Editor's Field Notes ~ March 2008:

In this AdventureTravelNews™, ATTA Members are the news – they’re making news and they’re in the news.

Meanwhile, during these winter months, the ATTA staff has had their heads down gearing up for a productive year.  The team’s is occupied with many initiatives including:

• its 2008 Adventure Travel World Summit strategy;
• driving publicity for the adventure travel sector and ATTA Members;
• moving to launch the consumer reviews section of www.adventure.travel;
• hosting regional ATTA networking meetings (next one is slated for March 28th in Washington, D.C. – info@adventuretravel.biz for more details);
• gearing up for the May launch a new National Geographic adventure travel book co-authored by our own ATTA President Shannon Stowell and long-time adventure traveler and author, Don Mankin;
• bringing a series of new partners to the table to create more value-rich relationships for the adventure travel community;
• and, well, there’s more, but you’ll need to jump inside to learn more.

I’ve just returned from ITB in Berlin (March 5-8) – one thing is certain:  adventure travel (and all its iterations – geotourism, ecotourism, sustainable tourism, etc.) has truly gained in stature within tourism boards.  Among the dozen or so tourism boards I met at ITB, EVERY one of them is shifting gears to pay more attention to this space. Common threads of discussion included positive outlooks for our niche:

• they view adventure travel as one of the overall travel and leisure market’s most vital sectors;
• they’ve internal organizational shifts under way to concentrate more on adventure travel as a vector of (sustainable) development;
• they seek training, guidance and partnerships from within the adventure travel community worldwide to help their tourism departments dedicate more thoughtful resources and strategy toward responsible adventure tourism development;
• their budgets are generally increasing, they’re re-branding in ways that lean more toward this sector and they’re adopting 20-year outlooks that most assuredly will adopt aggressive sustainable tourism programs.  

Countering the positive are the very real concerns relating to the global economy, an in particular, to how the United States will fare in 2008 and 2009. Sharper strategies, prudent planning and progressive initiatives will remain front and center for the ATTA as we look to support the membership and the industry at large in riding the bumpy road.

Looking ahead – we’re shifting gears with AdventureTravelNews™ to a new, more timely delivery starting in April.  The new blog-style format will feature more frequent updates, allow for a more generous flow of ATTA Member News, features, alerts and networking and event updates that will help improve your planning efforts. 

In the spirit of adventure, 

Chris Doyle
Editor, AdventureTravelNews™

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