Lessons and Insights
President Shannon Stowell Interviews Kesang Wangdi, Director General of the Tourism Council of Bhutan
April 17, 2012
Kesang Wangdi Editor’s Note: ATTA President Shannon Stowell served as a speaker from February 3-5, 2012 at the Pacific Asia Travel Association Responsible Tourism Conference & Mart, under the theme “High Value Tourism, Low Impact Footprints.” Ahead of the conference, Shannon explored Bhutan along with industry leaders and conference hosts. After the journey, Shannon interviewed Kesang Wangdi, the Director General of the Tourism Council of Bhutan at the Zhiwa Ling Hotel. Shannon Stowell: First off, thank you for being such wonderful hosts. When we landed in Bhutan and I got off the plane, I felt like a kid again, that feeling of wonder and excitement about Bhutan came very easily. We’re here at the PATA event and I’d like to start off by asking what significance the PATA event has for Bhutan? Kesang Wangdi: First of all, we deeply appreciate PATA’s coming here – for choosing Bhutan as a destination for the conference and board meeting. I think their... Read More →
Featured Interview Lessons and Insights
Behind the Scenes: ATTA Tour Operators Share Challenges, Trends and Opportunities
February 15, 2012
Adventure Travel Trade Association’s Tour Operators Speak Out on What’s Ahead We strive in AdventureTravelNews to cover the trends, topics and developments that matter most to our ATTA membership and our industry readership, as part of fostering a community that shares knowledge and creates an environment of open collaboration and learning. In that vein, we reached out to over 50 of ATTA’s 450+ member tour operators to answer a series of questions on the trends, shifts and developments that they see occurring in their respective areas of our industry and within their own enterprises in the next eighteen months. Of the more than half that responded, voices from 15 different countries – and representing operators of all types and sizes – sounded off about everything from managing guest expectations and online presence to dealing with disruptions of technology, politics and climate. Below are the five questions and their responses. Editor’s Note: Opinions... Read More →
Featured Article Lessons and Insights
Where Luxury, Conservation and Adventure Intersect: Q&A with Neil Rogers of Francis Ford Coppola Resorts
August 16, 2011
By Nicole Petrak, Assistant Editor to AdventureTravelNews and Special Projects for the Adventure Travel Trade Association Neil Rogers is both the Director of Marketing for Francis Ford Coppola Resorts and a sustainable tourism specialist consulting on a wide range of global projects. Neil has been working with experiential travel and sustainable tourism for the last 25-years. He fell in love with Latin America on a post-University 18-month overland bus trip from Mexico City to Tierra del Fuego and back to Caracas. Working as a tour guide for the next five years he explored the remotest corners of the continent and soon graduated to the position of tours manager of Journey Latin America in London. In 1989 he moved to Belize to manage the award winning Lodge at Chaa Creek. In 1991 Rogers was on the planning committee for the Caribbean’s first Ecotourism Conference held in Belize City and later attended the First International Eco-lodge Development Forum held at Maho Bay, US Virgin... Read More →
Lessons and Insights _HPFeature
Insights: Why Including Consumer Reviews on Travel Sites Matters
July 18, 2011
A recent guest post on Tnooz by Anthony Rawlins, managing director of Digital Visitor, makes a persuasive argument for placing reviews directly on your company website. Laden with compelling statistics, the article outlines seven reasons that reviews should be a top priority in travel companies’ online marketing. Some key takeaways include: Reviews on a website can increase sales up to 18 percent and positive reviews are almost as important to consumers as price (the #1 factor in booking). As such, positive reviews can be a powerful tool in online conversions and can help you avoid price reductions and sales. Reviewing a product or service is increasing in popularity in the digital age, as almost half of consumers have written a review – but people prefer to read reviews on company websites versus newspapers and magazines, specialty forums and social networking sites. Having reviews on your website can increase browsing time between 50 and 100 percent. What about the nagging... Read More →
Lessons and Insights _HPFeature
Crucible: Forced to Shut Down – Harvard Business Review’s Article on WildChina
June 9, 2011
Assistant Editor’s Note: The following article, written by Allison Beard and featuring ATTA Board member Zhang Mei, was originally published in the Harvard Business Review, and is reprinted here with permission of both Zhang and the publication. The first defining moment of Zhang Mei’s career came in late 1999, when she quit her lucrative consulting job to launch a small travel company in her native China. In December, the Harvard MBA was wearing business suits to New York boardroom meetings; by July, she was in jeans, on the floor of her tiny Beijing office, untangling telephone wires. The second—and more important—turning point came nearly four years later, when the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak hit Asia, battering a travel industry still recovering from the 9/11 terrorist attacks and all but killing Zhang’s fledgling business. Nothing in her training had taught her how to handle the crisis. But she managed to keep the company going, and... Read More →
