Letter from the Editor – May
May 19, 2009
Reporting from Stockholm, Sweden, on May 19th…meetings today included relationship-building with VisitSweden.com, The Swedish Ecotourism Society and Nature’s Best, a 80-member group of tour operators here in Sweden. ATTA’s visit here builds upon the ATTA’s 2008 Adventure Travel World Summit (host destination: Norway) efforts to strengthen the global network within Scandinavia.
Our visit here comes on the heel’s of last week’s trek through New York City, where National Geographic Adventure graciously hosted more than 90 adventure travel trade professionals at our May 13th regional meeting, which included ATTA member tour operators, destination marketing organizations and service providers, plus an impressive contingent of influencers new to ATTA and eager to connect, plus quality media keeping tabs on our industry’s progress. Attendees networked early in the meeting, gained insights from ATTA updates, and then participated in several group discussions.
Given the gravity of the crisis in Mexico concerning the so called “swine flu”, the ATTA lent Mexico Tourism Board’s Deputy Director Clara Torres the floor to provide the very latest update from Mexico: her update served as the first discussion item about crises affecting the entire supply chain and moved quickly into discussions about media treatment of crises and the need for industry-wide contingency planning. Perceptual issues also became a hot-button of discussion for the group, and emerged out of further exploration of special marketing and promotional strategies that could help our industry weather challenging economic times.
These were just two of the key topics addressed at our most recent ATTA regional meeting – stay tuned to another regional meeting update when ATTA President Shannon Stowell arrives in the Boulder/Denver, Colorado to host at REI the May 29th regional meeting there. Of course, in between our physical world meetings, jump into AdventureTravelNews.com, contribute to our updates and to stay tuned on the latest from the field.
Yours in adventure, Chris Doyle
Editor
Editor’s Field Notes: December 2008 Update
December 18, 2008
Two Adventure Travel World Summits (Brazil in September, Norway in October), a host of regional meetings, attendance at global travel trade shows, participation in a sustainable travel project 13,000 miles from home, ongoing injection of news into AdventureTravelNews, plus the behind-the-scenes development of ATTA’s soon-to-launch adventure travel community, has kept this editor occupied these past few months.
Now, in the midst of an economic downturn we’re all feeling, and having just returned from the ATTA staff retreat, know that we’re here to continue conveying your news to extend your reach to our subscription base, which now exceeds 18,000 adventure travel industry professionals. Additionally, we’ll work to zero in on news and information that will help your organization navigate these testy times.
Stay tuned for news and coverage from new contributors in 2009 as we work to expand our coverage and reach. If you’ve interest in contributing to the knowlege base of the global adventure travel community, please reach out to me at editor@adventure.travel and submit your ideas and recommendations. I’m eager to have others join the ATTA in building our industry’s clearing how of news, resources and intelligence.
Back again soon, Chris (aka, “Doyle)
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Editor’s Field Notes: AdventureTravelNews Moves from Bi-Monthly to Weekly Under New Format
May 12, 2008
AdventureTravelNewsTM greets you this month in a whole new format that we hope will keep you returning weekly, if not daily, for news and updates. With significant advances in online publishing systems, the ATTA has been able to greatly reduce the time and resources previously required to publish bi-monthly installments. What that means is that with this new approach, AdventureTravelNews (ATN) will present new updates – at least weekly – presenting news, information and features from the field.
Navigation is rather intuitive and offers viewers several paths to quickly access news of special interest. Plus, in signing up for RSS feeds, you can receive email alerts of new articles available at ATN. Next month, you’ll be able to sign up for alerts on topics of special interest to you.
Several new features and columns also have been added to ATN, including Viewpoints, which gives you an opportunity to present editorial opinions on topics of concern to the health and progress of adventure travel. This month, the editorial hot topic is Carbon Offsets, just ahead of our May 15th Tune In Webinar on the role of carbon offsets in adventure travel. And, our Events section will help you keep pace with special events and opportunities presented by the ATTA – and by the industry at large.
Speaking of “you”, our readers, ATN seeks your assistance for a few special areas – in particular, under Trade Buzz, you’ll find a few “Spotlight” sections. Here, we’ll be focusing on progressive sustainability projects, destinations, operators and agents. We seek ATN reader recommendations and stories – access editorial guidelines - that help to focus attention on those organizations and people truly making a positive difference and impact on adventure travel globally.
You’re also able to comment on various stories, offering your take, updates, etc. And, if you’re aware of news, trends, events and other critical information relevant to the global adventure travel industry that you think we should be covering, please be sure to send a quick note. We’ve a lean editorial team, so the more eyes and ears in the field seeding ATN with story ideas, the better.
And, for ATTA Members, this is your chance to have your press releases featured. Send all press releases to editor@adventuretravel.biz and we’ll work to post those in a timely manner.
Please know that not every section features a story just yet, but since we’re pretty far along, I wanted to share with you our first phase of the new AdventureTravelNews.
Enjoy, Chris Doyle
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