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A
AMERICAN
TOURISM SOCIETY BOARD ELECTS DAVID PARRY
AS CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD,
PHIL OTTERSON AS
PRESIDENT
NEW STRATEGIC
PLAN AND OUTREACH
TO EXEMPLIFY
FUTURE EFFORTS IN TRAVEL
INDUSTRY
 (November
28, 2007, New York, New York) -At the
American Tourism Society 2007 Annual
Meeting and Conference held in the Lower
Silesia region of Poland the ATS Board at
the recommendation of the Nominating
Committee elected David Parry
Chairman of the Board, and Phil Otterson
as President.
The newly elected ATS
leaders succeed Alexander W. Harris CTC as
Chairman and Michael Stolowitzky as
President. In recognition of Harris's long
service as a founder of the 20 year old
organization and his leadership over the
years, the Board unanimously voted to
elect him as a Life Member and Honorary
Chairman of the organization. Both
Harris and Stolowitzky will continue to
serve the organization as members of the
Board of Directors.
Also elected to the
expanded Board of Directors were:
H.E. Akel Biltaji of the Kingdom of
Jordan, Donna Flora of The American
Express Co., Knut Haenscheke, of EH
Marketing , Mirko A. Ilich CTC of
Traveling Times, Helena Novak of
General Tours World Traveler, Jan Rudomina
of American Travel Abroad, David
Spinelli of Vacation .com, and Robert
Whitley of USTOA.
David Parry, is
Chairman of the Washington-based Academic
Travel Abroad. As newly elected
Chairman of ATS he said, "The American
Tourism Society is moving in new
directions with it's dynamic new Strategic
Plan in place. We played a role in the
transformation of the Eastern European and
USSR tourism industry, and recently we
have been active in organizing meetings in
the Middle East. Continuing to
introduce underserved and often unknown
regions to the North American market will
be an important initiative. ATS is
broadening its focus and reach. A tourism
curriculum is being developed to
facilitate tourism training and education
in our Council areas. Over the past
20 years ATS 'has brought the world
together' and I intend to carry on that
tradition."
Phil Otterson is
Executive V.P. of External Affairs for
Tauck World Discovery. On becoming
president of ATS he said, "The American
Tourism Society is especially
well-positioned going forward with the ATS
vision as it continues to emphasize our
altruistic past yet also highlights five
new strategic priorities that will take us
into the future. One of the most exciting
is the development of educational
curriculum that will be provided to
students as well as tourism and government
professionals in our member-country
transformational destinations through the
newly formed ATS Tourism
College."
New ATS Strategic Plan
During the meeting in
Poland, Phil Otterson discussing ATS's new
Strategic Plan, said, "Our objective was
to develop a plan that would build the
future of the organization based on the
success of the past." The Plan features
membership development, new partnerships,
education, marketing and media
relations.
"The Plan affirms the
same vision of its founders, including
Alex Harris, but has researched other
travel and tourism organizational models
to update ATS for the industry today,"
Otterson further explained, "The five
goals of the Initiatives will be met by
ventures such as sponsorships, financing
and partnerships, email communications and
e-newsletters, and education of government
entities and officials about the economic
impact of developing tourism in ATS member
countries."
This Strategic Plan
comes as ATS has attracted great interest
as a result of its high profile
conferences in destinations that are in a
growth pattern &endash; Hungary, the Czech
Republic, Jordan and Israel and now the
lower Silesia region of Poland. ATS now
has an established track record of
utilizing its senior government tourism
connections and the extensive expertise of
its collective membership in promoting and
developing destinations. Since ATS members
together do over four billion US dollars
worth of transactions a year and are
moving more than three million travelers
annually, their influence is
obvious.
At the Wroclaw
Conference, ATS also launched its new
Tourism College. In keeping with the ATS
policy that the organization gives back
something to the destinations where it
meets, Tourism College will take place for
one day at each meeting, focusing on
groups that would benefit from education
about tourism.
In summarizing the
significance of the new strategic plan for
ATS, Don Reynolds, Executive Vice
President, said, "We recognize the
tremendous changes taking place in
international tourism and ATS wants to
anticipate our members' needs in
responding to these changes. We are using
the new Strategic Plan as a guide for the
next three years." Reynolds also paid
tribute to the key contribution that Hank
Phillips made in the short time since he
was retained by ATS for the specific
purpose of creating a Strategic Plan. "But
most significant," Reynolds noted, "is
Alex Harris's presence and continued
leadership as a Life Member and Honorary
Chairman, which represents the continuity
and vision of our mission."
A video on the history
of ATS was screened for the first time at
the meeting in Poland. The four-minute
video was produced by Sandy Dhuyvetter,
host and producer, TravelTalkMedia,
specifically for the World Tourism Award
Ceremony at World Travel Market in London,
November 12, 2007.
About ATS - Bringing the World
Together
The American Tourism
Society (ATS) was established in 1989 by a
group of US tourism industry
executives. It is a nonprofit,
nonpolitical travel industry organization
whose membership includes tour operators,
hotels and resorts, international
airlines, cruise lines, Government Tourist
Offices, meeting and incentive planners,
travel agents, tourism educators and
public relations and marketing firms
dedicated to promoting, developing and
expanding high-quality, reliable travel
between North America and the ATS
destination areas: the Baltics, Central
and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean /
Red Sea Region and Russia. ATS holds
meetings and trade showcases hosted by
different destination countries each year.
Its website is www.americantourismsociety.org.
For more information on
The American Tourism Society: 149 Madison
Avenue, suite 602, New York, NY 10016, USA
- Phone 212.893.8111, Fax 212.893.8153;
email:
info@americantourismsociety.org
PHOTO
ATTACHED:
Newly elected ATS Board
of Directors from Left: Don Reynolds, Knut
Haenschke, Jan Rudomina, David Parry,
Stephen Barneby (Deputy Consul General, US
Consulate, Krakow, Poland), Robert
Whitley, Phil Otterson, David Spinelli.
Missing Donna Flora and Helena Novak, Alex
Harris, Michael Stolowitzky and H. E.
Senator Akel Biltaji.
Photo credit Rory
Boland
Editorial
Contact:
Karen
Hoffman,
The Bradford
Group
Tel: (212)
447-0027
Fax: (212) 725
8253
E-mail:
bradfordmktg@aol.com
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