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				Integrated Partnership Between ATTA & Travel Leaders Headed for Success   (SEATTLE) October 28, 2015 Earlier this year, the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA; www.adventuretravel.biz) and Travel Leaders(www.travelleaders.com) signed an exclusive, three-year agreement to create and execute a specialization training program for agents to become Travel Leaders’ Active & Adventure Travel Specialists. Qualifying participants include both those Travel Leaders who already possess a level of expertise in this vital industry segment and those who wish to become more proficient at selling active and adventure travel. The program is open to any Travel Leader or affiliate interested in completing the curriculum to become an expert in the Active & Adventure specialty. So far, forty-six Travel Leaders have signed up for the training program, which participants have up to two years to complete. In the months since the program was launched, three Travel Leaders have completed the training. As part of this partnership, the ATTA has reserved space at its events to include Travel Leaders agents. Half of the travel advisors who attended the first annual AdventureELEVATE in Snowmass, Colorado, were representatives from Travel Leaders. “The tour operators I met [at AdventureELEVATE] were very impressed that Travel Leaders and ATTA have teamed up to broaden the exposure and reach of their products,” says Kevin Geiser, a Travel Leaders agent from Michigan.  Travel Leaders also had a presence at this year’s ATMEX in Chiapas and at the Adventure Travel World Summit in Puerto Varas, Chile, where Travel Leaders VP Perry Lungmus moderated a panel discussion on how adventure operators and destinations can partner with travel advisors to help grow their business. The ATTA plans to reserve spots for Travel Leaders at all its major events in 2016, including AdventureELEVATE in Quebec and the Adventure Travel World Summit in Alaska. INTRODUCING THE SOLO FEMALE TRAVELER May 13, 2014 The stats came out loud and clear this spring: 63% of over 100,000 bookings made by Intrepid Travel last year were made by women. 54% of travelers considered affluent by a MMGY Global study are women. 65% of clients booking adventure trips on TourRadar.com are women. 66% of US women polled by Booking.com have vacationed without her partner. 53% increase in demand is what Small Luxury Hotels noticed for single female bookings between 2011 and 2012. We’ve entered the era of the female traveler. Over the past few years women have tipped the scales and have become the majority of travelers in a number of categories. There are a few factors in play here. Just because women are booking more travel, don’t be tempted to think that it’s because they are holding the credit card for their partners. This increase is a reflection of a contingency of women traveling alone. This contingency is a mix of business and leisure travelers, and this is a change that the industry can’t ignore. There are no best practices for accommodating this new majority, but operators who pay attention to the needs of the solo female traveler will likely see rewards when she speaks favorably about you to her cohort. A Safer, More Connected World   Staying connected to friends and family while traveling is either a cause or effect of the phenomenon of the rise of the solo female traveler. A study by Booking.com brought this to light in April 2014. Even though the study was part of an ad campaign to encourage bookings by women (their “Booking Brianless” video is worth a view to see how the accommodation sector is treating this trend), the findings make sense. The study looked at women aged 25 – 45 from the U.K., U.S., Australia, Canada and Germany. Of the 500 U.S. participants of the study, 58% said that social media made them feel safer when traveling on their own. While it’s not clear what the relationship is between safety and connectivity, this feeling of virtual connection is spurring many changes in traveler behavior, including the trend of “flashpacking”. Staying tethered to home through mobile devices and social media, travelers feel less alone when they are on the road by themselves and more likely to travel solo as a result. Stacy Small, founder of Elite Travel International, told Skift that she has noticed an increase in women booking solo trips through her agency and relates that increase back to social media: “As a female who has traveled to many countries solo, I can attest to the fact that being able to stay in touch with friends, colleagues, hoteliers, and clients around the world via social media adds a comfort level that did not exist prior to the advent of Twitter and Facebook.” Then again, Seattle Times blogger Thanh Tan traveled alone along the Pacific Coast in the Northern U.S. and Canada and intentionally unplugged. She deleted all her social media apps from her phone to minimize temptation and made bookings ahead of time so she didn’t need wi-fi day-to-day on her trip. “Not only do I believe it’s healthy to travel solo once in a while,” Tan concluded, “ I’m now certain that some of us must intentionally unplug from technology to declutter our minds. You don’t realize how much you’ve come to rely on friends and your phone for connection and stimulation…until they are no longer at your fingertips.” Whether or not a woman is documenting her every move on social media or blogging her way through a journey, the U.S. Travel Insurance Association website TRIP recommends that women traveling alone have a mobile phone with them at the very least that can be used in all the countries on her itinerary in case of