Orbitz Worldwide executive Eric Brodnax and international tour operator and sustainable tourism advocate Alfredo Ferreyros join the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) as its newest Advisory Board members.
Continuing to build a diverse composition of active, strategic advisors, the ATTA added sector specialists to fully represent the breadth of its membership. Brodnax was selected primarily for his management and internet expertise, while Ferreyros brings in-depth international experience, including more than three decades of innovative work in the area of sustainable tourism and community-based tourism development.
Brodnax is a Vice President with Orbitz Woldwide where he serves as General Manager of Away.com & Outside Online. He joined Away as part of the founding management team in April of 1999, was senior vice president of marketing and operations during the company’s formative years, and assumed his current role after Orbitz’s acquisition of the company in January of 2005. As general manager, Brodnax is responsible for setting the overall strategy and vision for the company including high-level editorial direction.
The president of Explorandes, Alfredo Enrique Ferreyros is a pioneering adventure and cultural tour operator in Peru and Ecuador with more than 30 years of experience spearheading eco-tourism in South America. His active participation in tourism associations in Peru has seen him serve as president of the Peruvian Adventure and Ecotourism Association (APTAE) three times. He was recently elected for and is serving his third term in 2008. Ferreyros’ interest in sustainable development and conservation led him to found several non-governmental organizations and serve as Executive Director of Conservation International-Peru for two years. At Explorandes, he has led the company through an Environmental Management System certified by ISO 14000, making Explorandes the first tour operator to achieve such certification in the Americas. In 2007 he won the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the ATTA.
Other adventure travel industry experts committed to support the ATTA and its efforts to grow and sustain the adventure travel industry include Advisory Board Members:
- Mike Adams, Product Specialist, W.L. Gore & Associates
- Richard Bangs, adventurer, entrepreneur, author, producer and director - Richard Bangs’ Adventures with Purpose
- Urs Eberhard, Executive VP Markets & MICE Switzerland Tourism
- Francis X. Farrell, Publisher, Men’s Journal Magazine
- Nicky Fitzgerald, Sales & Marketing Director, &Beyond (formerly CC Africa)
- Kurt Kutay, Founding Director and President of Wildland Adventures, Inc. and non-profit Travelers Conservation Trust
- Perry Lungmus, Director of Sales and Maketing, Travcoa
- Thornton May, Contributing Futurist, World Bank
- Helen Nodland, Founder Nodland Travel Enterprises, Chair of VAST, Virtuoso Travel Network
- Everett Potter, Author and Journalist, Contributing Editor, New York Times Syndicate, USA Today, Outside and others
- Gustavo Timo, Founder ABETA (Brazil Ecotourism and Adventure Association)
- Russell Walters, President, Northern Outdoors
Previous ATTA Advisory Board members whose terms have expired have earned ATTA Advisory Board Emeritus status:
- Rick Hemmerling, Vice President, BuzzOff™
- Megan McCormick, Host of PBS Television’s “Globe-Trekker” Series
- John Poimiroo, travel and tourism marketing communications consultant, Travel Editor of California Magazine, and former California State Tourism Director
- Steve Trautman, Principal, Solution Strategies, former Expedia.com executive
- Ed Viesturs, America’s leading high-altitude mountaineer, author of “Himalayan Quest”
Established in 1990, the Seattle-based ATTA (www.adventuretravel.biz) is a global membership organization dedicated to unifying, professionalizing, promoting and responsibly growing the adventure travel market worldwide. ATTA Members include tour operators, destination marketing organizations, tourism boards, travel agents/agencies, guides, lodges/resorts/attractions, media, and service providers. Host of the ATWS, the ATTA provides professional support, development, education, research, marketing, career building, networking and cost saving resources to its members.
Theodore Koumelis - Thursday, November 20, 2008