|
This Week's Guests,
Sunday September 21, 2008
 |
|
This
week's
guests
include
Louis
D'Amore,
President
and
Founder
of
International
Peace
through
Tourism,
Judge
Quentin
Kopp,
Chairman
of
the
California
High-Speed
Rail
Authority,
Duane
Knapp,
Chairman
and
Founder
of
Brand
Strategy,
Doreen
Orion,
Author
of
"Queen
of
the
Road",
Thomas
Steinmetz,
Publisher
of
eTurboNews,
Nick
Gosling,
Travel
Writer,
and
Patrick
Peartree,
TTM's
Southern
California
Director.
Click
HERE
to
learn
more
about
this
week's
program! Please
join
us! |
|
|
|
Welcome to this week's TravelTalkMEDIA's
Newsletter -
The week's economic
news is certainly another tap on the shoulders of
travelers who are in the midst of readjusting their
priorities. Bracing for additional price hikes, slow
downs and challenging times, the question many are
asking, "Should we go or should we stay?"
The fact is, our cultural priorities are in much
danger of being shifted from the state of
thriving to the state of surviving. As
close as these two words are, they are a world apart
in definition. Thriving societies enjoy
abundance and are more capable of celebrating their
families and their own individual lives. Cultures
reduced to survival mode, on the most part,
give up many joyful acts of life, which include
personal recreational time and, most specifically,
the family vacation. |
|
As I was contemplating
the immediate future of travel, the phone rang. As
usual, on Thursday nights, a dear friend calls me
from the San Francisco Bay area as she drives to see
her mother, a good 25 minute drive from her home in
Los Altos. We spend these special few minutes
catching up on our personal lives and our work.
Connie is one of those friends who creates a life of
abundance by never giving up on her dreams. She
plays hard and she works hard, but what makes Connie
a force to contend with is her ability to create
opportunity in her life. Not that life has been
perfect, she like all of us, has had |
Connie Chronis, longtime friend of Sandy, is a great example of living
her life abundantly. |
|
her share of setbacks
and challenges. The difference? Connie's refusal to
give up. Connie considers her most important gift to
her family is their time together. We talked about
her decision to take a family vacation between
this coming Christmas and New Years. She knew
it would be tough, but Connie is organized and keeps
her eyes wide open for opportunities. True to form,
my friend armed with her Marriott points and her
determination to watch for open days on the
calendar, found a tremendous deal for a cruise that
would allow her family a week long vacation in
the range of $5,000USD. With a sense of achievement
and gratefulness, Connie got what she wanted, some
distance away from the daily grind, time with her precious
family and an affordable solution.
I hung up the phone
again inspired by Connie's commitment to her family,
and personally motivated to make a family vacation
happen for our family too. Let's not forget our
priorities, and like Connie proves in her life,
where there is a will there is a way.
Please keep traveling,
even if it is in your own community, we all need to
refresh, recreate and most importantly reconnect
with our family and neighbors. There is always hope
and there is always real value available in the
market. Take the
time to consult with your travel agency or commit
time to online
research and
calling customer service. Like my friend Connie, if
you can spend some time researching and comparing
vacation opportunities, you might find a little
surprise at the end of the challengingl news of the day.
Safe Travels,
Sandy
By the way, we are welcoming our new sponsor,
TravelDogTags.com. Check out the link below.
Authentic dog tags made to order for your group or
family. Welcome on board Will Fay and the staff from
TravelDogTags.com! |
|
|
|
American Express
Travel Surveys Travel Agents and Sophisticated
Travelers. New York From jetting overseas for
a culinary experience to a desire to learn
life-enriching skills while on vacation, travelers
are intent on continuing to pursue travel
experiences that allow them to indulge in their
personal interests despite the softening economy,
according to a recent survey of 501 U.S. adults by
American Express Travel. Indeed, 87% of respondents
indicated that the number of vacations involving one
or more personal passions would either remain the
same or increase over the next two years; of those,
28% indicated that they expect the number to
increase. |
American Express Travel
like many of it's competitors look to add value to
it's card holders and beyond. |
|
Given the uncertain
economy, we wanted to see how peoples passions
drive behavior when it comes to travel, says Audrey
Hendley, Vice President of Marketing, American
Express Travel. The survey results overwhelmingly
show that people whose vacations are tied to
personal interests intend to continue to travel by
taking advantage of money-saving resources, such as
rewards programs. Story
continued . . .
