NAJ Items – Page 21

As 2017, NAJ’s 21^st year in operation, draws to a close we wanted to take time to review the various innovations and that were implemented.

The Secret Show. NAJ staged the first edition of Active America China, Receptive Edition (AACRE), the surreptitious invitation-only event that brought together some 35 U.S. travel suppliers and DMO sponsors with a 50 quality receptive tour operators for two days of presentations, one-on-one appointment and field trip to six offices.

Five Sold Out Shows: For the first time, five of NAJ’s six boutique trade shows, the RTO Summit West in Los Angeles, NAJ’s RTO Summit East in New York City, Active America China Summit in Portland, Active America Receptive Edition and eTourism Summit were all sellouts, which proves that sometimes it’s ok to be the tallest midget.

Innovations:

Introducing new Digital tools for International sales. Sometimes against their will, we subjected RTO Summit attendees to an eTourism for international education day in an effort to train international sales professionals on using cost-efficient digital marketing tools to supplement traditional relationship marketing and advance their careers. Additionally, professional development enhancements such as executive coaching sessions and international sales strategy sessions were added to the one-on-one sessions at RTO Summit West.

Affordable Luncheon Sponsorships. NAJ announced its “Sponsorship-Buy-the-Minute” feature for its upcoming RTO Summit West in Los Angeles in February 2018. Timed, one, two or three minute presentations will run during the event’s marketplace lunch where sellers will be able to present to all operators for as little as $950.

DMO as MatchMaker. In 2018, DMO will play a major role in introducing their independent hotels to receptive tour operators at all RTO Summit events. NAJ is launching the Year of the Independent Hotel initiative, which will reward DMO’s bringing a list of independent properties with additional promotion support.

New on Touroperatorland.com

NAJ’s tour-and-travel-industry focused website, TourOperatorLand.com introduced a series of tools and features designed to make the site more user-friendly and ROI efficient, including:

New Homepage look and feel that makes navigation simpler and quicker from the homepage.

Partnership with Open Table…connecting operators to 42,000 restaurants where they can easily book groups.

At-A-Glance Group Dining: That displays Group Dining, Ethnic Dining and Open Table in one easy-to-read page. (See example here (hotlink it) http://www.touroperatorland.com/ataglance/ataglance_dining)

Hi-Res Trackable Tour and Travel Hotel Photos- destinations will be able to include tour and travel hotel images on their portals trackable to both the hotel and DMO contact. (Click here (Oakland) to see the prototype.

China-Ready Content. A new link making it easier for Chinese operators to access a destinations Mandarin marketing materials (or website) will be available on portals.

For more information, or if you have questions, send an e-mail to info@visitnaj.com

It is going to be a lost year—again: Yes, for the third year in a row, the professionals who market and promote the U.S. travel product abroad are going to have to work very hard simply to stay in the same place. Despite new waves of visitors from China and other points in Asia, the United States inbound tourism industry is struggling simply to maintain the current level of travelers from other country markets to the United States …