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Be sure to drop by the Group Travel Planner booth at the ABA Marketplace January 15-19, 2010 in National Harbor, MD. |
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GroupTravelPlanner.net News
The 2010 Group Travel Planners are in the mail! Be sure to get yours today. Stop by www.grouptravelplanner.net to order your copy if you are not on the mailing list. Choose from Atlantic Canada, Western Canada, New England, Québec, Ontario, or all five. |
'Tis the Season to be Shopping
Make plans to stop at one of these shopping destinations, just in time for the holiday season! Your passengers will be delighted as they browse the stores for the perfect gift or souvenir.
West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, AB - Shopping, hotels, restaurants, this place has it all!
Click here for more info. Queen's Quay Terminal, Toronto, ON - Visit the award winning complex located on Toronto's waterfront.
Click here for more info.
Vaughan Mills, Toronto, ON - Canada's largest single level shopping centre located just north of downtown Toronto. Click here for more info.
Pen Centre, St. Catharines, ON - Niagara's largest shopping destination features 180 stores and services, six restaurants and ten Empire Theatre screens.
Click here for more info.
Brunswick Square, Saint John, NB - located in the heart of Uptown Saint John and hosts over 60 shops and services featured on three levels.
Click here for more info. |
Change of Seasons
Feel that chill in the air? Winter is coming! Make plans to enjoy the season with these cool attractions.
Banff National Park, Banff, AB - Canada's oldest and most famous national park
Click here for more info.
Grouse Mountain Resort, North Vancouver, BC - An abundance of outdoor activities for any season. Click here for more info.
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory Tour, Waterbury, VT - Nothing is cooler than ice cream in the winter! Factory tours, samples, and more!
Click here for more info.
Tourism Lanaudiere: Outdoor Activities in Lanaudiere, Rawdon, QC - Lanaudiere It's a playground for enthusiasts of nature, sports and the great outdoors! Click here for more info. |
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Upcoming Festivals & Events
November 28-December 6, 2009
Christmas by the Sea
Camden, ME
December 4-6, 2009
Niagara Falls, ON
December 5-6, 2009
Mount Washington Valley, NH
December 12-13, 2009 |
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Affinity Groups...Growth in Rough Travel Times submitted by Charlie Presley, President, GLAMER
As the economic downturn and job layoffs have played havoc with business travel and family vacations are staying closer to home, one travel sector has bucked the trend and is enjoying a spurt of growth. Affinity group travel seems to be the bright spot in today's travel market and reports indicate that the 2010 travel season will continue to show increased group travel market activity.
Affinity groups, once defined simply as the mature or senior travel market, have blossomed in recent years to include new Boomer's as well as the SMERF groups that include Senior, Military, Educational, Retired, and Fraternal.
A recent survey of over 5,000 SMERF travel groups by Group Leaders of America reports that 64% of groups see an increase in number of travelers and 52% anticipate running more trips in 2010 than the previous year.
"This is great news for the group travel industry." says Joe Cappuzzello President of Group Leaders of America, more commonly recognized by it's acronym GLAMER. The organization counts over 25,000 group travel leader members who operate trips for 3.6 Million travelers each year. The GLAMER member is a volunteer travel planner who is the grassroots organizer for their local community. This can include Church Groups, AARP Chapters, Red Hatters, Bank Clubs and an ever increasing African American group travel market.
The group travel market growth seems to be a result of four factors that spell great opportunity for the travel industry.
1. Health: This generation of Boomers and Seniors enjoy the best health in the history of mankind. Advancements in medicine have people traveling with knee replacements, new hips, lens implants and heart valves to name a few. All of this results in the mature market ability to continue to travel.
2. Wealth: Even today, the 60 plus population controls 80% of the wealth. Homes are paid off, retirement packages provide annual income and discretionary income is spent on travel. Most senior investment is in safe certificates of deposit and has not been effected by the stock market. The Boomer market is in the process of receiving $7 trillion of inheritance, the most in history and they will spend on travel. Bottom line, while we working stiffs are struggling the retired market has cash to travel.
3. Time: They have it....and use it to take tours.
4. Companionship: As people retire they lose close daily contact with people and seek to replace it by joining affinity groups. The side result is the activity of travel to be together with like minded people. It's a great thing for us in the travel industry because it creates customers.
All of this has resulted in a strong group travel market for those who get out there and find the groups.
The most important statistic of the affinity group is that the average age of a member is 65 and can expect another 16 years of active life that includes travel. So the next time you see a mature customer you can see gray hair or a paycheck until the year 2025.
Since affinity group travel leaders are volunteers they do not belong to the same travel industry associations that we know, they do however gather at meetings where you can find them.
1. Group Leaders of America GLAMER : An organization of 25,000 travel groups that holds chapter meetings in 54 cities each year. Contact Tammy Knox at 800-628-0993, tknox@glamer.com
2. BankTravel: An upscale sector of group travel that holds an annual conference where 200 Bank Travel Clubs meet the travel industry. Contact Teresa Burton at 330-332-3841, tburton@banktravel.com
3. The African American Travel Conference: This market takes group travel at a rate twice that of the population as a whole. Conference in Niagara Falls on April 20 - 22 2010 Contact Joe Cappuzzello at jcappuzzello@aatconline.com
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Until next time,
Happy Planning! |
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