Coming Up Next Week on TravelTalkRADIO
Audrey Hendley, VP
of Marketing for
American Express
Travel, next week
on
TravelTalkRADIO |
Audrey Hendley, VP
of Marketing for
American Express
Travel |
|
|
|
|
World Tourism and
Investment Summit
October 6 - 9, 2008
Busan,
South Korea |
TravelTalkMEDIA is pleased to announce a
special partnership with the World Tourism
Investment Summit (WTIS), to be held in
Busan, Korea, from October 6-9, 2008.
The Summit will be hosted by the Busan
Metropolitan Government and co-organized
with the Tourism Promotion Organization for
the Asia Pacific Cities based in Busan.
The organizers have confirmed
approx. 500 delegates from over 45 countries
who will
attend this ground-breaking Summit. |
|
|
|
The International Institute for Peace
Through Tourism (IIPT) 1st
European Conference
October 21-24, 2008 in
Leeuwarden, Netherlands |
"Bridging
the North-South Divide through
Sustainable Tourism Development"
Sandy Dhuyvetter will
participate on the media panel titled the "Role of the Media
in Bridging the North - South Divide through
Sustainable Tourism Development". The European
Conference will be held at Stenden University, where
Sandy is a member of the Media and Entertainment
Department's Advisory Board.
 |
|
|
|
Bringing the World Together
 
American Express is the
official card of the American Tourism Society (ATS)
One of the most important organizations in travel, ATS will be holding
its annual fall conference in Cairo, Egypt Oct 27-30,
08 |
We have had the
good fortune of covering the ATS and is
members in Jordan,
Hungary, the
Czech Republic,
Israel, Poland, Croatia, and now Egypt. They are
opening doors to transformational
destinations and
offering travel agents and tour operators from
the USA a more in-depth look into these
regions. |
|
|
|
Directory of Tanzanian programming and guests. |
SAAGGI
Global Health
Network
Medical Tourism offered
responsibly
and with
confidence.
SAAGII, Inc.
CLICK
HERE TO
READ
ENTIRE
PRESS RELEASE |
|
Last
Week's Guests,
Sunday September 14, 2008
 |
|
This week's guest
include Mona Naffa,
Director of STI Middle
East, Sayed Khalifa,
USA and Latin America
Director for the
Egyptian Tourism
Authority, Thomas
Steinmetz, Publisher
of eTurboNews, Tillie
Foster, Senior
Advisor and Public
Relations for the San
Nicolas Hotel in
Ensenada, Mexico, Roy
Graff, Managing
Director of ChinaContact,
Rob Kelly, Director and
Producer of Documentary
Films, Nick
Gosling, Travel
Writer, and
Patrick Peartree,
TTM's Vice President of
Operations. Click
HERE
to learn more about this
week's program!
Please join us! |
|
|
|
|
|
THIS
WEEK'S
PROGRAMMING
CLICK
HERE
This newsletter
is sponsored by
TANZANIA
CHECK
out our
Complete Programming
page on
Tanzania in
May and June!
American Tourism Society
takes delegation to Egypt
October 2008.
Listen to NBTA Radio produced by TravelTalkMEDIA
Want
more information
about traveling
documents?
For More Information
Click HERE
|
For
more information on acceptable
documents under the Western Hemisphere Travel
Initiative (WHTI),
view
PDF
file
HERE.
For
information
on
the
Enhanced
Driver's
License
Program,
view
PDF
file
HERE.
|
|