emergency. Other safety tips include taking photos of things like your hotel entrance and room number and any train stations or bus stops you’ve recently visited, so that authorities can retrace your steps in case you get into trouble. Adventurous Spirits   Phyllis Stoller of the Women’s Travel Group, which specializes in women-only tours, toldSolimar that women are more adventurous than men: “Women are always seeking unusual and new destinations while men are more satisfied with the more predictable golf resort destinations.” She says 75% of those who book adventure travel or trips that have a focus on culture or nature are women.While there is a market for luxury vacations for women that focus on relaxation and spa treatments (leading some hotels to createwomen-only floors and stock rooms with things like women’s magazines and hair straighteners), most women are looking to have “experiences” when they travel. They want to leave the hotel as much or more than the next traveler and they want to feel safe when they go out. Adventure-seeking is what is leading women to book trips through TourRadar.com, which specializes in adventure travel (including many ATTA members). TourRadar also focuses on group trips, which is the perfect compromise for solo female travelers who need equal parts safety and adventure. “Many financially secure women have the urge to travel and no longer feel the need to wait for the right partner to accompany them,” says TourRadar CEO Travis Pittman. “Their families sometimes worry about safety issues. That’s why they’re choosing to go with group tours, which offer the thrill of adventure travel without the potential loneliness or danger of going completely solo.” TourRadar’s data also shows that women are willing to spend more money on solo travel than men (perhaps paying for additional security or peace of mind) and that they often join group travel for only a portion of their trip — especially more experienced female solo travelers. They will tend to use group travel initially on a trip and then continue on exploring on their own. Accounting for Business and Pleasure   As much as it would suit the ATTA and our industry specifically, the fact that women travel alone for adventure doesn’t account for their rise to majority status. Fact is, there are a lot more women traveling on business, and nowhere is that demographic booming faster than in Asia. Karun Budhraja is the VP Corporate & Marketing Communications for Amadeus Asia Pacific. “We estimate that in 2011 there were approximately 4.5 million international trips by women from the seven [Asian] countries that we have studied,” she wrote on the company’s blog, “but by 2030 this will have increased by 400%.” She says that travel providers need to focus on accommodating these new business travelers by addressing safety issues, but they also need to make adjustments to how they communicate with women. “Women use different processes than men to make travel decisions, for example greater reliance on peer recommendations or advice, so responding to this will be critical for travel providers to win over the female traveller.” Luxperience reiterates this reliance on peer recommendation, especially in the Asia Pacific market: “Women are known to do their research through peer-to-peer recommendation,” writes Michelle Pappas in a press release. Her advice for travel marketers and operators: “Win over the female travel sector through ‘real’ and effective engagement on your social media channels.” When it comes to marketing to female solo travelers on business or vacation, there is agreement that getting rid of single supplements is key to attracting this growing demographic. “Women are frustrated with the premium applied by some travel companies for traveling alone,” says Phyllis Stoller. “Some trips actually penalize solo travelers.” Cruise lines are especially guilty of this practice. It’s not always financially possible for operators to charge one person the same price as a couple, but it is certainly something to consider for travel organizations that want to appeal to this rising demographic. Women are traveling solo at all ages. The Booking.com survey focused on women ages 25 – 45; this is the group that is growing because of shifting demographics in countries like the U.S. and Australia toward more single, financially independent women. But older women are part of this trend, too, due to the “growing longevity and vitality of those in their senior years,” according to Phyllis Stoller. In Our Own Words  In June, the Adventure Travel Trade Association plans to release AdventurePulse, our original research profiling adventure travelers in the U.S. Preliminary data shows evidence of corroborating many of these trends regarding female travelers.  We found that women tend to like peer-to-peer recommendations and after a trip they are highly likely to use word-of-mouth channels like social media or traditional face-to-face communication to tell their friends about their trip. To access more specific data about female travelers and more about adventure travel trends, visit the ATTA’s research page, where AdventurePulse will be available for download when it is released.   