ASTA’s John Pittman:
A lack of access to ancillaries
on the GDSs hurts agents’ abil-
ity to serve their clients. 65
IN OTHER NEWS:
6
7
8
Richard Turen:
There are a bunch of excellent
consumer travel websites every
agent should know about. 64t
www.travelweekly.com
Section 1 of 2
THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
OCTOBER 1, 2012
Raising
new flags
[ AMID EUROPEAN DEBT CRISIS ]
Tour operators
slashing prices
on 2013 product
By Michelle Baran
T W ILLUS TRATION B Y THOMAS R LECHLEI TER
Hotel brands have been deflagging and
reflagging properties in record numbers to
capitalize on a recovery in occupancy rates.
By Danny King Page 16
A favorable dollar-to-euro exchange rate and
growing flexibility on the part of suppliers
have enabled tour operators to cut prices of
their 2013 Europe product by between 2%
and 18%, compared with 2012 prices.
“The dollar is much stronger, and that’s a
big part of it,” said Marc Kazlauskas, president of Insight Vacations, which introduced
its Europe brochure last month featuring
prices that were, on average, between 7% and
8% — in some cases as much as 18% — below this year’s tour prices.
As of last week, the euro was trading at
about $1.29, which was in line with the
weakness it has seen since the beginning of
the year. While the euro hovered at $1.40
much of last year, it has been steadily below
$1.35 through all of 2012, due in large part to
the European Union’s sovereign debt crisis.
See PRICES on Page 67
A young agent provocateur
has plans to shake up ASTA
By Kate Rice
Within ASTA, a trade association struggling
to survive structural and cultural changes
within the industry that have resulted in
dwindling membership and revenue, a number of stalwarts are looking to Jason Coleman as a catalyst for change.
Coleman, the 36-year-old immediate past
president of the Young Professionals Society,
the president of SoCal ASTA and the 2010
ASTA Young Professional of the Year, is now
a director at large on the Society’s board.
In last month’s ASTA election, he chal-
lenged incumbent president Nina Meyer,
then withdrew from the race at the last min-
ute in the interest of unity. But his candidacy
included a platform — some dubbed it a
manifesto — that amounted to an in-depth
analysis of the challenges ASTA faces, along
with his ideas for meeting those challenges.
FROM THE WINDOW SEAT
When politics meets travel
By Arnie Weissmann
Politics makes one cynical. Early in the congressional election year of 2006, then- Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary
Michael Chertoff and then-Secre-tary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the Rice-Chertoff Joint Vision for Secure Borders and Open
Doors, an initiative that was supposed to address mounting concerns
See POLITICS on Page 12
about the greetings that visitors were
getting from U.S. immigration and
customs officers.
Despite the fact that a U.S. Travel Association survey had found that potential visitors
feared U.S. customs and immigrations agents
more than they feared terrorists, Secure Borders and Open Doors turned out to be little
more than window dressing. The Fortress
America mentality persevered, the hassles
surrounding airport security only increased,
and wait times for those desiring to come to
the U.S. got longer.
So when President Obama stood in Disney
