Student Tour Operator Guide
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DELIVERING BUSINESS ESSENTIALS TO NTA MEMBERS APRIL/MAY 2020 Marching on Students line up to learn lessons from the past PAGE 28 15 CITIES WITH SPACE OUT DEAR NOVEL ‘MY FIRST TRIP’ STUDENT SCENES IN HUNTSVILLE CORONAVIRUS ... PAGE 48 PAGE 15 PAGE 12 PAGE 8 A living-history program at the Gettysburg Heritage Center REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR CURRICULUM WITH DISCOUNTED, GUIDED TOURS Get out of the classroom and into history with a customized field trip to Colonial Williamsburg. History lives here and your students will never forget it. Roam through 18th-century America. Meet the patriots and be inspired by the moments of our independence. We oer a variety of options for for dining, lodging and tours. Book your school or youth group trip today. Call 1-800-228-8878, email [email protected], visit colonialwilliamsburg.com/grouptours April/May 2020 FEATURES CURRICULUM Museums 26 Corning Museum, you’re a real glass act | Perfectly peculiar | Innovation on display Historical Attractions 28 What’s the story here? | Gettysburg’s battlefield and beyond | Relive Canada’s ‘new West’ Arts and Performance 32 12 Get backstage (and under the lights) at the Alabama Theatre | AQS’s QuiltWeek Shows are sew cool | City Spotlight: Huntsville Playtime at the Opry After sizing up Huntsville’s attractions and arts—and Brussels sprouts— Courier’s Kendall Fletcher discovered why the Alabama city is a top spot for student groups. Adventure and Fun 36 Six unique adventures for students | Riding the rails in Colorado | Getting back to nature DEPARTMENTS 4 From the Editor 6 Voices of Leadership 15 Business 15 great destinations for student groups 7 InBrief While destinations await the return of travelers, school groups await See how NTA members and all professionals in the travel heading back out on the road. To prepare for that time, Courier offers industry are banding together to fight the coronavirus crisis information on 15 places across the globe where students will find a with ideas, innovation, and cooperation. range of compelling experiences. 8 Dear virus, In an open letter to the novel coronavirus, a travel coordinator voices the frustration felt by the world’s tourism community. 9 Leaders of the tours Two experienced travel pros explain the challenges and rewards—and give insider tips—associated with leading student tours. Resources 48 40 Sponsoring Tour Operators AfterWords 42 Student Tour Operator Guide This issue’s end page describes the beginning of a career in tourism for six professionals who each look back to that first trip they took as a student. Courier has used images existing in the public domain or made available from sources including, but not limited to, Flickr and Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution Generic License. The full text of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License is available at bit.ly/1gDYjzM. Images used may have been altered by cropping or adjusted for contrast, saturation, size, color, clarity or otherwise digitally manipulated to meet design specifications. Courier’s use of Creative Commons and public domain images does not constitute or suggest the licensor’s explicit or implied endorsement of Courier, its content, staff, contributors, advertisers or any other use by Courier. NTAcourier.com 1 AD INDEX Volume 47, Issue 4 April/May 2020 | ★ New advertisers American Music Theatre .............................35 NTA President amtshows.com Catherine Prather, CTP [email protected] ★American Writers Museum ......................11 americanwritersmuseum.org Editorial Billy Graham Evangelistic Association ..........7 billygrahamlibrary.org Editor in Chief Bob Rouse, CTP [email protected] Brilliant Edventures ...................................40 brilliantedventures.com Managing Editor Pat Henderson [email protected] Broadway in Chicago Group Sales ..............16 Writer Kendall Fletcher [email protected] broadwayinchicago.com Contributors Ryan Kramer; Catherine Prather, CTP; Carrie Rhodes Busch Gardens Williamsburg/ Water Country USA .....................................11 Graphic Design Jeff Quire buschgardens.com/va Colonial Williamsburg Advertising Foundation .......................Inside Front Cover colonialwilliamsburg.com/grouptours President, NTA Services Kami Risk, CTP [email protected] Disney Theatrical Group .............................33 Director of Sales and Key Accounts Beth Engel, CTP [email protected] disneyonbroadway.com Ed-Ventures ................................................40 Senior Manager, Membership Sales June Calk, CTP [email protected] ed-ventures.com Account Executive/Western U.S. Kelley Burchell [email protected] ★EPN