American Bus Association Marketplace, Jan. 12 -13, 2020
Attended the American Bus Association Marketplace held in Omaha, Neb. This is the industry’s premier travel business event, where more than 3,500 tour operators, supplier and exhibitors meet to kick off a new year of business opportunities. American Bus Association has more than 800 buyer members that are tour operators and travel planners who package travel product domestically and around the world. Staff conducted 37 appointments with tour operators; the majority of those appointments were focused on the mature market. Staff shared information on what’s new in San Antonio and tour trends and discussed new product development opportunities with clients. If you are interested in the motor coach tour market, mature or student youth, please reach out to Alex Gonzales at alexgonzales@visitsanantonio.com.
Tripster Educational Session, Jan. 22, 2020
Hosted a lunch-and-learn program on Jan. 22 for attractions and sightseeing tour companies to learn how to work with Tripster. Tripster is an attraction reseller and has been in the marketplace for almost 20 years. It resells attractions and sightseeing tours to U.S. customers and has a reach to as many as 1 million customers. During the lunch-and-learn, Visit San Antonio members were able to learn about how to use third-party connections and sales strategies to help them build more awareness through other sales channels. Due to the popularity of the event, the Tourism department will be looking at more programs throughout the year to help in giving our partners more exposure in the marketplace. For more information, contact Francisco Gallegos at franciscogallegos@visitsanantonio.com.
Tourism Development staff is working on key programs and promotions that will launch in the first few months of the year. They are designed to generate demand over Spring Break and Semana Santa/Holy Week.
The Dallas Consumer Engagement was scheduled for Feb. 22-23, 2019. This promotion includes a live interactive experience at Stonebriar Centre along with digital marketing, email campaigns, live radio remotes and appearances on local Dallas morning shows.
In addition, we are currently working on coordinating a Spring Expedia Co-op Campaign that would start the last week of February and run through May 2020. If you are interested in additional information on the Expedia Co-op, contact Dorah Benavidez at dorahbenavidez@visitsanantonio.com.
In preparation for Holy Week/ Semana Santa in April, staff has put together a Sales Mission to Mexico from March 9-13, 2020. The mission will include sales calls to key clients both in Mexico City and Monterrey. For more information, contact Sal Garza at salgarza@visitsanantonio.com.