Resume Suggestions

Tory Johnson from ABC Good Morning America has some very good resume suggestions. I particularly like her suggestions on how to present dates. Many new tour directors and guides are mature but you don’t want to appear ‘old’ on your resume.

I’m often asked about ages. If you go to Collette’s webpage you’ll see a picture of their tour directors. A wide range of ages are represented.

http://t.co/kNhglZI

Student Tours

Liz Moran has written a wonderful new section for the “Tour Director Training Guides”. on student tours. Here’s a section I think you’ll find very helpful if you’re considering student tours.

“A one-stop resource to finding a list of student tour operators can be found on the Student and Youth Travel Associate website at www.syta.com. On the home page, locate the tab “For Educators/Group Leaders” and from the drop down menu choose “Find An SYTA Tour Operator.” This will bring you to another page where you can search for operators by country, state or types of tours. Do not conduct a search under “Origination Locations” because it doesn’t matter where the tour operator is located! I work for student operators located in Northern California, Michigan and Illinois! Just conduct a broad search: Under “Destination Locations,” choose United States from the drop down menu. This will give you a list of ALL student tour operators who are members of SYTA.”

Tourism Continues to Rebound!

Good news. Tourism continues to rebound in 2010. “...international visitors spent an estimated $11.1 billion ...marking the sixth consecutive month of growth ...spending has increased, on average, $732 million a month in 2010. ..Travel purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services ...$8.6 billion during June, an increase of nearly 14 percent... Passenger Fare Receipts: 17 percent to $2.5 billion for the month, an increase of $362 million...visitors have spent an estimated $64.6 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date...an increase of 7 percent ...“

http://www.travmedia.com/north-america/pressrelease.php?id=61276&mo=3&referencekey=d66cd2092d34039ac4ad8d092024d19a

New Surveys Give Insight Into U.S. Travelers and Spending Trends

Interesting survey on the direction of tourism. “Among men who were surveyed, the top destination was Australia, while most women chose Italy.” After seeing the Italy pizza scenes in “Eat, Pray, Love” I’m guessing Italy will become even more popular with women.


http://www.travelagewest.com/article_ektid44980.aspx

Eat, Pray and Love

We’re all counting on the movie boasting international tourism. Tour operators are already adding “Eat, Pray and Love” tours. Should be fun tours to lead. I'm ready! I love Bali.

http://www.straitstimes.com/SME%2BSpotlight/Lifestyle/Story/STIStory_562318.html

New Travel Gadgets

I like the solar charger and especially the Kodak Playsport. My cell video just isn't enough.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2010/07/12/whitfield.tech.for.travel.cnn

Tipping Guide

Here’s a good resource for domestic and international tour managers on tipping. It’s always a ‘touchy’ topic for our groups. They want to know when to tip, the ‘average’ tip but never want to be ‘told’ to tip. This site also includes a downloadable Tipping Guide and a link to an Asia tipping site.

www.travelsense.org/tips/tippingetiquette.cfm

Travel Careers on the Rebound

Here’s a copy of a recent press release on travel careers and good resource for tour operators, videos, sustainable tourism, faith tours, interviews, trip research, attractions, links and more.

http://www.grouptravelleader.com/Newsletter_Items/2010/June/Travel_careers_on_the_rebound.aspx

How to Become a Tour Guide : Overview of Tour Guide Career

Tour operators report resurgence in international bookings

By: Michelle Baran
March 05, 2010
Tour operators are seeing customers book more international trips for 2010, indicating that U.S. travelers are starting to invest more in their vacations again and are feeling secure enough in their jobs to leave the office for longer.

"Travel is the ultimate barometer of consumer confidence," said Steve Born, vice president of marketing for the Globus Family of Brands, which among several operators has seen long-haul international business returning after a year when close-to-home travel — or little to no travel — was often favored over pricier trips.

Bookings for Europe, a high-volume destination for most operators, reflect a sizeable increase in demand across the board.

"Europe is up more than 50%," said Richard Launder, president of TravCorp USA, the parent of several brands, including Trafalgar, Insight and Brendan Vacations. "That gets us back to 2008 levels and over. So in a sense, we’ve come back."

Complete article: http://www.travelweekly.com/article3.aspx?id=211122

Travel Promotion Act Faces Final Passage, Vote Expected Soon

Contact Your Senators Immediately And Urge Their Support
23 Feb 10

The travel community is on the cusp of final passage of the Travel Promotion Act, landmark legislation which will for the first time create a public-private partnership to promote travel to the United States. The travel community is on the cusp of final passage of the Travel Promotion Act, landmark legislation which will for the first time create a public-private partnership to promote travel to the United States. After months of focus on other issues, including health care reform and jobs stimulus legislation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated that final consideration of this important bill is imminent. President Obama also touted the value of the legislation during his comments in Las Vegas this past Friday (click here).

We urge you to please start reaching out to your Senators today to ensure that when the bill is brought to the floor they are ready to support it. Speak to them about the immediate need to pass this bill in order to help our economy by attracting new spending, creating new jobs and reducing our national deficit, all at no cost to American taxpayers (see below for links to contact information and talking points).