Travel Services .................................40 epntravel.com Account Executive/Central U.S. & Canada Gina Rutledge [email protected] Graceland & Guest House at Graceland ......34 Account Executive/Eastern U.S. TJ Olmsted, CTP [email protected] graceland.com Senior Manager, Marketing Ashley Fish [email protected] Great Tour Experiences ..............................40 greattourexperiences.com.au Hello Ireland/Irish Coaches 32 CC Group ....40 PLANNING AHEAD irishcoaches.ie History Colorado ........................................31 To view the 2020 editorial calendar, visit NTAonline.com/advertising. NTA members can submit tour product historycolorado.org information or editorial queries to [email protected]. And for advertising information, contact Huntsville, Alabama Kendall Fletcher at +1.859.264.6559 or [email protected]. Convention & Visitors Bureau .....................38 huntsville.org AUGUST/SEPTEMBER ISSUE OCTOBER ISSUE ★Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation ..........28 historyisfun.org DESTINATIONS DESTINATIONS Milne Travel ................................................41 Coastal California New England milnetravel.com Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Mirvish Productions ...................................35 Great Lakes Rhode Island, Vermont mirvish.com The National World War II Museum ..............8 Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin South Central U.S. nationalww2museum.org Southwest Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia North Dakota Tourism Division ...................39 Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas Asia and India ndtourism.com Central Europe City Spotlight: Ottawa Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum ...29 Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia patriotspoint.org SPECIAL COVERAGE South Pacific Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau ....3 discoverphl.com Australia, Guam, Hawaii, New Zealand Travel Exchange ’20 (Reno Tahoe) Guide: Theaters and Broadway Shows ★R.C.G. Tours ............................................41 City Spotlight: Washington, D.C. rcgtours.ca DEADLINES SPECIAL COVERAGE Redding Convention & Visitors Bureau .......10 Space: Aug. 7 | Material: Aug. 17 visitredding.com Museums Ron Jon Surf Shop..............Inside Back Cover ronjonsurfshop.com DEADLINES Salem Witch Museum .................................27 Space: June 5 | Material: June 15 salemwitchmuseum.com Savannah Riverboat Cruises .......................37 savannahriverboat.com Smithsonian’s National PUBLISHED BY NTA SERVICES, INC. Email: [email protected] Air and Space Museum .................Back Cover airandspace.si.edu COURIER (USPS 602270, ISSN 0279-4489)(Vol. 47, Issue 4) published nine times a year by NTA Services, Inc., 101 Prosperous ★Sweet Home Alabama ...............................5 Place, Suite 350, Lexington, KY 40509. Periodicals Postage Paid at Lexington, Kentucky, and additional mailing offices. alabama.travel Subscription rate is $60 per year. ★Travel Gallery ..........................................41 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Courier, 101 Prosperous Place, Suite 350, Lexington, KY 40509. travelgallery.com COURIER is the official licensed publication of NTA®, an international trade association of the packaged travel industry. Copyright© 2020, NTA U.S. Space & Rocket Center ........................30 Services, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any way or by any spacecamp.com means, electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission of Courier, except for quotations made for purposes USS Midway Museum .................................23 of a review. All inquiries should be sent to Courier magazine, 101 Prosperous Place, Suite 350, Lexington, KY 40509, +1.859.264.6559. Additional midway.org subscriptions can be purchased by calling +1.859.264.6559. Printed in USA. Virginia Beach Advertising rates are available upon request. For a change of address, subscribers may notify Courier directly, by Convention & Visitor Bureau ......................25 email or letter. visitvirginiabeach.com/grouptour COURIER’S MISSION STATEMENT Westcoast Connection/ Courier aims to facilitate member-to-member partnering by spotlighting member product and destinations worldwide, to 360° Student Travel ....................................41 provide information on current industry trends and issues, and to inform members about NTA initiatives, events and benefits. westcoastconnection.com Winchester Mystery House .........................27 winchestermysteryhouse.com Courier is printed on 100% recyclable material Witte Travel & Tours ...................................41 wittetravel.com/tours 2 April/May