USTOA making the case for packaged travel in TV, radio spots
By Michelle Baran
Every year, Bob Whitley, president
of the U.S. Tour Operators Association, makes media appearances to promote packaged travel,
but this year he made the rounds
with a bigger mandate than in the
past.
According to Whitley, because
of the recession and media coverage about its negative impact on
the travel industry, he’s received
more media requests than in previous years.
“There’s never been a situation
like this,” he said.
Whitley’s radio interviews have
been aired in more than 600 markets this year, according to the
USTOA. In addition, an interview
with Whitley about vacation deals
aired twice on New York’s NBC-TV news over the Fourth of July
weekend.
“Part of our job as a nonprofit
trade association is to help generate business for our members,”
Whitley said. “And [public rela-tions] is the best way to do it.”
Lynda Baquero of NBC-TV in New York interviews USTOA President Bob Whitley.
The USTOA has coined this
year’s message, “It’s America’s
turn to travel,” based on five main
points. Those range from currency
rates creating attractive pricing to
great deals to America’s improved
image abroad since President
Obama entered office (see box).
“Encouraging Americans to
travel, especially abroad, is crucial
for our industry. We continue to
endorse the lifting of travel restrictions wherever possible, and
we strongly encourage Americans
to use their freedom to travel in
order to promote understanding
between nations,” Whitley said in
a release promoting the USTOA’s
media push. “We also encourage
the travel agent community to
use our five key points as sales
messages to help promote travel
and build business.”
When making the case for
packaged travel, Whitley often
refers to the USTOA’s findings
from an April member survey,
the results of which showed that
prices have dropped an average
of 20% from 2008 levels. The survey, based on the responses of 22
member operators, also showed
that 2009 discounts range from
10% to more than 50% off last
year’s prices.
Whitley said the TV and radio
spots are not a result of pressure
from USTOA operator members
to help, but he added that members do appreciate when the mention of a vacation deal results in
business for them.
“Every time we do this, the
activity on our website really
increases a great deal, and it is
something [our operator mem-bers] want their trade association
to be doing,” Whitley said.
USTOA’S 5 REASONS WHY
‘IT’S AMERICA’S TURN
TO TRAVEL’
1) The stronger U.S. dollar.
2) An abundance of good
deals both domestically and
abroad.
3) While the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requires Americans re-entering
the U.S. to hold a passport,
holding a passport enables
people to expand their travel
horizons.
4) Tourism plays a vital role in
economic recovery by stimulating both the domestic
travel industry and the world
travel market.
5) There is a renewed spirit
of openness and enthusiasm for the U.S. around the
globe in the wake of President
Obama’s outreach to world
leaders.
Federal judge in Ill. rejects
ex-YTB agents’ refiled suit
By Nadine Godwin
A federal judge tossed out a
complaint filed on July 15 by
former YTB affiliates against the
multilevel marketer, calling the
39-page document “an ungainly
monster” that was unresponsive
to the court’s previous ruling in
the case.
The case originated nearly a
year ago when a number of former referring travel agents sued
YTB in class actions, charging the
company was operating an illegal
pyramid scheme.
The RTAs brought their cases,
later combined into one suit, under the Illinois Consumer Fraud
and Deceptive Business Practices
Act, asserting they had been victims of deceptive business practices.
However, in early June, Judge
G. Patrick Murphy in the U.S.
District Court for Southern Illinois dismissed the lawsuit on the
grounds that nonresidents of Illinois could not pursue the matter
under Illinois law.
As to the single Illinois plaintiff, John Stull, he dismissed the
case because the dispute was between two businesses: an RTA
and YTB.
Alternatively, Murphy offered
Stull the option to refile to make
a claim that is clear on how his
complaint “implicates consumer
protection concerns.”
However, when refiling on July
15, the plaintiffs, by adding new
arguments and more defendants,
attempted again to make the case
that all plaintiffs could assert
claims under the Illinois law.
Deeming the refiled complaint
an overwritten document, Murphy said that “a good deal of the
flabbiness in the sprawling pleading before the court consists of
paragraphs of legal argument
challenging the court’s earlier dismissal of the ICFA claim of the
non-Illinois plaintiffs.”
He warned that plaintiffs and
their attorneys should not treat
the court’s rulings “as mere first
drafts, subject to revision and
reconsideration at a litigant’s
pleasure.”
The judge told the plaintiffs
that if they wished to refile the
complaint in its current form,
with its full list of plaintiffs, they
needed the court’s permission
to do so, but he warned that his
previous ruling “establishes the
law of the case, from which the
court is unlikely to depart absent
a showing of compelling reasons
to do so.”
The plaintiffs also apparently
still have the option to refile the
case on behalf of the sole Illinois
claimant.
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