Thursday, May 23
2:45–3:45 p.m.
Breakout Session VI
Emerging Group Travel Markets
Before you write off this session by imagining 50 senior citizens traveling on a motor coach, consider the new faces of group travel. Get tips on new ways to present your destination/hotel/attraction to the lucrative group travel market.
In this session, you'll:
- Learn more about the emerging packaged travel markets: families, youth/student groups and adventurers.
- Take a look at religious travel segments — they are a prominent component of the group travel market. Learn how you can position your destination’s assets to attract religious groups.
- Get examples from the experts at group tour publications about which destinations are successfully showcasing and marketing their packaged travel opportunities.
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| Penny Whitman, Editor-in-Chief, NTA Courier | Brian Jewell, Executive Editor, The Group Travel Leader Inc. | Rick Martinez, Editor, Group Tour Media |
Additional Speaker Information
Penny Whitman is editor-in-chief at the NTA Courier. The association represents tour and travel professionals buying and selling travel product in every U.S. state, every Canadian province and more than 40 countries. Along with the monthly editions of Courier, the NTA publications team also produces the Trip Planner for Student Travel, the Trip Planner for Group Leaders, and The Best of the USA (a directory for the China market). Whitman was born in New York City and was raised there and outside of Washington, D.C. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a B.A. in English literature and fine arts and completed an intensive post-graduate program at the University of Denver’s Publishing Institute. She has served as NTA’s editor-in-chief since 2006, before which she was editor of an award-winning arts-and-culture quarterly published by Blood-Horse Publications. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with one dog and five chickens.
Brian Jewell is executive editor at The Group Travel Leader Inc. He oversees the company’s print and online products, including flagship magazine The Group Travel Leader, which reaches 20,000 tour operators, travel agents, group leaders and other travel industry readers. He also oversees Going On Faith, the national travel magazine for church groups with an audience of 6,500 church travel planners, and Bank Travel Management, which reaches 4,100 bank club travel directors. Brian has been with the company since 2004, previously serving as associate editor, project manager and staff writer. His work with the company has taken him to 48 U.S. states and more than 25 foreign countries. He resides in Lexington, Kentucky, with his wife Laura. Connect with Brian on Twitter.
Rick Martinez is editor at Group Tour Media. The communications company publishes Group Tour Magazine, Student Group Tour magazine and Group Tour Spotlight e-magazine, along with seven related group travel-focused websites and special, custom and marketing publications and products. He joined Group Tour Media in November 2010. Previously, he operated a communications/public relations firm and worked for newspapers in Michigan and Indiana. A graduate of Ball State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science, he has done graduate studies in communications at Grand Valley State University. He lives in Jenison, Michigan, and is married with three children.