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Airline Reporting Corporation
ARC Files Opening Submission with Arbitration Panel. The Airline Reporting Corporation filed its opening submission with the Independent Arbitration Panel (IAP) in ARC's dispute with ASTA over the reporting board's annual administrative fees. ASTA is opposed to the fee hikes and has taken the issue to the IAP for resolution. In a statement, ARC said it made changes in its fee program this year, including raising the fee for independent and home office locations to $395, and "rolling a number of miscellaneous matters that had been separately charged into the annual fee." ARC's statement also described the benefits travel agencies receive from its accreditation and settlement systems, and the many enhancements, such as the interactive reporting system (IAR) and the Document Retrieval System that ARC has added over the years. ARC said it feels that these are points that strongly support the fee hikes and at the same time refute the claims of ASTA that the benefits agents receive from ARC are "incidental" and "largely an illusion." The airline agency asserted that it is fair to increase the percentage contributions made by agents, and that the overall costs when viewed in absolute terms or in comparison with other expenditures are fair and reasonable. Feb 2, 2008
California Travel Tourism Commission
California Touts Wine and Food. The California Wine Institute and the California Travel and Tourism Commission (CTTC) are promoting the state's wine and cuisine offerings through a campaign called "Land of Food and Wine" and targeting what it calls culinary connoisseurs. A new website (www.landoffoodandwine.com) will debut soon at wine and food and travel media events in New York. In February, a national TV campaign featuring Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others, will begin. The new website will feature an interactive Wine Region Explorer, showing the best California wine regions and wine and food itineraries, the best way to find local favorite eateries, blogs featuring wine and food luminaries, and a chance to win exclusive culinary adventures in California. According to the Travel Industry Association, 17 percent of American leisure travelers, or 27.3 million people, have engaged in culinary or wine-related activities while traveling. These travelers are well-educated and more affluent than other U.S. travelers and cross most age groups. Feb 3, 2008
Nevada Commission on Tourism
Nevada Commission on Tourism Launches Ski Website. The Nevada Commission on Tourism has launched a ski website complete with up-to-the-minute ski conditions, hotel packages, links to all Nevada and Lake Tahoe resorts and an opportunity for visitor comments. This is the tourism commission's second site dedicated entirely to a single activity in Nevada. It launched one for golf in 2006. Skiers can get immediate ski conditions from the resorts and reliable weather forecasts. The site also includes a summary of packages, with links to the hotels for bookings. Feb 3, 2008
Paradise Resort
Family favorites. Queensland and Fiji remain dear to the hearts of holidaying Australian families. The top 10 Australian resorts in a reader poll by Holidays With Kids were in Queensland, with Paradise Resort on the Gold Coast voted No.1 and Seaworld second. Five of the top 10 international resorts were in Fiji, where Shangri-La's Fijian Resort on Yanuca Island topped the poll. Feb 3, 2008
STARS
Agent Group STARS Debuts. STARS, an organization for professional travel agents, will debut in February, founded by Billie and Peter Stilphen, who is CEO of Coral Sands Travel and served as president of PATH. STARS wants to "separate the highly professional travel professional from the many would-be and pseudo travel agents." Stilphen believes that these "pseudo" agents are doing "great harm to the professionalism of those who consider the selling of travel products serious business." STARS considers the "real travel professional as one who has successfully obtained their CLIA or Travel Institute designation or can demonstrate their achievements." The new agent group will operate via a member advisory board to ensure the needs of all STARS members are being met. Requirements for membership are strict and include background checks. STARS membership is open to only individual travel agents and excludes agencies, consortia, hosts and suppliers. There will be an opportunity for some suppliers to be listed as preferred suppliers, with direct access to the membership base, STARS said. Feb 2, 2008
Travelsavers
Travelsavers Launches Marketing Campaign, Expands into Caribbean. Travelsavers has expanded its direct-mail marketing campaigns for 2008 from quarterly to six mailings per year in the hot markets of romance travel, family travel, weekend escapes, luxury travel, fall savings and baby boomer travel. The campaigns are available to Travelsavers' 3,000 member agencies. Travelsavers' sales are estimated at $18 billion. The multi-branded campaigns are designed to drive new business to the organization's agencies and move greater market share to its preferred suppliers. Travelsavers' award-winning design team creates a brochure for each market that is filled with exclusive offers from select suppliers. In related news, Travelsavers Worldwide Independent Network (TWIN) has continued to build its global presence by establishing a foothold in the Caribbean with the enrollment of Gestiones Turisticas, based in the Dominican Republic. TWIN members participate as licensees in an international network of agencies. Upon joining the organization, they instantly become partners with other top agencies around the world, and gain the ability to engage in global account sharing. TWIN provides the infrastructure and resources for larger independent agencies to offer multi-national corporate clients the highest level of account management and customer service available today. Feb 2, 2008
Victoria Cruises
Victoria and Trafalgar Team for China Cruise Tours. Victoria Cruises, a cruise company sailing China's Yangtze River, has partnered with tour operator Trafalgar to offer a special 10-night "Highlights of China & the Yangtze" itinerary for 2008. The sailing includes five-nights' accommodations in first-class Sheraton properties in Beijing and Xian, two nights in Shanghai's Regal International, and a three-night luxury cruise along the Yangtze. Sights include the Forbidden City and Imperial Palace. Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, Beijing Opera, the terra cotta warriors, Shanghai's Old Town and the Bund, and the Three Gorges dam site. Pricing begins at $2,399 per person, excluding international airfare. Departure dates run from March 26 to October 22. Clients have the option of adding Guilin and Hong Kong for Trafalgar's expanded 15-night "Majestic China" program. Feb 3, 2008
YTB International
YTB International Anticipates Over $1 Billion In Travel Sales. YTB International Inc., a provider of Internet-based travel booking services, anticipates that travel sales could exceed $1 billion in 2008, surpassing the total travel sold in the company's first seven years of business. The company says that among the projects expected for launch this year are the development of a next-generation booking engine that will enable YTB to increase its product inventory. Also planned is expansion of the YTB Outdoors, YTB Fly Free and YTB Cars sites, and growth in Canada, Bermuda, and the Bahamas, as those countries come online. While YTB tracks the aggregate value of the travel services sold, only the commissions arising from such sales, not the amount of sales themselves, are reflected in YTB's financial statements. YTB is a publicly owned company. YTB says that its RTAs, the people who offer the company's wide array of travel services, more than doubled in 2007, growing from just over 60,000 to more than 130,000. YTB operates three subsidiaries: YourTravelBiz.com, YTB Travel Network and REZconnect Technologies. Feb 3, 2008
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