8 Tips for Building a Profitable Niche in the Travel Industry (by Maria Lenhart)

This article by Maria Lenhart of Travel Market Report provides some great insight into specializing in specific travel niches.

Article link:
http://www.travelmarketreport.com/content/publiccontent.aspx?pageid=1364&articleID=11159

U.S. Travel Destinations to Encounter Faith - Part 1 (by Ruth Hill)

You can view the above article from Ruth Hill at Faith Travel Focus by clicking here:

Article link: http://www.faithtravelfocus.com/u-s-places-faith-part-1

Learning the Student & Youth Travel Market

Did you know 51% of NTA tour operators work with student and youth travel? The majority of these members package travel product and services for age groups ranging from elementary school through college.

The global youth travel market currently is valued at $173 billion with almost 190 million international trips per year. The most common trips offered include educational outings, cultural experiences, musical performances and sporting events among others.

Ed Lattin, president of NTA-member Educational Tours, shared the following insight: "It's imperative that attractions be able to show how a visit to their site can enhance learning objectives. Standardized testing is a reality in public education, and tours that can help prepare students for these tests are going to be more marketable to schools."

Want to learn more about making connections in the student and youth travel market? Check out NTA's Travel Market Guide featuring educational and business insight, statistics, Courier articles, media releases and more, or contact NTA's Director of Growth Markets, Kevin J. Wright. (Photo courtesy of American Tours & Travel)

Multigenerational Travel Growing Up

Excellent article by The Group Travel Leader on the growing family and multigenerational travel market.

Opening line of the article:

One of the top travel trends in 2014 is multigenerational travel. Most tour companies report impressive increases in business in recent years from this niche market.

Article link: http://grouptravelleader.com/articles/multigenerational-travel-growing/

Faith-based Travel Planners an Important Segment of Group Travel

Article (published by Travel Mole):

http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2011444&c=setreg&region=3

Here's couple segments from the article:

Churches are making a big impact on the group travel market according to research conducted by Going On Faith, a national organization of faith based and religious travel planners.

A survey of the organization's members that plan group travel for their church shows that the average church is running six overnight tours per year with a load factor averaging 36 passengers per tour.

Turning a Personal Passion Into a Thriving Business (by Ana Figueroa)

Wonderful story by Travel Market Report about travel agent, Sophia Kulich, turning her passion into a thriving specialty niche market within travel. Kulich’s Palm Harbor, Fla.-based EMCO Travel sells Jewish heritage tours through its subsidiary, Jewish Travel Agency.  

Article link:
http://www.travelmarketreport.com/content/publiccontent.aspx?pageid=1364&articleID=11090

The Future of Student Travel is Looking Bright

Leisure Group Travel's interview (by Vanessa Day) with Mike Schields, president of Brightspark.

Article link:
http://leisuregrouptravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Student-Industry.pdf