Lessons and Insights _HPFeature
Interview with Caroline Warburton of Wild Scotland
June 1, 2011
The following is an interview by Nicole Petrak with Caroline Warburton about the recent merger between Activity Scotland and Wild Scotland. Caroline Warburton is the manager of Wild Scotland and is responsible for the new association’s activities. The newly merged group will continue to be called Wild Scotland and have an emphasis on responsible and professional tourism, with all members signing up to Wild Scotland’s code of practice. As the Scottish wildlife and adventure tourism association, the group aims to represent nature-based activity providers in Scotland. Caroline together with a number of wildlife tourism operators was involved in the forming of Wild Scotland in 2003 as the wildlife tourism association, and together with an active Board of Directors, she has seen the association grow into an effective organisation. Caroline’s career started in London working for an outbound tour operator. Feeling the call of the wild, she moved to the Highlands of Scotland where she was... Read More →
Lessons and Insights _HPFeature
Q&A with ATTA’s Shannon Stowell on Egypt & Jordan: Updates from the Field
May 16, 2011
From April 22-28th, 2011, ATTA President Shannon Stowell traveled to Jordan and Egypt as part of an industry delegation designed to support tourism colleagues in these countries, which have been deeply impacted by both national and regional political turmoil recently. The delegation also made observations about the conditions on the ground in order to inform their constituencies back at home. Stowell reports back from the field and reflects on what he experienced these destinations. Shannon, how did “Restoring the Journey: Support Travel to Egypt and Jordan,” come about and how did ATTA become involved? ATTA President, Shannon Stowell I was contacted by the Jordan Tourism Board-North America to talk about how the events that have been unfolding in the Middle East have impacted the tourism industries there. Jordan partnered with the Egypt Tourism Authority, and as ATTA has had strong ties and has been working with colleagues from both nations for years – Jordan is a... Read More →
Featured Interview Lessons and Insights
Q&A with Jon Gunnar Benjaminsson, Owner of Iceland Unlimited, on Disabled-Friendly Adventure Travel
April 5, 2011
“Handling people’s free time is a big responsibility that I take very seriously” by Nicole Petrak, ATTA Special Projects and Assistant Editor of AdventureTravelNews The following Q&A is with Jón Gunnar Benjamínsson, owner of new tour company Iceland Unlimited. Jon was born in Akureyri, on the north east coast of Iceland. Being the son of a farmer, he enjoyed the outdoors from an early age and soon took interest in fishing in streams and rivers on his parents land. His interest in being out in the nature grew stronger as he matured, and after coming home from culinary studies in Denmark he decided to seek education in tourism. After graduation in 2005 he started working for a local travel agency in Reykjavík. In September 2007 he was the victim of a severe car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. After two years of rehabilitation he took a trip across the higland plateau of Iceland on his ATV to raise awareness for accessibility to highland huts... Read More →
Featured Interview Lessons and Insights
Keeping Up with Over 50′s Set – Q&A with Author Don Mankin
March 16, 2011
by Nicole Petrak, Special Projects & Assistant Editor, AdventureTravelNews The following Q&A is with travel writer Don Mankin. Don has been through more career transitions than Arnold Schwarzenegger, from aerospace engineer to psychology professor to business consultant to university dean to travel writer, with a few other stops along the way. Before fleeing the academic life in 2006, he had authored four books in management and organizational psychology, including Teams and Technology from Harvard Business School Press and Business Without Boundaries from Jossey-Bass. His latest book, co-authored with ATTA President Shannon Stowell, is Riding the Hulahula to the Arctic Ocean: A Guide to 50 Extraordinary Adventures for the Seasoned Traveler (National Geographic Press, 2008). Riding the Hulahula provides personal, psychologically-rich descriptions of off-the-beaten track adventures for active seniors. The Wall Street Journal described the book as “one of the best travel books to... Read More →
Lessons and Insights
‘If you are a person who likes to walk through Croatian meadows past sheep, don’t be a banker’: Q&A with Edward Piegza, Founder / Owner of Classic Journeys
March 16, 2011
by Nicole Petrak, ATTA Special Projects & Assistant Editor, AdventureTravelNews The following Q&A is with Edward Piegza, the President and founder of Classic Journeys, an adventure travel company that operates cultural walking adventures, culinary tours, family journeys and private journeys in 68 regions in 31 countries on 5 continents. Born in Pennsylvania, he is married with two sons, ages 14 and 11. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Illinois and an MBA in marketing and finance from Northwestern University. He began his career at Continental Bank in Chicago before heading to San Diego in 1992 to run a British tour company. He founded Classic Journeys in 1995. His hobbies include skiing; tennis; coaching sons in football, basketball and baseball; hiking; and long beach walks with his wife, Susan, and Rhodesian Ridgeback, Torre. Edward Piegza, and his wife Susan on the Bridge of Sighs, Venice How has Classic Journeys been impacted by the recent... Read More →
