OTTAWA -- At the National Tour Association's (NTA) annual Travel Exchange conference, tour operators, suppliers and destination marketing organizations were collaborating across booths and tables, swapping business cards and fostering relationships.
And the NTA wants more of that.
It's one of five strategic initiatives the association developed based on member feedback and after a two-day board meeting in August. The goals include increased industry advocacy; bolstering member engagement; professional development through workforce and succession planning; increasing partnerships and collaboration; and putting a new focus on technology.
In with its newly established initiatives, the NTA plans to introduce more opportunities for tour operators and suppliers -- hotels, attractions, restaurants and the like -- to collaborate outside of the annual conference, said president Catherine Prather.
The initiatives come ahead of the organization's 75th anniversary next year; Prather said she hopes the goals will fuel the association's next era.
"We have great member engagement, but let's actually enhance that with even more opportunity for our sellers to connect with our buyers throughout the year," she said. "We heard a lot about workforce or succession planning, [those] kind of challenges. We also heard about technology in general."
The goal was underscored by the results of a member survey released at the conference that found that operators, suppliers and DMOs all wanted increased communication with one another.
Angel Green, the director of leisure sales for Visit Oklahoma City, praised the opportunities afforded by the association, especially as she promoted the centennial of Route 66 to operators at the conference.
"I love the relationships that we have with these tour operators," she said. "I really feel like you can really learn what they're looking for, and we have a chance to sell to that."
The board, newly elected and announced at the conference, will begin developing a timeline for the goals, Prather said.
Teaching technology
The NTA is promoting technology solutions for its members.
To tap into this, the organization organized sessions on AI at the conference, teaching members how to harness the power of technology to boost their business. As the tech becomes even more advanced, Prather said, it's better for members to learn how to use it than to be left behind.
Plans are already underway to strengthen the industry through younger generations. Local students joined the conference, under the guidance of volunteer mentors, to expose them to the tourism industry. The association is also developing a plan to collaborate with university students to introduce them to tourism.
Growing the next generation of travel professionals is two-pronged, Prather said. First, institutional knowledge was lost during the pandemic as businesses shuttered and experts left the industry, and new members are in need of mentorship. Second, she hopes to better pitch the travel industry as a career for younger people.
"Unfortunately, our industry doesn't have the best image as a career. A lot of people see it as low wages," she said. "A lot of people think of it as hospitality only and 'I'm going to go work in a hotel,' when, frankly, there are so many opportunities in this industry. You could be a tour operator, you could be a receptive operator, you could be a destination marketer."