Project 2010 will be a new web portal that will become a one-stop shop for all your group travel needs. It is being developed specifically for the motorcoach, tour and travel industry to help you increase your opportunities to network with people and business in the group travel market, as well as provide access to continuing education programs and training. We anticipate that the web-based format of Project 2010 will further enhance both the ABA Marketplace and OMCA Marketplace experience by giving you an online location to do business that compliments the face-to-face environment of Marketplace, allowing for in-depth follow up and serving as a place where group travel can be easily planned and booked.

In developing this new web portal, ABA and OMCA want to ensure it:

• Facilitates new connections, alliances and partners
• Creates a more open, informed and collaborative industry
• Provides tracking opportunities to DMOs
• Fosters lead generation and develops new business opportunities
• Helps ease the tour creation and planning process
• Provides relevant, timely and accurate information
• Leverages web 2.0 platforms and next generation business to business networks
• Adds value to association members 

A series of focus groups have been convened over the past year to focus on developing and vetting the Project 2010 concept. A listing of participating members includes a wide cross section of industry veterans and a broad swath of the ABA and OMCA membership segments.

If you are interested in participating in a future focus group or assisting the associations as they begin the beta-testing phase please send an email to project2010@buses.org.

A joint committee of OMCA and ABA members has developed the following list of names for Project 2010, but we want your help in coming up with the best possible name for this important new tool.

We are also asking ABA members to rank their choices for a new name from a preliminary list, or provide a few choices of their own for consideration in addition to those already listed.

Please complete the name submission form by following this link: http://omca.wufoo.com/forms/name-search-for-project-2010/

WASHINGTON - The American Bus Association (ABA) and Ontario Motor Coach Association (OMCA) signed a letter of intent last week during ABA's Fall Board of Directors meeting at the Gaylord National Convention Center on the Potomac to form a partnership resulting in the successful launch of Project 2010.

Project 2010 is envisioned to be the premier online internet application in real time for the searching and booking of hotels, attractions, food services, transportation and related components of packaged travel by tour operators. It also will be designed to serve as a source of information, networking, training and education for employees of bus companies and tour operators and suppliers to these operators.

The goal of Project 2010 is to provide a portal, a needed point of direct contact, between the two organizations' operators, travel partners, and other product and service providers in North America offering tools to the group and packaged travel market.

"We are continually looking for ways to offer our members more tools to grow their businesses," said ABA Chairman Doug Anderson. "This innovative online resource will not only bring ABA and OMCA closer as partners, but help the members of each connect with more potential business partners across North America."

"The objective of Project 2010 is to create a gateway between the Associations' operators, travel members and other essential resources within the group travel market," said OMCA Chairman David Willis. "Project 2010 will generate great benefits for the entire North American motorcoach, tour and travel industry."

Plans are being developed to further market the new software to all members of both Associations with a full roll out expected early 2009.

Members of the American Bus Association (ABA) and the Ontario Motor CoachAssociation (OMCA) have selected “GroupConnect.com” as the official domain namefor Project 2010, the two associations’ new web portal designed to be a one-stop shop forall group travel needs.

Following webinars, focus groups, the opportunity to suggest names, and a finalvote to choose a name for the Internet 2.0 booking tool, Project 2010 enthusiasts castmore votes for “GroupConnect” than any competing proposal for the ABA-OMCA jointventure’s online identification.

“’GroupConnect’ captures the ‘group’ travel component and combines it with themany benefits implied in the term ‘connect’,” said ABA President & CEO Peter J.Pantuso. “ABA and OMCA connect across borders, across operator segments to travel and supplier segments, and connect our members to the right folks looking to book business with them, from the bus or tour operator to the destination.”

“We are proud to unveil the name, and look forward to the exciting months of growth ahead,” said OMCA President Brian Crow. “ABA and OMCA have a close relationship because we both realize the importance of connecting the U.S. and Canada as tourism destinations. It’s unique in the industry.”

GroupConnect is being developed specifically for the motorcoach, tour and travel industry to help ABA and OMCA members increase opportunities to network with each other and with business prospects in the group travel market, as well as provide access to continuing education programs and training. Also in the works is a virtual trade show.

