Catching Up with USTOA President & CEO Terry Dale

Terry Dale, president and CEO of the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA), had a busy year in 2025.

Between rolling out a new USTOA website, laying the groundwork to launch a new Breaking Bread tourism advocacy initiative, and forming a trade coalition to promote cross-border Canada/U.S. cooperation, Dale has been steering the organization through a period of growth, instability, and opportunity.  

Travel Market Report sat down for an exclusive interview with Dale at last week’s USTOA Conference and Marketplace, held from Dec. 1 to 5, 2025 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland.

State of the Industry: 2026 Could Be Another Record Breaker

One of the big takeaways of the 2025 USTOA conference was that the tour operator segment remains bullish. The association’s annual member survey, which was conducted in September and October, found that over 68% of members saw year-over-year sales growth and 58%.

Looking forward, nearly 9 in 10 (88%) members in the survey said they anticipate sales growth in 2026, and of that, more than half (55%) forecast growth of at least 7% compared to 2025. Over 8 in 10 (84%) expect an increase in passengers, and 78% of members are confident or highly confident that guest bookings will increase next year.

Although he was careful not to sound too confident, Dale believes that if current trends continue, 2026 will be another strong year for the industry.

There was some softness at the beginning of the year, which Dale attributes to the change of administration. Since then, travel sales and passenger growth have increased among most members.

“What we heard from the trend survey was encouraging—very encouraging,” said Dale. “Anecdotally, I’ve had several who said 2026 should be our best year ever.”

Beyond Borders: What’s Happening with the USTOA’s Canada-U.S. Trade Coalition

Earlier this year, the USTOA announced it had formed a new coalition with trade associations from both the U.S. and Canada to address the rise in tensions at the border and the impact this is having on cross-border travel.

Made up of organizations like USTOA, Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), Canadian Association of Tour Operators (CATO), Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC), International Inbound Travel Association (IITA), and National Tour Association (NTA), the coalition is mainly doing advocacy work to promote cross-border travel in the public while also bringing their concerns to congress and elected officials.

“The first goal was to get consistent messaging that we’re unified as an industry—and to continue to encourage both Canadians and Americans to travel,” explained Dale. “The second was education… We in the U.S. need to do the educating of our elected officials.”

Domestic travel within the U.S. was up in 2025, and Dale believes that will continue—although he believes that trend is mainly being driven by the economy. The decline in Canadians traveling to the U.S. is still a concern for the coalition, and Dale believes there is more work to be done.

“Canada is our number one international market here, and for New York City, it’s the number two market… When we see all these numbers of international travel being down in the U.S., Canada is a big, big part of that,” he explained.

The next step? Create a grassroots model that the associations can use to get their members involved in the advocacy process—such as letter-writing campaigns to Congress.

“Let’s get the members involved,” he said. “How do we mobilize, kind of at a grassroots level, our respective memberships?”

Hitting the Breaks on Breaking Bread (For Now)

Dale shared an update on the Breaking Bread program during the conference.

The USTOA president and CEO announced the initiative last year. Aimed at addressing anti-tourism sentiments among community members in key travel destinations, the program’s goal was to start a conversation between the travel industry and residents. For the first year, Dale’s goal was to start with two destinations and go from there.

Although some progress was made with the initial two destinations, Dale faced various stumbling blocks and was unable to proceed as planned. He characterized the experience as a learning moment and continued to talk about what he hoped to accomplish during his travels.

Then, in October, Dale was telling Sabina Wendt, CEO of VisitBerlin, about the Breaking Bread program and discovered that the city already had a working model very similar to what he wanted to do. For several years, VisitBerlin’s Citizens Advisory Council has been working as a grassroots-led organization that connects with locals on the subject of tourism.

Now, Dale thinks the most effective use of his time would be to shift into an ambassador role, helping to promote what VisitBerlin is doing among other cities that might benefit from creating their own advisory councils.

“I think I’ll give a year to spreading the word about what they’re doing,” explained Dale. “If something’s working, I’m not going to try and create something different.”

Accessibility: The Next Frontier for the Travel Industry

Terry Dale is passionate about making the travel industry more inclusive and sustainable.

The USTOA president and CEO told TMR that the industry has made great strides in terms of sustainability. Now, however, work needs to be done for accessibility.

The USTOA members’ survey revealed that nearly two-thirds of members have a formal, documented sustainability strategy, and 8 out of 10 active members take into account a vendor’s approach to sustainability/social impact when choosing a partner.

“I’m very proud of what we have done in this sustainability space. I don’t think there’s any other U.S.-based association that has taken it on as aggressively as we have,” he said.

Accessibility, however, was a less promising picture. Less than half (45%) of active members have three or more passenger accessibility options. While nearly 80% had accessible accommodation options, less than half had customized tours for different ability levels, and less than a quarter had trained staff to assist passengers with disabilities.

Still, Dale remains optimistic that this, too, will improve with time.

“I was surprised… not as much adoption as I thought there would be,” he told TMR. “Some of these things take time. Sustainability was the same way.”