About Us

Mission Statement

To enhance the growth and viability of our members' organizations, and the safety and quality of industry services through education, awareness and advocacy.

GroupConnect Team

Administration & Sales 

Representing ABA

Peter Pantuso                                             ABA  President and CEO

Linda Spruill                                                Beau Rivage Resort & Casino

Don DeVivo                                                 DATTCO

Steve Haddad                                             Bieber Transportation Gorup 

Representing OMCA

Doug Switzer                                             OMCA President and CEO

Michael Colborn                                        Pacific Western Transportation

Ray DeNure                                               DeNure Tours

Ted Goldenberg                                        Getaway Tours

Scott Stewart                                              Stewart Travel

Software Developer

GroupConnect Partners

 American Bus Association - www.buses.org
 
The American Bus Association is the trade organization of the intercity bus industry with more than 1000 motor coach owner and tour company members in the United States and Canada. Its members operate charter, tour, regular route, airport express, special operations and contract services. Another 2,800 members are travel and tourism organization sand suppliers of bus products and services who work in partnership with the North American motor coach industry.

 Ontario Motor Coach Association - www.omca.com
 
Founded in 1929, the OMCA is a full-service trade association representing 80 bus operators, over 100 tour operators and over 700 affiliated sellers to the group tour industry including attractions, destinations, hotels, and retail outlets across NorthAmerica.

Brief History

Economic globalization and capabilities of digital-communication technologies have created new demands along with new possibilities.

The explosion in the growth of technology and the internet and the digitization of information and communications has affected and continues to affect, what companies grow and what ones don’t and even what ones fail. This growth has led to a massive amount of data available to the public and to companies. The challenge for companies is transforming this data into information, the information into knowledge, the knowledge into wisdom, the wisdom into critical decision making and the critical decision making into action. Information and therefore knowledge can build more quickly within networked companies and associations.

Unprecedented competition from non-association knowledge providing organizations has begun and will increase.

The internet has opened access to massive amounts of information (statistics, research trends, legislation) but with so much information member companies (individuals) have difficulty in locating the specific relevant information that they require.

With this volume of information available the big question is, is the knowledge relevant, timely and most important is it accurate. The vast majority of web information is irrelevant, repetitious, trivial, obsolete and unorganized with the relevant useful information buried. This poses both a threat and opportunity for the associations.

Up to now the associations were able to capture or retrieve information and disseminate it to our members. The threat is that the associations’ ‘lock’ on this information is being pried open in that members on their own can capture and retrieve information through the web.

Instant communication will not be preferred it will be essential. The traditional marketplaces of association (OMCA, ABA) will serve a certain need for tour operators and suppliers in the future. That is the face to face relationship building that current industry people appreciate.

Traditional marketplaces are not now, and will not in the future, meet the needs of all tour operators.