October 16,31, 2013 Seattle, WA – For its 10th Adventure Travel World Summit, the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) has selected Namibia – one of the few countries in the world with conservation and environmental management mandated in its Constitution – to host the 2013 Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS) set for 26-31 October in Swakopmund and Windhoek, the first time the ATTA has placed its global gathering in Africa. Between October 26th to 31st of this year, Namibia serves as host to 650+ tourism industry professionals for Adventure Travel Trade Association's first-ever Adventure Travel World Summit on the continent of Africa. If imagination is a "preview of life's coming attractions," then let us together boldly set the future in motion. In Namibia, one of the least densely populated nations in the world, our host destination provides a promising preview into what's possible in the face of extraordinary odds. Since its 1990 independence Namibia has successfully completed the transition to parliamentary democracy and has earned deserved recognition for one of the greatest wildlife recovery stories ever witnessed. In selecting Namibia, the ATTA in part is recognizing the developing nation’s achievements in becoming one of the world’s most progressive destinations working to find the most effective balance between conservation, tourism and community development.   The ATTA’s Summit conferences engage and energize the leaders of the adventure travel community with networking, business and professional development programs, educational seminars and emerging adventure destination product review opportunities. In addition to the keynotes, a cadre of experts covering core business disciplines of the adventure tourism industry will deliver two key content tracks over the course of three days.   In a very real sense, the future of responsible tours development is in the hands of our global adventure travel community. And, to develop a powerful and measurably sustainable future for adventure generations to come, it requires that together we: Imagine that which must be realized to ensure a sustainable future, Inspire others to join our tribe and do what's needed to pursue this future, and Invest time, energy, resources and funding to achieve our shared vision. http://www.adventuretravel.biz   http://www.adventuretravel.biz/connect/summit/traveler-information/   Namibia, Africa’s Tourism Success Story By Shannon Stowell of Adventure Travel Trade Association on July 18, 2013   The Zambezi River curls by my deck at the Ntwala Island Lodge, dark river beneath a muted orange and red sun, dying to the African day. The river is laced with crocs, peppered with hippos, and surrounded by clouds of birds, cawing, screaming and cooing. There are super aggressive fish in the river—tiger fish that make piranhas look like sweet, little cuddlers. The place is bonafide, non-Middle-Earth magical. We’ve flown, driven, walked, and boated our way across two borders today–from Namibia (“Please fill out the disembarkation card, sir”) into Botswana (“Please fill out the embarkation card, sir”) out of Botswana and back into Namibia. Our flight was in a six-seater plane for three-plus hours over vast desert plains with scrub brush, sand, and rock. Occasionally water would show up on the scene and we all eagerly leaned to the windows to see if wildlife would show. There was a running herd of warthogs, a lot of land crossed by human and game trails—and devoid of roads. And then suddenly, there were elephants. Dozens of them, big and small. Our plane was only 100 feet above the ground, and we were whisked above the giant gray beauties. I found myself smiling despite being jetlagged, a little sick, and weary of being in transit. Finally, really, truly we were in Africa. I sheepishly asked a new friend in Namibia: “Um, do you know where The Gods Must Be Crazy was filmed?” I felt stupid for asking another Americlown tourist inquiry. But she smiled and said, “Actually you flew over the spot.” Suddenly the question was okay, and it was pleasant to realize the quirky movie in my head was the place! Occasionally, Willem, our pilot and a shareholder in six lodges around Namibia would shout something over the hum of the plane. “That’s the hill where the local bushmen gather once a year! Do you see the elephants in the water!? The lodge we just buzzed is one of ours… I need to call them to tell them we’re not coming to the airport!” And my favorite: “No. Those are cattle.” The story of wildlife and people and tourism in Namibia is beautiful—and stark. Forty-two percent of the land is protected by the government. There are more than 70 community-run conservatories that protect the wildlife for tourists and hunters, very managed, mind you, in such a way that the average Namibian in a conservatory (there are more than 400,000 that live inside them) sees financial value in protecting their wild stock. Gone are the days of rampant poaching as the people who live there can declare: “This is ours! You cannot disrespect and steal from us” Or something along those lines. Gone are the days of 20 or 30 (who knows?) game ranges with their 40 to 60 eyes. Now there are 800,000+ eyes watching to be sure that the rhino beds safely tonight. Certainly it’s not perfect and the system can break down—we humans will do what we do. But Namibia is a tourism success story to be told. And seen. Tiger fishing for half a day proved to be a success. There’s a reason why tiger fish are not named poodle fish. They are named tiger fish because they have big, offset triangular teeth and hit the fishing line so hard that every time it happened I couldn’t suppress a huge laugh of amazement and joy. The guide told stories—some that I wanted to have happen to me. “That day we caught the biggest tiger fish of all and saw elephants next to the river.” Other stories (in my Heart of Darkness) I wanted to have happen to the guy who bullied me in 9th grade. “So then the hippo lunged up under our boat when we were going near full-speed, and we all flew into a heap onto land screaming and stumbling on all fours to escape!” The