Now heading into the final quarter of the calendar year, it’s the end of the summer vacation period and the season of getting back down to business. Near the end of this quarter, Dec. 2-6, the U.S. Tour Operators Association will hold its Annual Conference and Marketplace at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles.
If you haven’t purchased your ticket yet, don’t sweat it. It’s sold out. It’s not a small conference, but it is limited in size. USTOA is the rare exception in the business world of an entity that does not seek growth.
The association limits its participation to what it sees as manageable levels. The conference gathers roughly 800 travel industry professionals for a few days of intense focus on current travel issues, as well as the pleasures and possibilities of travel.
The USTOA’s annual conference is easily one of the best travel industry events of the year. It’s a single conference that brings together various segments of the travel industry, including tour operators, destination marketing organizations, airlines, hotel companies, insurance companies… basically all suppliers of travel products and services.
Though travel advisors are conspicuously absent from this list, the retail segment has a strong presence at the conference, because it is to the retail community that these companies direct their sales and marketing efforts.
Today, nearly all tour operators maintain various channels for reaching their customers, including ways to book directly via the internet or phone. However, practically all USTOA tour operators have travel agents at the center of their strategies for success. That’s because through the evolution of the travel industry, as various game-changing technologies have evolved, the wholesale/retail partnership remains the most successful business model for any travel beyond the most basic commoditized products. Tour operators know from experience that travel agents are well worth the cost of commissions that they are paid, and also are the most cost-effective way of reaching, qualifying, and holding customers.
Travel retailers are the fingers that reach into all corners of the public to find the potential clients that tour operators are looking for. They are the freelance sales force of the tour operators. It’s a proven system.
While travel advisors are not physically present at the USTOA conference, they are not unrepresented. The conference revolves around them, as they are the best gateway to help each tour operator find prospective customers that are appropriate for its specialty.
The core of the USTOA, and its conference, consists of tour operators that are active members. This is an elite group, because it requires them to post a $1 million dollar bond with the association. Having the financial wherewithal to put aside a spare million puts you in a rarified category.
The organization was founded in California in 1972 to help the public distinguish solid, reliable tour operators from those who those who may receive your deposit, but then when you turn up at the destination you find that they never paid for your room.
Tour operation is a field that is vulnerable to scams and rip-off artists. It’s a business in which you can go a long way on OPM, other people’s money. A tour operator doesn’t have to own hotels, motorcoaches, or airplanes; but it can contract the use of those things. Many a shady conman has discovered phony tour operation as an opportunity to rip off innocent consumers. They can run an ad, show victims what they can have at the destination, and convince them to put down their money to reserve the trip, but then fail to come through with their end of the bargain.
It was because of a disturbing increase in such scams that the organization was formed. In the beginning, it was seen as way to create a seal of approval from a trustworthy authority to show that you could trust any operator that can display the brand that shows their affiliation.
The association’s success in its original mission has almost obscured that history. Tour operator rip-off stories are rare these days. USTOA was one of the reasons that kind of scam is no longer seen as a big threat.
USTOA became a national organization in 1975, and has continued evolving and adapting as it learns better ways serve its membership and the industry in which the membership operates.
The association is now an international association, targeted by destination marketing organizations from around the world. They recognize that through USTOA they can reach the top tour operators of America, which are the door to the travel advisors, who are in turn their connection to the traveling public. It’s a highly effective hierarchical system that grew up organically because it works.
For DMOs from around the world, the USTOA is arguably their best way of penetrating the vast, but extremely difficult and competitive, US market.
Because tour operators operate in a global theater, the annual conference is an electric gathering of a great diversity of people from all over the world. What brings them together is a shared interest in the travel business.
Now having accomplished its initial goal of creating a safe tour operator industry, the association has moved far beyond its original mission and developed other ways to serve its members.
One of USTOA’s purposes is to help keep its members informed and apprised of events that take place in the world, as well as to all kinds of developments that may affect their businesses. For a tour operator, practically everything in the world affects business. USTOA recently sent out notices to inform the membership of the negotiations to avert a government shutdown. A shutdown would close national parks and many other operations and create havoc for tour operators.
The conference schedule is peppered with a series of events with speakers and video presentations that serve to inform as well as to entertain, because hey, it has to be a good time, right?
Though the conference is USTOA’s biggest event, many other initiatives take place during the year. Here are some highlights of USTOA’s activities over the last year.
- In January, USTOA hired its first Global Social Impact Manager, Molly Laycob. She will “focus and strategize on USTOA’s sustainability and DEI initiatives.”
- In June the association announced its third Sustainability is Responsibility (SIR) Summit, which will be held in Singapore, May 18-21, 2024. The summit will present discussions and keynote speeches on subjects such as the impact of tourism on local communities and the environment, sustainable destination management case studies, and the role of technology in promoting sustainable tourism.
- In June USTOA held its 11th Congressional Caucus, taking a group of tour operator members to present the importance and the concerns of the travel industry to members of congress.
- In July the team at USTOA produced a music video that laced together the music of several countries as soundtrack to a panorama of enticing footage of the countries, designed to inspire travel to those places. If anything can attract people to places, it’s music and images like this.
- In September USTOA unveiled its new sustainability policy. It outlines goals for member tour operators to aim for more sustainable practices. The overarching goal of the policy is to “ensure a sustainable future for the travel and tourism industry by balancing economic growth, environmental care, and social wellbeing.”
The USTOA Annual Conference and Marketplace is a whole lot of good things. I hope you are fortunate enough to attend. If you didn’t manage to get your ticket, maybe next year.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
