Episode 309: Insights from the National Tour Associations Travel Exchange (Part Two), with Nicole Mahoney

In the second episode in a special three-part series of Destination on the Left episodes from the National Tour Associations Travel Exchange in Reno, I’m sharing more insights from the group travel industry. I’m excited to share their thoughts on key trends and challenges as we move into 2023.

In this episode, you’ll hear from these extraordinary leaders:

Peter Johnson, Manager & Market Development at Tourism Nova Scotia Richard Arnold, President at Atlantic Tours Limited Tillie Youngs, Sales Manager at Visit 1000 Islands Anjuli King, Director, Domestic Group Tour & Entertainment Sales at Visit Savannah Debra Asberry, President & Founder at Women Traveling Together, Inc. Heather Egan, Director of Leisure & International Sales at Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau

Travel and Tourism Insight from The National Tour Associations Travel Exchange

In my interviews at the NTA, I talked with tour and travel professionals about how dynamic and resilient the group tour industry is. I asked each guest to share trends, challenges, and the future outlook for the tour industry from their viewpoint — you will find a lot of similar themes running through their answers.

Peter Johnson — Manager & Market Development at Tourism Nova Scotia

Peter discussed the number one issue they are facing in the industry right now and how Tourism Nova Scotia are moving through it. He shares what they’re doing to combat labor shortages with innovative ways to bring people back to the industry, including working closely with partner organizations.

Richard Arnold, President at Atlantic Tours Limited

The impact of COVID-19 on the group travel industry included reducing numbers on tour departures for health and safety reasons. Richard describes how this pivot has led to Atlantic Tours developing an offering of small group departures and why he believes that offering individual, unique experiences are among the key trends of 2023.

Tillie Youngs — Sales Manager at Visit 1000 Islands

Tille describes the impact straddling two countries has on her destination marketing organization. She discusses their notable collaborations on both sides of the St. Lawrence River and why they have always seen themselves as a two-nation destination. We also talked about the opportunities to collaborate and work as closely with international partners.

Anjuli King — Director, Domestic Group Tour & Entertainment Sales at Visit Savannah

There are so many great destinations that have a huge amount to offer groups, and Savannah is undoubtedly one of those places. Anjuli shares some of the trends she is seeing right now in the group tour industry, including the popularity of their black history tours. She also discusses why she believes that Georgia as a whole has opened up to new opportunities in the last couple of years.

Debra Asberry — President & Founder at Women Traveling Together, Inc.

Debra tells me about why she founded Women Traveling Together and describes the ethos of their exclusively small group women tours and why they embed a tour leader to manage group dynamics and just show guests a wonderful time. Debra also gives me her word to describe the NTA Travel Exchange, which is ‘ready’ and dives into how it relates to relationship building within the group travel and tourism industry.

Heather Egan — Director of Leisure & International Sales at Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau

Heather and I discuss some of the problems that have become evident in the group travel niche over recent years. She shares how her organization balances the needs of the group tourism industry with the requirements of individual travelers and why they remain committed to finding the best way to accommodate groups and maintaining key relationships in the sector.

Moving Through Challenges

These brilliant travel professionals join me in exploring key trends and challenges for 2023 and how the COVID-19 pandemic has informed what’s going on in the group travel niche right now. My guests also describe the NTA Travel Exchange in just one word, and some of the key themes you’ll hear in this episode center on partnership, invigorating the industry, and strong connections. Get ready to be inspired!

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