Travel Business News

Nineteen charitable organizations from all over the country benefited from ASTA's Political Action Committee's charitable match program in 2007. ASTA's Corporate Advisory Council (CAC) provided $25,000 in funds for the program, an increase of $5,000 from 2006, ASTA said. With
its charitable match program, ASTA challenges its chapters to meet certain political action fundraising criteria in order to qualify for CAC matching charitable funds. Thirteen chapters qualified for the CAC funds, disbursed on a first-come, first-serve basis. Mar 28, 2008
Travel agents will learn how to identify "Red Flags" to detect credit card fraud, how to identify fake consolidators and how scam artists are deceiving agencies through ownership changes and other hot topics during the Airline Reporting Corporation's (ARC) Fraud Prevention Workshop, April 21 at the Rio Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. The workshop, held the day before the April 22-24 TRAMS Technology and Marketing University will give attendees the opportunity to learn best practices for mitigating fraud. It will also serve as an interactive forum for agents to share travel industry experience and concerns with ARC representatives. The feedback will help shape future seminars for the travel professional community, ARC says. Mar 28, 2008
The huge, but often ignored, buying power of African-Americans will be discussed by marketing professional, Michael Deflorimonte, at the 12th Counterpart International's Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx) set for the Holiday Inn San Juan in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, May 15 to 19. Deflorimonte has more than 20 years of marketing and business development experience and served as a vice president of Charles Schwab and Co. where he developed and directed their nationwide African-American Investor Services group. "The buying power of African-Americans is expected to exceed a trillion dollars over the next several years," Deflorimonte said. "This projection, along with an affinity for the Caribbean, makes African-Americans prime candidates for Caribbean tourism efforts