In order to help you make the case, we worked in conjunction with Oxford Economics to develop a new analysis of overseas travel to the United States titled The Lost Decade which shows the failure of the United States to simply keep pace with the growth in international long-haul travel worldwide and how much it has cost our economy:

- 68.3 million lost visitors, each of whom on average spend well over $4,000 dollars.
- $509 billion in lost spending, including $214 billion in direct spending and $295 billion in downstream spending at restaurants, retailers, and scores of other small businesses.
- 441,000 lost jobs, direct, indirect and induced, in all regions of the country.
- $32 billion in lost tax revenue at the federal, state and local levels.
- $270 billion in lost trade surplus, export funding needed to rebuild our economy.

As you know, the Senate passed the Travel Promotion Act in September (S.1023) with a strong bipartisan vote of 79-19. The Travel Promotion Act was then unanimously approved by the House of Representatives in November as part of H.R.1299. Because the legislation creates "revenue" for the federal government, the Constitution requires that the Travel Promotion Act originate in the House. Therefore, the Senate must now take a final vote on H.R.1299.

It's important that every Senator who supported the legislation in September hear again from members of the travel community thanking them for their original vote of support and urging their continued support in the coming weeks for final passage of the legislation.

Your relentless grassroots advocacy for more than two years has moved the United States one giant step closer to its first multi-million dollar, nationally coordinated travel promotion program. Let's get the job done in the Senate with final passage.

Contact Your Senators TODAY

Call or email your Senator today and let him/her know that you value their support for the Travel Promotion Act.

International Tourism on Track for a Rebound after an Exceptionally Challenging 2009

Madrid, Spain 18 January 2010

Growth returned to international tourism in the last quarter of 2009contributing to better than expected full-year results, according to the latest edition of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. International tourist arrivals fell by an estimated 4% in 2009. Prospects have also improved with arrivals now forecast to grow between 3% and 4% in 2010.This outlook is confirmed by the remarkable rise of the UNWTO Panel of Experts’ Confidence Index.

2009 – Last quarter sees return to growth

For a copy of the full report click on:

http://www.unwto.org/media/news/en/press_det.php?id=5361&idioma=E

Travel Director Suggestions

5 Tips from This Week's Featured Travel Director

Rennette Grace - Duluth, MN
Rennette's Top 5 Travel Tips:

1. SMILE
Meeting Planners and attendees have business on their minds when they first meet you. Smile warmly to let them know you are happy to help them and put their minds at ease. Your ability to meet their needs and your advance preparation is a given; now just convey that with confidence and a smile. Smiles also help brighten the day for your co-workers and suppliers when you are in the middle of those long, long, long hours of a busy day.

2. PLAN your personal meals ahead of time.
Nothing can be more distracting while working than having your stomach rumbling with hunger and losing your concentration due to lack of nutrition. If you know you won't be getting enough time for lunch or dinner while onsite, pack nutrition bars, fruit, and a beverage in a tote bag so you will have something nutritious to eat when you get a 15 minute break.

3. BUY a laptop lock.
Too much valuable information is on your laptop to risk it "walking away" while you are out of the room. We know these things happen sometimes - just don't let it happen to you. Buy a lock and use it faithfully.
4. ALWAYS have paper and pen handy.

Even if you are just heading down the hallway to the restroom you may be stopped by the client, or an attendee, with a request or question that needs research. I keep small post-its and a pen in my pant's pocket so I'm prepared to take a note right then and there with a promise to get back to them as soon as possible. Having it written down, reminds me of the request and who needs the answer or action required.

5. REMEMBER why we are there.
As travel directors we are hired to assist the client in producing a smooth running program. While it may be pleasant for us to discover a new hotel, city or co-workers, these aspects of the job are something we take time to enjoy only if, and when, all of the daily work is done on time. Our number one priority for each day is to focus on the tasks that bring us closer to offering a successful "behind the scenes" operation that contributes to the success of the client's meeting or event.

Want to share your travel tips and be a Featured Travel Director or Tour Guide Member? Contact INTD for details at support@intdonline.org.

Source: International Network of Travel Directors: http://www.intdonline.org/

Green Jobs in Tourism

I want to encourage those interested in having an effect on the world in tourism to consider a career as a Professional Tour Director and or Guide. We have encouraged countries, local destinations and our tour members in understanding, sharing and saved areas from destruction thanks to tourism. As a professional Tour Director I travel with the tour groups and have a big influence on my group’s experiences domestically and internationally.

There are so many examples and so many new possibilities. Think of the wildlife parks in Africa saved for tourism and now more profits enriching the local communities, tourism support of our National Parks, the Antarctic, Artic, Borneo and struggling destinations around the world. Tourists are interested in education and not just getting on and off the coach at popular tourist attractions.

I recorded a free video series on careers available at: http://www.ehow.com/video_2275923_overview-tour-guide-career.html. I also train tour directors, tour guides and travel staff online through 1700 colleges and through my ebook the ‘Tour Director Training Guide’. Since I work through public education my training is all very reasonable. Link: www.tourtraining.com

I love working in tourism and hope this helps.
Cherie

Job Posting

Ann Lombardi from "thetripchicks.com" passed on the below job posting. Thank you Ann.

http://new-york-jobs.jobfox.com/education-training/library-information-/educational-tour-leader-nyc/4b7776ad-6f11-4fae-b0d6-8e47100d0eba?source=indeed0