Lisa Simon, the newly elected president of
the National Tour Association, said she would pursue a plan to
restore the objectives the group had embraced before an attempt by
its board to rename the association and reframe its mission incited
a rebellion among members in 2004.
The NTA's board
conducted a six-month nationwide search before settling on Simon,
who had held the position on an interim basis since the departure
of NTA's previous president, Hank Phillips, in August 2006.
Phillips had worked with the NTA and Host Communications, which
runs the administration of the NTA, in a variety of roles for 21
years.
Simon joined the
NTA staff in 1985 and served as senior vice president from 1998 to
2004. She left to become executive director of the International
Coach Federation but returned to the NTA in 2006.
The organization is
still recovering from the upset it experienced after its board
adopted a name change in 2004 and revealed it as a fait accompli at
the 2004 convention. A surprised membership rebelled and forced the
leadership to back down and return to the former name.
Dissension was
something new for the normally disciplined and collegial NTA, and
many members resigned. The 2005 convention reported about 500 fewer
delegates than it had the previous year.
Part of Simon's
role as the new president will be to continue the process of
reuniting the organization that began when the name was
restored.
Simon charts course as president
Simon told Travel
Weekly her stint as interim director had given her a chance to get
her bearings and begin to chart her course as president.
"Being involved
over the last six months has given me an opportunity to see where
things are, and I'm quite impressed with the high energy of our
leadership team, our board and all our committees and membership,"
she said. "They're all in sync and passionate about moving the
organization forward."
The board and
committees prepared a strategic plan for the organization in
January, being careful this time to involve the membership at each
step of the process.
"We looked at
packaged travel, how operators have changed, the big issues that
the organization should be paying attention to," Simon said. "Now,
we're in the process of implementing it, making it a living,
breathing plan for the future."
In working out the
NTA's new strategic plan, Simon said, diversity of the market and
the needs of the membership played a key role in all the
initiatives, whether in domestic, international, group or
independent travel markets.
"Nobody wants the
same product anymore," Simon said. "Tour operators and packagers
are having to meet the very specific needs of their
clients."
Simon summed up the
basic mission of the NTA as "looking for ways to maximize business
opportunities not only between operator and supplier but also
operator to operator; through our annual convention; our spring
meet and our magazine; and through education and research into what
is going on in the marketplace."
To
contact reporter David Cogswell, send e-mail to [email protected].