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 Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, it’s mid-August! How did that happen? It’s still beautiful summer holiday time, but it’s slipping away by the moment, and attention is turning toward the fall season. That’s typically when the students go back to school and the adults get down to business, nicely refreshed from at least some easing up in summer, if not an actual vacation.

It’s time to bear down on all the things that have to get done in the fall. In earlier times for most people, fall was the time of harvest—time to put up stores for the winter. For people in the travel industry, it’s conference season. And for some, a number in which I include myself, the highlight and the grand finale of the fall conference season is the USTOA Annual Conference and Marketplace, held around the end of November and the beginning of December. This year will be the association’s 50th anniversary, a huge milestone by any measure.

The COVID pandemic has put the kibosh on in-person conferences, and forced trade associations to devise some sort of virtual event as a replacement. So where does that leave the U.S. Tour Operators Association, whose Annual Conference & Marketplace has been its number one attraction since soon after the association was founded in 1972?

In surveys of USTOA’s membership, its annual conference always comes in on top, hands down, as the most valued service the association provides its membership.

The annual meeting creates an opportunity for the association’s active member tour operators to have invaluable face-to-face meetings with associate members Read the rest of this entry »