In developing this new web portal, ABA and OMCA want to ensure it facilitates new alliances; creates a more open, informed and collaborative industry; provides tracking opportunities to DMOs; fosters lead generation and develops new business opportunities; helps ease the tour creation and planning process; provides relevant, timely and accurate information; leverages web 2.0 platforms and next generation business to business networks; and adds value to association members in both countries.
 

GROUPCONNECT NAMES POWERS VP OF SALES & MARKETING

Major Member Benefit Changes Tour Planning Forever

As a member benefit of the American Bus Association and/or the Ontario Motor Coach Association, you are invited to participate in GroupConnect, a ‘virtual E-Market’ that allows buyers and sellers to find product information in ‘real time’, allowing them to search, share product knowledge, compare, check availability, and complete the sale through an online Request For Quote (RFQ) process.

 
Tour and Coach operators will have the ability to research destinations, gather and compare product information, receive quotes, book and confirm space and arrange payment for all pertinent components of a tour. At any time, tour operators can browse the entire database of association suppliers which can be filtered by location, price range and specific amenities based on sub categories within a tour category.

Travel Industry Suppliers will have the benefit of a growing number of potential business relationships and partnerships using the largest network of Motor Coach and Tour Operator registered on the Group Connect system. Each supplier will be provided with a mini-website of their own, which they can use to build an on-line profile of their facilities and services. Tour and Motor Coach Operators searching for product will be able to access this information. Suppliers will also be provided with a contact management system so that they can keep their website current changing pricing and promotional information instantly.
 

Come see what Group Connect is all about. This essential travel industry tool is complimentary through March 31, 2010 and available exclusively to members of American Bus Association and Ontario Motor Coach Association. After March 31, 2010, it will be free for bus and tour operators and a $400 annual flat fee for all other clients. There will be additional costs for multiple listings, videos, enhanced profiles, web banner advertisements, and training products.

To reply to this invitation please follow this link and use the following User ID and Password to access your GroupConnect account. Upon entering the system, click onto the profile icon (insert graphic of profile icon) and use the drop down list to complete your general and extended profile forms. We look forward to having you on board with GroupConnect!
 

 GROUPCONNECT.COM NAMES PALMERI AS MANAGING DIRECTOR

GroupConnect.com today announced the selection of veteran travel industry leader James J. Palmeri as Managing Director for GroupConnect.com, the new joint American Bus Association-Ontario Motor Coach Association online portal designed to be a one-stop shop for group travel needs. Palmeri joins the organization as it prepares for its launch.

As GroupConnect’s Managing Director, Palmeri will be responsible for developing and executing a vigorous strategic business plan; managing product development and marketing plans; working to build coalitions to achieve broad third-party stakeholder outreach; and serving as the group’s primary media spokesperson.

Palmeri most recently served as Managing Director of Travel Alliance Partners, LLC (TAP), from 2005-2009. TAP, a marketing cooperative of North America’s top tour operators, was also a start-up when Palmeri joined as its first professional staffer. While at TAP, Palmeri was instrumental in developing a business blueprint from the organization’s strategic plan, the major components of which he subsequently executed.

“Jim Palmeri’s blend of motorcoach and group tour experience, his relationships with the tour and travel industries across North America, and his expertise in launching a successful new group travel start-up, make him the ideal person to lead GroupConnect,” said OMCA President Brian Crow. “We’re privileged to have him.”

“When it comes to tourism, Jim Palmeri has done it all,” said ABA President & CEO Peter Pantuso, CTIS. “He has developed the tour, driven the bus, managed 350 buses and 600 drivers during the Salt Lake Olympic Games, and developed innovative training programs for the hospitality industry and CVBs, among many other accomplishments.”

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of the revolution in online tour planning GroupConnect will lead,” Palmeri said. “GroupConnect is going to alter the group tour and travel landscape by offering digital tools that streamline each step of the process. GroupConnect will turbocharge everything from tour & itinerary planning to booking business by seamlessly shifting tourism tools of the trade from desks to desktop PCs.”

GroupConnect is poised to become a breakthrough technological innovation in how tour and travel business gets done. As an online B2B tool, time-consuming phone calls and paperwork will be replaced by high-speed internet that moves at warp speed. Networking, target marketing, booking, billing and business-building will make a quantum leap in efficiency and maximizing ROI. More information is available online at http://www.groupconnect.com.

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