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DEMA Invites Industry To Strategic Visioning Session

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DEMA Invites Industry To Strategic Visioning Session

(Dive Travel Business News - May 24, 2011) -- The Diving Equipment and Marketing Association invites industry members to a strategic visioning session in Long Beach on Sunday June 5, 2011 from 8:00 am to 10:00 am at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California, in conjunction with Scuba Show 2011.

Held by the DEMA Board of Directors and lead by Tom Ingram, DEMA's Executive Director, "Moving Toward 2020: Developing a Strategic Vision for the Recreational Diving Industry" is series of brainstorming sessions with industry members that began with two sessions held at the Beneath the Sea Dive & Travel Show in March 2011. DEMA has been seeking industry input on the direction of the diving industry for the next 10 years. "Where is the recreational diving industry headed? How do we grow? What challenges lie ahead? What challenges us now?" are just some of the questions requiring the input of Dive Industry professionals. read more »

Scubaocity offers a Dive Booking, Tracking and Marketing System for Dive Businesses.

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Scubaocity offers a Dive Booking, Tracking and Marketing System for Dive Busines

(Dive Travel Business News - November 14, 2010) - Scubaocity is a new dive booking, reservation tracking and marketing system for dive retailers and dive operators.  The management tool and booking engine promises an easy cohesive framework for dive businesses to collect, access, process, analyze and disseminate data that is vital to a company's success.

The application helps a dive business to manage their current customer base, create and track reservations and provides a Secure Socket Link (SSL) for secure transactions. The tool also includes a bulk email system and integrates social media to connect with existing and new customers.  

There are two distinct parts to Scubaocity.com:  An internal view which allows the User to manage the business, and an external view which allows its customers to see follow the business, make reservations, and manage their own accounts.

read more »

Bahamas Diving Association Goes Live with Dive Travel Booking Engine

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Bahamas Diving Association Launches Dive Travel Booking Engine

(Dive Travel Business News - March 30, 2010) -- The Bahamas Diving Association and Bahamas Ministry of Tourism have gone live with a custom built dive travel booking engine created for the Bahamas by Segnant Technologies of Dallas, Texas.

The unique booking engine allows adventure-seeking travelers the ability to view and book dive packages with any of the 37 members of the Bahamas Diving Association. Aside from diving and snorkeling, hotel-inclusive dive packages are offered,  and in some cases, meals are available for booking on the engine. For travelers not sure where to go for a Bahamas vacation, the new booking engine features  "Search" and "Hot Deals" buttons helping travelers to research their next trip. read more »

Selling in Uncertain Times

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(Dive Travel Business News - Nov 9, 2010) -- Sales Trainer John Boe writes that selling during challenging economic periods can be frustrating, but they can also be beneficial to the salesperson. Adversity can strengthen, weaken or harden. 

Boe reminds us that every challenge, setback and personal difficulty you encounter in life also brings with it the seed of equivalent or greater benefit. "The key to overcoming adversity is to avoid the temptation of panic and instead, focus on finding the greater benefit," Boe writes.

Read the entire article here.

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Unprecedented Impulse Demand for Last Minute Trips

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Impulse Travel Market Expands, poses challenges for travel pros

(Dive Travel Business News - November 2, 2010) -- The 2010 Portrait of American Travelers - a recent study by Ypartnership/Harrison Group - indicates that irresistible travel offers are driving impulse demand, encouraging more Americans than ever before to take “last minute” vacations.  

One of the market forces accelerating the trend toward more impulsive vacation behavior on such short notice is the growing use of ‘flash sales’ by travel service suppliers. These impulsive offers, delivered through unsolicited Emails, have become more commonplace during the past 12 months as suppliers have tried to liquidate what would otherwise be unsold inventory. The study found that fully one out of seven recipients of these unsolicited Emails reported purchasing a travel service as a result. read more »

Tourism Fiji Offers Online Training Events

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Tourism Fiji offers online training events in October 2010

(Dive Travel Business News - September 9, 2010) -- Following the success of its initial virtual travel agent training event last year, a technology-savvy Tourism Fiji US regional office will repeat the online exercise again in October. Attracting travel agents from the U.S. and Canada and as far afield as Hong Kong and Europe last year, the national tourist office is looking to increase the number of agents trained online in 2009, a total of 754, to over 1,000 when it stages the two-day Virtual Trade Show event on Oct. 4 and 5. Agents interested in joining attending the online show, can register at events.unisfair.com/rt/virtualfijime~2010. read more »

When Client Turns Claimant - A travel agent's guide to disclaiming liability

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A travel agent's guide to disclaiming liability

(Dive Travel Business News - June 3, 2009) - Regardless of destination, purpose, or price range, every traveler has the same goal for their trip: they want it to be perfect. Oftentimes, however, despite the best effort of a travel agent to plan and prepare the ideal itinerary, something unexpected happens. If the result of this unintended event is personal injury or property damage to the client, he or she will look for someone to blame. Suddenly, the travel agent becomes a convenient target for litigation and the friendly client turns into an angry claimant. Although the law recognizes the responsibility of an agent to a client under the proper circumstances, the law also recognizes the right of the agent to disclaim certain liability. read more »

Eco-Responsiblity a Competitive Advantage

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Eco-Responsiblity a Competitive Advantage

(Dive Travel Business News - March 27, 2008) -- Global travel industry leaders are saying it’s time for travel businesses to adopt new attitudes towards the environment and social justice. That is the view being expressed by many of the business leaders attending the PATA CEO Challenge, Confronting Climate Change, organized by the Pacific Asia Travel Association in Bangkok, April 29-30.

“In the face of decision paralysis on the environment that has occurred in some destinations, businesses are now driving the agenda for a reduction in carbon emissions,” said Anna Pollock, CEO of the UK-based DestiCorp. Some 68 percent of CEOs interviewed by the IBM Institute of Business Value said they were focusing on corporate social responsibility to create new revenue streams. Over half believe that their CSR activities are giving them a competitive advantage.

Ahead of the event, PATA is hosting blog discussions on the travel industry’s response to climate change at ceochallenge.pata.org/blog/

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Minimum Stay Airfare Rules

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(Dive Travel Business News - May 26, 2008) -- Veteran business traveler Kevin Cuddihy knew he was in for a steep fare as he shopped online for a same-day-return weekday trip recently between Charlotte and Philadelphia.

But $1,420 for a coach ticket?

“I expected to pay more, but not that much,” says the cable company executive from Mooresville, N.C. “I’ve not paid that kind of money anytime this year.”

Clicking further on US Airways’ website, he discovered that the fare would come down to $580 if he stayed in Philadelphia Saturday night.

He opted for the cheaper fare, reluctantly.

Once the bane of business travelers’ existence, the Saturday-night-stay rule and other stringent minimum-stay requirements are making a comeback after several years of relative dormancy. read more »

How The New Secure Flight Rules Affect Your Dive Travel Business

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(Dive Travel Business News - October 28, 2008) -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued its Final Rule on Secure Flight. This rule shifts pre-departure watch list matching responsibilities from individual airlines to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is one of the key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.  By bringing watch list matching responsibilities in-house, TSA hopes to reduce misidentifications when a traveler's name is similar to one found on a watch list.

Travel Professionals providing air travel arrangements for their clients will have to collect Secure Flight Information from each prospective air traveler. If this information is not provided, a boarding pass cannot be printed.
There are four mandatory facts to collect:

(1) full name as it appears on the government issued ID they plan to use at the airport security checkpoint
(2) date of birth
(3) gender
(4) Redress Number (if the person has one)* read more »