afternoon ended in a flurry of smiles and lies about fish numbers and sizes between the different boats, and we were off to meet the local tribe who benefits from the tourism there. It is an amazingly complicated scenario, but it is working. The WWF, local tribes, the federal government, local lodge owners, and others are working together to see that a tourist’s money actually benefits everyone, not just one party. Tourism doesn’t always protect wildlife, locals, and business interests. But it can. And it’s beautiful even in the tension that is inevitable in such a complicated system. Later on the trip I was able to visit a desert lodge operated by Wilderness Safaris that focuses on the desert rhino. It’s in a vast, lightly populated named Damaraland. While we didn’t see the ethereal rhinos, we did see a lot of game, including a herd of desert elephants, which live in an incredibly austere environment and still manage to be elephantine. Namibia is a land of adventure of many stripes—from the soft and cushioned clean-hands adventure to the difficult wearying treks, this is a destination that must be experienced first hand to be fully believed. With recovering wildlife stocks, sparse population, spotty history as a former part of South Africa, and larger cities founded originally by German colonists, one of the funny sayings about Namibia that seems to bear some truth is “It’s like Africa—only better”. UNWTO AND ATTA ANNOUNCED NEW PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT By Theodore Koumelis 01 November 2012 SEATTLE - The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the specialized agency of the United Nations in the field of tourism, and the Adventure Travel Trade Association, a global organization dedicated to responsibly growing the adventure travel market, announced a new partnership agreement concerning global sustainable tourism development. “The reason why we need to work together, is that adventure tourism is what tourism should be today, and is definitely what tourism will be tomorrow,” said Mr. Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General. Both parties have agreed that this partnership serves to drive forward a cooperation between the UNWTO and ATTA with a mission to support common advocacy of the value of sustainable tourism development, increase and promote the knowledge and value of the adventure travel, and to contribute to the quality enhancement and sustainable development of adventure travel products amongst UNWTO Member States. “The adventure travel segment may not be the biggest piece of travel today, but it’s one in which the people who operate it are on the front lines and they know that if they do not protect their local wildlife, environments and their cultures and make sure that local people are involved and benefitting from tourism, then their business is gone,” said ATTA President Shannon Stowell. “In my mind, that’s when destinations lose their unique gems. Therefore, our partnership with the World Tourism Organization, which represents governments worldwide, will strengthen our collective ability to work on  actual public-private development and delivery of authentic tourism experiences.” Dear Muguette,  As many of you know, we just completed our 9th Adventure Travel World Summit in Lucerne, Switzerland. At this event we had the privilege of welcoming UNWTO Secretary-General Mr. Taleb Rifai to our community. While at the Summit Mr. Rifai stated, “Adventure tourism is what tourism should be today and definitely what tourism will be tomorrow.” I believe this is an indicator of a sea change in the world of tourism and directly impacts the future of all businesses working within the adventure sector. Also during the event, two major ATTA initiatives were signed, a memorandum of understanding between the UNWTO and the ATTA, by which we have agreed to work together to promote advocacy, research, quality, and education/training within the adventure tourism sector. And secondly, the ATTA became the first United States-based association to sign the Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct, an internationally accepted industry-driven corporate responsibility initiative to protect children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism. By signing these two agreements, it is our hope that governments and policymakers begin to join hands with our adventure travel community -- to make a difference around the world now and shape a future for tourism that is both sustainable and ethical. We hope that others within the industry will take up these initiatives as well, specifically by working toward their own agreement to protect children. Within the next 30 days, you’ll see the ATTA announce our values statement much of which is driven by our commitment to the above. In this statement we ask that ATTA members, and future members, share these same values in order to join our community. Please take a moment to review the following press releases sent out to the media industry earlier today. These releases summarize the recent Summit news and initiatives mentioned above. UNWTO, WWF International and Google Hail Adventure Travel as the Future of Tourism at 2012 Adventure Travel World Summit Advocacy, Research, Quality, Education & Training Collaboration Central to New World Tourism Organization-Adventure Travel Trade Association Partnership. Adventure Travel Trade Association Joins ECPAT's Fight Against Sexual Exploitation of Children ATTA AT WTM NOVEMBER 6, 2012 ADVENTURE TRAVEL, TRENDS & ECONOMIC IMPACT - THE FUTURE FOR ACTIVITY/ADVENTURE AND SPORTS TOURISM Best regards, Shannon Stowell President, ATTA   Visit www.adventuretravelworldsummit.com.