American Tourism Society Elects New Board of Directors

David T. Parry, American Tourism Society (ATS) Chairman, and Chairman, Academic Travel Abroad, presiding over the recent 2009 Annual Meeting, confirmed the results of the biennial elections to the ATS Board of Directors. The Annual ATS Meeting took place at the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm in Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Germany immediately preceding the opening of the ATS Fall Conference.

Leading ATS for second terms are Chairman, David Parry, and President, Phil Otterson, VP External Affairs, Tauck World Discovery. Other ATS Board Members elected to the Executive Committee are Jan Rudomina, Polish National Tourist Office; ATS VP & Finance; David Spinelli, Vacations.com, ATS VP & Secretary; Nico Zenner, Travelbound by Travelport, new ATS Director; and Don Reynolds, Executive Vice President.

Parry, in his opening remarks at the ATS Annual Meeting, said, “in the 40 years that I have been in the US travel industry, this past year has definitely been the most challenging one. Despite the problems that we all are facing, ATS membership has remained stable and actively engaged in promotional activities. As an organization we have made great strides in the implementation of our Strategic Marketing Plan as outlined several years ago, thanks to the hard work of the Marketing Committee led by Dave Spinneli.”

The other members of the new ATS Board include: Malia Asfour, The Jordan Tourism Board N.A.; Fred Berardo, Central Holidays; Pamela Hoffee, The Globus Family of Brands; Gordon Stearns, Tour Designs; Donna Flora, American Express Company; Mirko Ilich, Traveling Times; Helena Novak, General Tours World Traveler; and Robert Whitley United States Tour Operators Association.

The ATS Board also expressed thanks and appreciation to departing members of the Board including H.E. Akel Biltaji, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Knut Haenschke , E H Marketing and Michael Stolowitzky, American Express Vacations.

See recent travel news from: Travel News Asia