FTA Summit 2016 – Recap

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October 22 – 26, 2016 • Westin La Paloma • Tucson, Arizona


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Recap | Agenda | FAM tours | Summit Attendees | Gallery | Networking Activities

The annual Summit of the Family Travel Association (FTA) is a trade-only, conference-style event that brings together family travel experts, industry leaders, and media for three days of inspiring presentations, interactive workshops, enlightening research, and a diverse array of networking opportunities. It has become the preeminent industry event to:

  • Network with family-focused tour operators and media
  • Further personal development and knowledge of the trends in family travel
  • Help promote your family travel products to the travel industry’s influencers and decision-makers

The 2016 FTA Summit was held in beautiful Tucson, Arizona, where more than 150 family travel industry influencers convened at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa. Attendees included:

  • More than 40 media, including AFAR, Family Fun, Scholastic Parent & Child, Expedia, Travel Age West, and a host of vetted, quality bloggers and freelancers
  • Industry leaders from Disney, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, the U.S. National Park Service, Keystone Resort, and Kampgrounds of America
  • Dozens of buyers, both agents and tour operators (Globus, Lindblad, Scott Dunn, etc.)
  • Destinations from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Anchorage (and many in between, like South Dakota, Arizona, and Florida) and attendees from Australia, Italy, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and many more
  • Industry service providers and other B2B opportunities

And we managed to make great business fun, with a variety of networking activities (hiking, horseback riding, a SCUBA demo, museum tours, and more), a local dine around night in delicious downtown Tucson, and a closing night outdoor cowboy cookout at the spectacular Tanque Verde Guest Ranch.

In 2015, family travel industry leaders and decision-makers took over the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Montana for networking, professional development, knowledge sharing, and more. Attendees included AFAR media, Travel + Leisure, Travel Age West, USA Today, Austin Adventures, Disney, Expedia, Geographic Expeditions, Lindblad Expeditions, Montana Tourism, Royal Caribbean, South Dakota Tourism, and many more.

For more information, please review our FTA Summit Deck which you can download via this link. Otherwise, we’ll be announcing soon the location for 2017! To get the latest information on the 2017 Summit, please sign up for our newsletter or email FTA’s Executive Director directly.

To review the 2016 event, please check out:

To Review the 2015 event, please check out: