NTA and the World Food Travel Association have signed a
partnership agreement that brings together the WFTA’s global food tourism
community with NTA’s packaged travel resources and membership.
WFTA executive director Erik
Wolf and Lisa Simon, president of NTA, signed an agreement detailing how the
new partners will establish a presence at each other’s annual trade shows and
collaborate on member education initiatives and advocacy efforts. It’s a great
pairing, said both leaders.
“We’re excited to be working
with NTA,” Wolf said. “The food tourism industry has needed a better way to
reach potential customers through packaging, and NTA’s members provide that
support to WFTA. At the same time, WFTA provides NTA’s members with
professional resources to plan and package food and drink as tourism products.”
“It’s the perfect blend. By
partnering with WFTA, NTA members can connect with new business partners and
trends in a market that continues to rise,” said Simon. “So much of the travel
experience is wrapped around eating and drinking, and food travelers are always
in search of new destinations and flavors.”
In a recent survey, 61 percent of NTA tour operators said they expect to increase the amount of business they conduct surrounding food and drink tourism, making it the highest-targeted specialty market. The WFTA’s research shows that American foodies, while traveling, spend almost $100,000 per minute every hour of the day on food and drink, which are the only tourism products that visitors purchase three times per day.
NTA and WFTA will promote
membership in each other’s organization and encourage their members to each
other’s signature conferences: NTA’s Travel Exchange 2014, Feb. 16-20 in Los
Angeles, and WFTA’s World Food Travel Summit, Sept. 21-24, in Gothenburg,
Sweden. To see a video interview of Eric Wolf at Travel Exchange 2013, follow
this link.
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