Featuring executives and luminaries from World Bank, Yahoo!, Microsoft, NBC Today Show, Orbitz, Recreational Equipment, National Geographic Adventures Magazine, The Travel Institute, and dozens of respected and influential adventure travel industry experts, the Adventure Travel Trade Association unveiled a program schedule to inaugurate its Adventure Travel World Summit.

The ATWS will be held in Seattle on October 16, 17, and 18, 2005, at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center on Elliot Bay.

Helping Summit participants fuse big-picture vision with everyday practical knowledge and tools to help businesses reduce costs, increase revenues and grow their own customer bases is the primary aim of the three-day conference. ATWS sessions will offer interactive learning environments where partnerships are formed, new research is collectively analyzed, challenging issues are debated, group-buying power is developed, a stronger community is built, and progressive visions are explored. The outcome of the ATWS is to enable the industry to better serve travelers, promote responsible tourism, and optimize the industry’s market potential. Core topics include trends, research, marketing, partnering, operations, sustainability, and funding.

“The Adventure Travel World Summit is a long overdue opportunity,” says Kurt Kutay, President of Seattle-based Wildland Adventures. “Over the past quarter century, adventure travel companies and related businesses have proliferated in response to an ever-increasing market of active, outdoor travelers. We have witnessed dramatic changes in the economic structure of our industry, insurance liability requirements, ongoing environmental and social concerns on the ground, and strategies for understanding and capturing our changing market. I anticipate a highly creative and productive collaboration among experienced executive-level colleagues for the benefit of our respective businesses and as well as setting the course for future development of our niche industry at this critical time.”

Summit attendees will garner insights from and interact with experts representing critical business disciplines within and outside the industry.

Visionary sessions will look toward interactive sessions that will create an updated definition of the “adventure travel” category, challenge existing research data and traditional marketing strategies, all while encouraging participants to consider transformational initiatives that benefit the adventure travel industry. Additionally, special emphasis will be lent to exploring collective marketing initiatives and strategic alliances considered “radical” by traditional industry measures.

Practical sessions will emphasize cost savings tactics specifically linked to online marketing, liability insurance and risk management, crisis communication strategies, staff recruiting and retention practices, and others. Sessions designed to increase organizational revenues and attract new consumers include such topics as publicity generation, online marketing tactics, search engine optimization, how to market to niche audiences, and others designed to help organizations improve their bottom-line results.

Day one (Sunday, October 16th) of the 2005 Summit includes an unprecedented opportunity for attendees to raft, hike, climb, sail, fly-fish, and participate with adventure experts and colleagues, while days two and three feature interactive learning, strategy, planning, visionary, and networking sessions.

Hosted by the ATTA, the Summit is designed primarily for industry executives and decision makers of domestic and international tour operators, destination marketing organizations, tourism boards, lodges, and travel agencies worldwide. Building upon 12 previous World Congress on Adventure Travel events previously hosted by the ATTA in the 1990s, its new leadership introduced the Adventure Travel World Summit in April 2005.

Online registration is accessible at www.adventuretravelworldsummit.com. Registration Fees are $750.00 U.S. for ATTA Members and $950.00 for non-members. To ensure the quality and effectiveness of the Summit experience, attendance is limited to 500 participants.

Sponsors of the Adventure Travel World Summit include Orbitz.com, ExOfficio, National Geographic Adventure, Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), and Eagle Creek.

In related news, The Travel Institute and the Adventure ATTA formed a strategic alliance, which in its first collaborative initiative to network travel agent consultants with adventure tour operators and suppliers, will deliver an introductory Adventure Travel Specialist workshop during the October 16-18, 2005, Adventure Travel World Summit in Seattle.

Helen Nodland, CTC, Founder/Principal of Nodland Travel Enterprises and the North American Strategic Development Director for explora of Chile, will present the workshop on behalf of The Travel Institute at the Adventure Travel World Summit. Industry professionals aspiring to secure their adventure travel specialist designation, as part of their Summit registration fees, will receive from the ATTA a complimentary Adventure Travel Specialist Course, which includes both the content and the test.

According to Maureen Kennedy, Executive Vice President and General Manager of The Travel Institute, “We urge all travel professionals to take advantage of ATTA's generous offer to provide our Adventure Travel specialist course at no charge to Summit attendees. The Travel Institute and the ATTA are each dedicated to providing travel professionals the tools to grow their adventure travel business. We look forward to announcing more partnering initiatives in the future.”

Introduced this year by The Travel Institute, the Adventure Travel Specialist course was modeled after Virtuoso’s Adventure Travel Consultant (ATC) certification program. Both the Virtuoso and The Institute’s adventure courses were authored by Nodland.

“The 21st century travel consultant specializes,” says Nodland. “For those considering the adventure travel niche, they’re ahead of the game because they will arrive as the baby boomers’ interest in adventurous, multi generational and exotic travel continues to strengthen. Specialization has proven to give consultants profitable advantages.”

By preparing for and passing a standardized test, travel professionals will earn a Specialist designation for that niche. Those Specialists then have an opportunity to become a Certified Specialist by demonstrating advanced knowledge through relevant experience in that segment.

Nodland will deliver the workshop during the Summit. The workshop offers travel consultants the opportunity to review the course and interact with professionals from various areas of the adventure travel industry. The facilitated session will include a course overview, expert guidance from the course developer, and networking opportunities with fellow candidates striving for the same professional designation. The Summit also offers travel consultants unprecedented opportunities to network with the leaders of the adventure travel industry.

“The Summit offers a marvelous context for learning more about adventure specialization,” said Nodland. “The full tapestry of this industry’s real influencers will be present. And, to be successful, you must fully understand the niche, know who you’re working with, talk with the experts about the marketing issues, get to know who the customer is, and then learn from other Summit sessions about what’s in store for the future of adventure travel.”