclusively through agents, said one advantage of attending NTA’s Travel Exchange is that agents can find specialized niche and “boutiquey” products they won’t find at other shows.
New to NTA
Susan Mahnke of Cruise & Vacation Specialists in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, La. was one of the agents attending Travel Exchange.
Though she’s been selling travel for 28 years, and makes a point to attend at least one industry event a year, Mahnke was unfamiliar with NTA and Travel Exchange.
“I had never even heard of this one,” she said.
Mahnke planned to attend seminars on selling multigenerational travel and another on using social media.
She also planned to visit with Canadian vendors and DMOs. Canada hosted Monday’s opening ceremonies and breakfast and had a sizable delegation on hand.
Mahnke was looking for ideas on Canadian vacations to promote to her largely FIT client base. “People are looking for something new to do. I’m ready to branch out.”
ARTA participation
Another agent attending the show was Lynn Hayes, CTC, MCC, a travel advisor with CWT Vacations in Greenville, S. C. and former chair of the Association of Retail Travel Agents (ARTA).
Hayes urged agents to stop by the ARTA booth to learn about membership and take advantage of a $10 discount offer for new members.