Travel and Tourism Research Association
Annual Business Meeting Held on June 29, 2020 ~ Virtual Meeting
2020 State of the Association
Sue Beeton, 2019-2020 TTRA President, presented the following information regarding the state of the Association on behalf of the Board.
Treasurer’s Report
1) The year 2019 ended with revenues of $741,402 and expenses of $751,128, for a negative bottom line of $9,726.
2) Our two main sources of revenue were membership dues of $160,719, down from $170,248 the year before, and conference registrations, sponsorships and awards $583,683, up from $525,902 the year before.
3) Current assets as of December 31, 2019 were $459,458. Current liabilities were $166,421, leaving current equity $293,037. This is down from $299,763 the year before.
4) Our investment reserves stand at $236,938 as of December 31, 2019, slightly down from $237,264 the previous year. These reserves are now back up to $274,506 as of May 31, 2020.
5) Accounting wise, our outside auditor, Boisvenue and Co., have just completed a review of our books and records for the year 2019. Our Federal Tax Return is in process.
Respectfully submitted,
John Markham, Treasurer
Membership Update
- 2019 Membership stands at 645 members, with a retention rate of 73 percent.
- The largest Chapter is SETTRA, followed by CenStates and Greater Western.
- Asia Pacific and CenStates Chapters saw double digit growth in 2019, while both Canada and Europe have seen its membership numbers decline.
- Work continued on creation of the NorthEast chapter with a goal to have the chapter officially formed in early 2020.
- Membership remained relatively stable from 2018 to 2019 with a 5% growth.
- 2 new Platinum partners were added.
Trademark Update
Trademark update – The TTRA logo “compass” and the Travel and Tourism Research name have applied for an updated trademark
The TTRA Board has approved the following conference schedule:
2021: Fort Worth, TX
2022: Victoria, BC Canada
2023: CenStates
2024: Europe
Membership Initiatives
TTRAconnects monthly eNewsletter relaunched in January 2019. Among other things, the eNewsletter provides need to know information on TTRA’s member benefits.
TTRA webinar series are provided bi-monthly featuring content provided by our platinum and gold partners.
TTRA welcomes new organizational members via social media and new individual members are highlighted in the monthly eNewsletter.
2019 – Committees in Action
Advocacy Committee
- Prep for National Tourism Week (May 2019)
Certification Committee
- Re-write various modules for the DMO class
- Work on a new presentation model
Marketing Committee
- Updated TTRA Brand Guidelines
- Set up interviews with board members for promotion of Annual Conference
- Created looking forward / looking back signs to be used with video clips at the conference
Leadership Changes
We are happy to announce that Esra Calvert with Entrada Insights has been elected to the executive board in the 2nd VP position.
Newly elected to the board as directors Anna Blount, Longwoods International; Chelsea McCready, Nashville Convention and Visitor’s Corp and Dr. Sean T. Ruane from Shannon College of Hotel Management is the new chapter liaison. Michael Rudowski has been appointed to complete Esra Calvert’s term as she has moved onto the executive committee.
Thank you for volunteering to commit your time and efforts to TTRA and congratulations!
We had a number of very strong candidates on the 2019-2020 ballot. Ballots of this caliber speak to the importance and relevance of our association, and to the continued support of tourism organizations willing to allow their employees to serve in a volunteer role. Thank you to all who nominated others and to those who were nominated and accepted.
We have two outgoing board members – Luann Reinders who has served 2 terms (total of 4 years) as the Chapter Liaison and Scott Russell who has served many years on the TTRA board.
Daniel Nahoopii is the new TTRA President.
2020 Annual Business Meeting adjourned.