ATTA News
All Africa Discusses Namibia’s Bid For ATWS 2013
February 19, 2012
Namibia’s bid for ATWS 2013 and the benefits that will come with hosting the summit were discussed in a recent article by All Africa: Namibia: Summit to Have Great Spin-Offs for Tourism Read More →
ATTA "In the News"
ATTA’s New Regional Strategy Featured in TravelDailyNews
February 10, 2012
ATTA’s announcement of its new regional strategy was picked up as a featured story in TravelDailyNews. Read the entire article, ATTA unveils regionalization strategy, promotes internal veterans to new posts, on TravelDailyNews. Read More →
ATTA Press Releases
Adventure Travel Trade Association Introduces New Advisory Board Members
February 9, 2012
Seattle, WA – The Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) has appointed three new members to its Advisory Board, including Ms. Malia Asfour, Director of the Jordan Tourism Board in North America (JTBNA), Bill Bryan, President, Off the Beaten Path, and Richard G. Edwards, Founder of ecoism. Francis X. Farrell, CEO of Turnstile Media, Perry Lungmus, Vice President, Luxury Travel at Luxury Leaders, Russell Walters, President of Northern Outdoors, each of whom served on the ATTA Advisory Board for more than five years, will transition to Emeritus status. Antonio del Rosal, who has served on the ATTA Advisory Board for two years, has transitioned to the new role of ATTA Executive Director – Latin America. Asfour represents a country with which the ATTA has enjoyed a long partnership, while Bryan’s nationally acclaimed travel planning service handles outdoor adventure in some of the world’s leading adventure territories. Edwards, cited by Conde Nast Traveler as a Top Travel Specialist,... Read More →
ATTA Press Releases Featured Article
Adventure Travel Trade Association Unveils Regionalization Strategy, Promotes Internal Veterans to New Posts
February 8, 2012
The ATTA team at the 2011 Summit in Chiapas. Seattle, WA.— Responding to its diverse and growing base of nearly 800 businesses and tourism organization members representing 82 countries – up from approximately 100 members and a dozen countries in 2005, the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) today unveiled the first-phase of a multi-year regionalization strategy designed to better address the destination-specific needs, challenges and opportunities of leaders pursuing responsible adventure tourism development worldwide. For its initial phase, the ATTA is intensifying attention on Europe, Latin America, Australia/New Zealand and North America in 2012, which will be followed in a later stage by increased specialization in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and other adventure-rich destinations. Its early geographic focus brings increased support to areas where the ATTA has established a foothold – areas that the organization recognizes as requiring deeper support and specialization... Read More →
ATTA Press Releases
Adventure Travel Trade Association Releases 1H 2012 North America Regional Meeting Schedule
February 1, 2012
Seattle, WA—The Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) announces its regional meeting schedule for 2012; in order to further enhance its member services, the ATTA built much of the 2012 schedule for its North American Regional Meetings next to each other, stringing five Regional events together in a 14-day period. This will allow any ATTA member to utilize these events as a platform to build a North American ‘roadshow’ around these dates. Dates for the Regional gatherings are: 18-Apr ATTA Regional New York City @ Men’s Journal Magazine Office /3-5pm 24-Apr ATTA Regional Denver @ Boulder REI, 3-5pm 26-Apr ATTA Regional Seattle @ Eddie Bauer Headquarters, 3-5pm 1-May ATTA Regional Vancouver, Canada @ venue / time TBA 3-May ATTA Regional San Francisco @ Sports Basement, 2-5pm Casual networking will continue with post-meeting AdventureDrinks events in each city. The ATTA will be delivering key news and information at each meeting regarding the state of the industry,... Read More →
ATTA Events
President Shannon Stowell Speaks as Entrepreneur-in-Residence to Montana State University Business Students
January 26, 2012
ATTA President Shannon Stowell presented to the College of Business at Montana State University (MSU) as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, being involved in multiple aspects of the program for several days. Stowell’s November 30th presentation to the students focused on an introduction of global adventure travel and its pivotal role in international economies and how it can be developed in a manner critical to the protection of local environments, wildlife and culture. Stowell spoke about the transformative possibilities of adventure tourism for individuals as well as organizations and communities – a personal tenet that led him to leave Altrec.com, a successful outdoor retail start-up he co-founded in 1998, to restructure and rebuild the ATTA in 2004. What prompted you to participate in the Entrepreneurial program of the MSU Business Program? I was invited by Dr. Scott Bryant, the director of the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship Program at MSU to come and spend some time with... Read More →
ATTA "In the News"
ATTA Chris Chesak Interviewed at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2012
January 25, 2012
ATTA Vice President of Business Development, Chris Chesak, represented ATTA at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market last week, meeting with various outdoor brands to help facilitate partnerships between them and our extensive network of global destinations. Chesak was interviewed for a full page article (at right) in the OR daily publication. Read More →
Member Press Releases
Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition Announces Seven New Board Members, Including ATTA’s Alice Gifford
January 4, 2012
Two current members transition to new roles on the Board of Directors Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition (OIWC) is pleased to welcome seven extraordinary volunteers to its Board of Directors. The newly elected Board members – Michele Flamer, Beth Gordon, Deanne Buck, Sharon Scott, Meaghan Cunningham, Alice Gifford, and Laura Schaffer—join 17 current members, broadening the skill set and reach of the Board of Directors extensively. In addition, two current members, Ali Sacash-Johnson and Lu Setnica, transitioned to new roles on the Board. Board members were selected as part of OIWC’s strategic focus on growing the organization’s business acumen and technical skills (i.e. a website specialist, fundraising, etc.) and recruiting leaders with excellent communication skills and the ability to influence and impact our industries. Each incoming Board member brings their unique skills and talents, creating a diverse group of volunteers with the same goal: provide advocacy, education... Read More →
Summit Feedback Letter from Mexican Tour Operator Attendee
November 30, 2011
Assistant Editor’s Note: The ATTA received the following note from a 2011 Summit delegate, and wished to share his message. It is exactly this kind of opportunity that the ATTA team strives for in producing the annual Adventure Travel World Summit: to positively affect the individuals and organizations in this unique and treasured space. Hello, I am a tour operator based in Mexico with a focus on creating experiences that show off Mexico’s immensely rich and little known culture. Over the last 5 years we (tour operators in general in Mexico) have been hit by a perfect maelstrom. Swine flu cut tourism to Mexico in 2007, then the global recession and the drug war. To complicate it more, I am based in Oaxaca and in 2006 we had a massive popular strike and uprising that stifled tourism in the state for a year. Fast forward to October 2011 and my business, Traditions Mexico, is hanging on by a thread. Or perhaps not quite that. It is immensely demoralizing to work long hours with... Read More →
ATTA "In the News"
ATTA’s Stowell Quoted in MarketingWeek Around Adventure Travel Stats and Trends
November 22, 2011
The ATTA’s Shannon Stowell was quoted extensively from his recent talk at World Travel Mart as the basis for an article in Marketing Week, entitled Travel brands can exploit a ripe market for adventure and romance holidays. An excerpt is below: Stowell said the whole travel industry is heading towards adopting an adventure approach because as travellers become more experienced, they are demanding new and unusual destinations and experiences. He backed this up with stats – in 2009/10 the mass tourism industry grew by an average of 4%, while adventure tourism grew 17%. He said 60% of 18 to 41 year old adventure travellers don’t book with tour operators, preferring to go it alone, while 61% of 41 to 70 year olds do. This suggests several things – the obvious, that older adventure travellers would be more receptive to engaging with tour operator brands, but also that there is an opportunity to cater more for the agent-averse younger audience. For more information, please... Read More →
