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Group Travel Family Releases 2015 Schedule

SALEM, Ohio — The Group Travel Family has announced its schedule of travel industry conferences and meetings for 2015.

The year kicks off in Nashville, Tennessee, February 8-10, when bank travel managers, alumni travel directors and chamber of commerce tour planners will attend the Select Traveler Conference. Select Traveler focuses on the upscale market in group travel and is also attended by 250 travel industry delegates, including more than 50 tour operators and numerous destination marketing organizations (DMOs) seeking the lucrative bank, alumni and emerging chamber travel groups.

Indiana’s South Shore will play host to the African American Travel Conference (AATC) April 14-16. AATC is the leading gathering of the African-American group market and registers travel planners from 25 states. Group travel in the African-American market is strong, and that niche leads others in the incidence of intergenerational programs. The conference will be held at the Radisson Star Plaza in Merrillville, Indiana.

Organizers of church and faith-based travel groups will meet August 4-6 at the Going On Faith Conference in South Bend, Indiana. Faith-based travel has experienced an explosion of growth in recent years as the travel industry has discovered this large segment of the tourism market. Travel leaders in attendance will represent 150 churches from 20 states.

Meeting planners are invited to attend the Small Market Meetings Conference (SMMC), hosted by Little Rock, Arkansas, September 27-29, 2015. SMMC spotlights the medium-size and smaller destinations that are often overlooked in the meeting and conference business. Meeting planner delegates are limited to 100 registrants and vetted upon application.

The new and younger baby boomer groups will be welcomed by Green Bay, Wisconsin, October 23-25 at the Boomers in Groups Conference, or as it has become known, the BiG Travel Weekend. That fun gathering brings together many unconventional travel groups such as bicycle clubs, meet-ups and girlfriends-night-out organizers. It is the future face of group travel.

Traditional travel leaders will gain working knowledge at TravelTalks, to be held in 36 cities in 2015. TravelTalks are morning gatherings and education-based meetings. They are the mainstay of group travel and, to this day, fill more hotel rooms and motorcoach seats than any other segment of the industry. The goal of TravelTalks is bigger groups, better trips and happier group leaders.

The newest addition to the Group Travel Family lineup is AgritourismWorld. More than 3,000 farms and markets have registered and listed their agritourism destinations online at www.agritourismworld.com. AgritourismWorld also holds the AgritourismWorld Summit in conjunction with the BiG Travel Weekend. Farms, markets and DMOs involved in agritourism attend for workshops and to meet travel groups.

If you are a group travel planner, please plan to attend any of the above conferences that focus on your type of group. You may contact Gini Dolence to register at 800-628-0993 or at gdolence@grouptravelfamily.com.

The Group Travel Family is the only series of travel conferences that includes travel industry delegates in every function at their conferences. That ensures great social time, as well as networking. The travel industry may contact Jennifer Ferguson at 800-628-0993 or at jferguson@grouptravelfamily.com.