Travel and Tourism Research Association
Annual Business Meeting Held at the 49th Annual International Conference
June 28, 2018 ~ Biltmore Coral Gables, Miami, Florida, USA
2018 State of the Association
Marion Joppe, 2017-2018 TTRA President, presented the following information regarding the state of the Association on behalf of the Board.
Treasurer’s Report
John Markham, TTRA Treasurer, presented the following 2017 Financial Statement for the Association.
1) The year 2017 ended with revenues of $788,736 and expenses of $721,497, for a positive net bottom line of $67,239.
2) Our two main sources of revenue were membership dues of $192,578, down from $201,249 the year before, and conference registrations, sponsorships and awards $596,158, up from $409,001 the year before.
3) Current assets as of December 31, 2017 were $503,783. Current liabilities were $139,840, leaving current equity $363,943. This is up from $296,704 the year before.
4) Our investment reserves stand at $211,870 as of December 31, 2017, down from $272,802 the previous year. These reserves have since increased to $336,657 as of May 31, 2018.
5) Accounting wise, our outside auditors, Boisvenue and Company, have just completed a successful review of our books and records for the year 2017. Our Federal Tax Return is in process.
Membership Update
Current membership stands at 617 members, with a retention rate of 75 percent.
The largest Chapter is SETTRA, followed by Greater Western and CenStates. Each have membership levels at or above the 100-member mark.
The Texas chapter was dissolved in 2017, and its membership merged with the CenStates Chapter.
The CenStates Chapter has welcomed the Texas members with open arms.
Four years ago we introduced our new partner membership category. We currently have six Platinum partners and three Gold partners. STR Share Centre and SMARInsights are our newest partners.
I want to thank these premier partners again for their continued support of our association. We really appreciate you!
Strategic Plan in Action
Now shifting to the Board, I’d like to update you on what we’ve been up to over the past year; it’s been a lot!
Based on the priorities set by the board in October 2016, our strategic planning workgroups have continued to move our strategic initiatives forward, to ultimately deliver greater member value. Let’s walk through some of our major milestones and accomplishments.
Website Redesign & Launch: The new TTRA website was launched mid-March. Aesthetically, the site is clean, fresh and modern. It is also mobile responsive. The navigation has been improved to include one-click access to many of the key pages. The site contains many self-serve features. Visitors can submit their own career/job postings, testimonials, research studies, blog postings, and more. Chapter websites have been incorporated into the main TTRA International site.
Professional Certification: TTRA’s first professional development course – DMO Travel & Tourism Research 100 – piloted on Monday.The course explores fundamentals of research design, conducting or contracting research to support all the planning, marketing, advocacy, and management decisions for a typical Destination Management or Marketing Organization (DMO). It has 24 Attendees (16 DMOs, 7 Vendors, 1 Academic). A big thank you to our trainers Scott Meis and Ed McWilliams and to our sponsor Virginia Tourism Corporation.
Conference Value: You can now fill in an expense worksheet that let’s you quickly estimate the cost of attending one of the conferences to submit for travel approval. Knowing how important networking is to delegates, we have introduced or strengthened several opportunities to do so.
Marketing Outlook Forum Review: The Board has completed the 3-year strategy to put the MOF on a sound financial footing and ensure that it will continue to be a strong asset for the Association. As part of the strategy, we have also developed a succession plan for the conference leadership and ensured a closer reporting relationship with the Executive Committee.
Partnership Development: We’d like to highlight four of the new or strengthened partnerships that TTRA has with other organizations. International Federation for Information Technologies and Travel & Tourism is the largest international association discussing the use and impact of new information and communication technologies in the travel and tourism industry and experience, making cross-promotion of news and conferences particularly valuable. Cross-promotion is also happening with the Southeast Tourism Society which brings together the 12 Southeastern states. Both SAGE and Isenberg UMASS Amherst are ongoing partnerships that have been strengthened.
Membership Initiatives: In October 2017, the Board passed a resolution to add a new membership category for those residing in Global South Nations. “Global South” refers to those countries with large inequalities in living standards life expectancy and access to resources, previously referred to as ‘developing’ or ‘emerging’ nations.
Two categories:
Standard – *pays student conference registration fees and receives premier level benefits
Student – *receives 50%-off student conference registration fees and receives student level benefits
The membership Committee has also been working at defining and clarifying the TTRA member benefits.
Advocacy Group: TTRA has formed a new advocacy group. The group has released one letter of support commending the efforts by the customs and border protection agency (CBP) to improve the collection and reporting of data they collect on International Visitors to the U.S. the letter also supported the decision by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) to suspend data dissemination.
Emerging Leaders: The Informal Young Professionals networking group has involved into new Emerging Leaders Group. A taskforce has been formed – led by Whitney Knollenberg & Andria Godfrey. Look for more information on this initiative in the coming months.
2018 Annual Business Meeting adjourned.