Black Meetings and Tourism

TPOC HERITAGE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM As many of you already know, the second destination to receive TPOC Heritage Authentication was Buffalo, New York (Detroit was the first). After receiving authentication, the destination is required to host a Heritage FAM. The Buffalo Niagara Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau has decided to host their FAM a few days prior to this year's con- ference. The FAM will begin on Monday, May 11th at 11:30 a.m. and will conclude on Wednesday, May 13th at 12:00 p.m. All mem- bers currently enrolled in the Heritage Certification Program will be receiving an invitation to participate in this FAM in the coming week. CONFERENCE UPDATES: The TPOC conference group rate is available at the Adams Mark Buffalo Hotel for May 12th through May 19th. Please call (716) 845-5100 or (800) 444-Adams. DO NOT pro- crastinate – the group rate will expire April 12th, 2009. May 13th – Pre- Conference Activities sponsored by Buffalo Niagara Falls CVB will began at 1:00 p.m. (see web site for the scheduled events) May 14th – 08:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. CLIA workshop May 14th – 09:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Certified Travel Agent (CTA) testing May 14th – 12:00 p.m.-02:30 p.m. Opening lunch, sponsored by Buffalo Niagara Falls CVB May 14th – 2:45 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Various workshops May 15th – 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Program to be announced May 16th – 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Breakfast and workshops (tba) May 16th – 1:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Trade Show May 16th – 8:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. Annual "Gala Affair" May 17th – 8:00 a.m.-9:45 a.m. Closing Breakfast May 17th – 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Members only meeting INDUSTRY NEWS • United Airlines workers are scheduled to receive a bonus for achieving an operating target in January. "Frontline" employees will receive $100 because United was first place in the Department of Transportation's monthly on- time ranking. • United also announced they were laying off 83 mechanics at DIA. • United will begin service from Washington Dulles to Moscow on March 29th. This service was scheduled to be daily, but will be offered five days per week during the first two months of service. United will also offer the same fre- quency from Dulles to Geneva starting April 19th. • Speaking of United and inter- national service, you can now fly on United from the West Coast to Australia and rest in lie-flat first and business class seats. • Airlines around the world are feeling economic problems. Air France/KLM are delaying deliver- ies of some new planes by two to three years. • British Airways' debt rating has been cut to a "junk" rating. • Singapore Airlines is cutting capacity 11%. • Virgin Atlantic and Ryanair are both cutting hundreds of jobs. • Southwest reported traffic was down 6.4% in January. • Alaska reported traffic was down 4.7% in January. • US Airways reported traffic was down 6.2% in January. • American reported traffic was down 11.7% in January. • Air Canada reported traffic was down 8.5% in January. • Airline Weekly lists the world's 10 largest carriers in terms of passen- gers carried in 2008 as follows: Delta/Northwest, American, South- west, Lufthansa, United, Air France/- KLM, Continental, US Airways, China Southern, and Ryanair. • Southwest will begin testing in-flight Internet access this week on several flights. We will keep you posted on how the tests go and what Southwest's future plans will be in terms of pricing and rolling out this service to its entire fleet. • Air cargo has taken a bigger hit than has passenger service. Every major international and domestic carrier is reporting a severe drop in air cargo demand. • Our guess is that American cit- izens will be able to visit Cuba legal- ly in the near future. Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House. We will keep you posted. • Continental's rating from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch has been upgraded to "Buy". BofA/ML think Continental's stock price has fallen farther than it should have fallen, and predicts Continental could actually post an annual prof- it. BofA/ML went on to say some- thing about an airline and the industry that I am not certain I have ever seen: "Continental's commitment to profitability dis- plays a rational and disciplined behavior that is unprecedented for the airline industry." Black Meetings & Tourism February/March 2009: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 26

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