Ron Pyszka attended the Board of Directors meeting of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in Bali, Indonesia where he presented MCG research on American travelers' attitudes and concerns regarding global warming. Other speakers on the topic of global warming included Geoffrey Lipman, UNWTO Assistant Secretary General; Dawn Drew, Publisher, National Geographic Traveler; Paul Wilke, Director of Corporate Relations, Visa International; and Louis Thompson, Six Senses Resort Group.

TravelStyles USA 2007-2008: Americans as International Travelers is now in the field. In addition to tracking essential travel trends, attitudes, interests, destination preferences, spending patterns, and demographics, this year's study addresses the industry's most topical issues:

• How are travelers using new technology—RSS feeds, blogs, podcasts, community Web sites, and more?
  
• How are concerns about the environment and global warming affecting travel decisions?
  
• To what extent does faith/religion influence travel behavior?
  
• How big is the market for medical tourism?
  
• What do family travelers really want from an international vacation?
  
• Who is in the market for luxury travel and what is their definition of luxury?

Heather Hardwick joined 300 other concerned tourism professionals in Virginia City, Nevada for the fifth annual Tourism Cares restoration project. Tourism Cares is a non-profit organization that has preserved several of the world's cultural and historic treasures and supports education and research to help secure the positive future of travel and tourism. The event marked the organization's first foray into the western United States and its largest restoration undertaking to date.

The Comunidad of Madrid engaged Menlo Consulting Group to develop a strategic marketing plan to guide the city's consumer and trade marketing initiatives in North America. MCG identified the most promising markets and market segments for Turismo Madrid to target; determined the optimal allocation of resources among geographic markets, consumer segments, and marketing channels; and identified specific marketing and branding strategies and activities for Turismo Madrid to achieve its goals. Sarita Skidmore and Heather Hardwick presented results to key stakeholders in Madrid.

Heather Hardwick spoke at the Educational Travel Conference in Baltimore, Maryland to travel planners, and suppliers who cater to the affinity or non-profit travel market.  In the Voluntourism Forum, she discussed Americans' growing interest in “giving back” while on vacation.  She also moderated a panel on Baby Boomers, discussing significant Boomer trends influencing the marketplace during the next few years. This was Heather's eighth time speaking at the ETC conference.

Sarita Skidmore provided the keynote address at the Hawaii 2007 Tourism Forecast Conference in Honolulu, where she discussed opportunities for growing travel to Hawaii from the U.S. mainland.  In addressing the audience, she highlighted the underlying factors that make Hawaii one of the strongest travel brands in teh world. The event was jointly sponsored by the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

Ron Pyszka and Duane Coughlan addressed the Nicaraguan tourism industry with opportunities for growing inbound tourism. During their presentation to local tour operators, real estate developers, and the press in Managua, they discussed Americans growing interest in Central America as well as opportunities for Nicaragua to tap into the popularity of adventure travel, voluntourism, cruising, and nature-based tourism.