"ATA
stands alone as the only world travel
industry association with African Tourism
Ministers as President, Vice Presidents
and Directors. These solid credentials
give Africa Travel Magazine an edge in
circulation via 23 African Tourism
Ministries and National Tourist Boards
that have hosted ATA events since 1976."
Editor
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MARLENE
MELTON
ATA
First Vice President
Marlene
E. Melton, president of African Ventures, Inc. has
nearly 20 years experience as an advertising, sales
and marketing professional. Her career with
The New York Times exposed her to the many facets
of advertising sales, sales management, strategy
development and marketing.
Ms.
Melton's career was distinguished by four New York
Times Publisher's Awards for outstanding
advertising sales performance and numerous other
distinctions throughout her 20-year career.
Prior to leaving The Times in July, 2001, she was
responsible for Foreign Tourism Advertising Sales
specifically for the Africa, Asia, Middle East and
Latin America regions. While in this position, she
was successful in selling a 12-page advertorial on
tourism to China, a first in America. This
special section appeared in the June 10, 2001 issue
of The New York Times Magazine, the only consumer
publication selected to carry this section.
In addition, Ms. Melton led the sale of a 32-page
advertorial to the Pacific and Asia Tourism
Association which appeared in The New York Times
Magazine during 2002. She was also
successful in leading new advertising sales from
South African Tourism, South African Airways and
Ethiopian Airlines. In addition to these
responsibilities, Ms. Melton was the designated New
York Times liaison with major travel industry
organizations. In July, 2001, Ms. Melton left the
New York Times to devote her time toward the
development of her own company, African Ventures,
Inc., formed in 1999. African Ventures, based
in New York, is a marketing and public relations
firm dedicated to the promotion of tourism to
Africa.
As
president of the New York chapter of the Africa
Travel Association from 1997-2004, her expertise
was crucial in increasing awareness and excitement
about the many destinations in Africa. In
May, 1999 at its International Marketing Congress
held in Accra, Ms. Melton was awarded the Africa
Travel Association's Founder's Award for her
contributions in promoting tourism to Africa.
Ms. Melton developed a presentation entitled
"Reaching the World's #1 Marketplace:
America" and moderated a panel on this topic at the
25th Anniversary Congress of ATA held in Addis
Ababa in May, 2000. Under her leadership as
its president, the New York chapter of ATA received
ATA's 2000 Award for Outstanding Contributions to
the Association. At ATA's Fifth Ecotourism
Symposium held in Yaounde, Cameroon in December
2001 and at its 27th Annual International
Marketing Congress held in Conakry, Guinea in May,
2002, Ms. Melton collaborated on the presentation
of a Destination Marketing model which she
developed. In addition, Ms. Melton presented
a paper entitled "How to Successfully Market the
African Diaspora as a Cultural Tourism Product" at
the Bermuda African Diaspora Heritage Trail
Conference, held in Bermuda in May, 2002 and hosted
by the Bermuda Department of Tourism. In
January, 2004, she was part of a panel hosted by
the Adventures in Travel Expo, held at New York's
Jacob Javits Convention Center, entitled "Africa:
High Yield Success Story" Under the auspices
of the New York chapter of ATA, she has organized
numerous promotional receptions for tourism
delegations from various destinations throughout
Africa. Ms. Melton has visited twenty-two
African destinations and continues to organize
group tours to Africa.
Ms.
Melton holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern
Foreign Languages from Fisk University and a Master
of Science degree in Social Work from
Columbia University. In addition to her
position on the International Board of Directors of
the Africa Travel Association, she is a member of
the Pacific and Asia Tourism Association, the
Caribbean Tourism Organization, the Association for
the Promotion of Tourism to Africa, New York Women
in Travel (member of the Board of Directors) and
the 41-74 Club, a group of women travel industry
professionals.
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