Presented by:

Conference Details

Schedule Highlights: 

Keynote Speakers
The 3rd Annual NETTRA Conference will be held in person only on April 14th through April 16th, 2023 in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, PA. This will be NETTRA's first in-person meeting since its inauguration.  

The theme for the conference is Collaborative Futures. 

Schedule at a glance:
  • Friday, April 14th: Happy hour welcome event at Yards Brewing Company (500 Spring Garden St). Beer and appetizers provided!
  • Saturday, April 15th: Full day of presentations and sessions at Temple University
  • Sunday, April 16th: Optional guided tour and informal roundtable lunch discussion in Philadelphia's Gayborhood
Erik Evjen, Tourism Economics - Post-Pandemic Tourism Trends
Erik Evjen is Director of Data Analytics and Insights for Tourism Economics. A 15-year tourism industry veteran, Evjen has held a number of positions across the industry and most recently spent five years with the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau building their first ever internal Research Department. Under his leadership the department developed a number of market intelligence reports to aid management and hotel partners in uncovering trends and insights that enhanced the destination’s ability to attract meetings, conventions and sporting events as well as out-of-town visitors. 

​Greg DeShields, Tourism Diversity Matters
Gregory DeShields is the Executive Director of Tourism Diversity Matters, an industry resource for diversity expertise (tourismdiversitymatters.org). Greg is a longtime Tourism and Hospitality professional and a Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE) and Certified Diversity Executive (CDE). Among his awards and honors, he received the 2022 Black Meeting and Tourism Apex Award, the 2022 Pride Power 100 Most Influential Pennsylvania LGBTQ, a 2022 PhocusWire Movers and Shakers recognition, a 2021 Event Industry Council: Social Impact Award, and was included in the Philadelphia Tribune's 2021 list of Most Influential African American Leaders. A native Philadelphian, he is passionate about his work and is dedicated to giving back to the next generation of hospitality leaders.
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DMO Panel 

​Destination Management Challenges and Innovations 
This panel discussion will be facilitated by Dave Gerdes, NETTRA board member and Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Happy Valley Adventure Bureau. Panelists include DMO leaders from destinations in Pennsylvania and across the Northeast:
Bree Nidds, Discover Lehigh Valley 
Bree Nidds is often found speaking, facilitating, and presenting as one of tourism's biggest advocates. She is Chief Operating Officer at Discover Lehigh Valley where she resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Nidds was honored with the Smart Meetings Catalyst Award: Rising Star in 2021, and has been named 20 in Their Twenties by the Professional Convention Management Association, and 30 under 30 by Destinations International. In her free time, Bree enjoys competing in triathlons and swim competitions.
Christopher Barrett, Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau
As President/CEO, Cristopher Barrett has overseen steady tourism growth in the Poconos region, navigated a pandemic and economic downturn, championed causes such as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and supported nonprofits, charities, the local workforce and economic development. Barrett founded the Pocono Television Network (PTN) and continues to oversee the expansion of the PTN content network to new platforms and serves as one of the PTN hosts. He previously served as Executive Vice President/COO/CFO for Target Media and Target Digital and has held multiple senior management roles ranging from sales and marketing to theme park operations with Hershey Entertainment & Resorts.
​Jason Meredith, New York City Tourism + Conventions
Jason Meredith is the Manager of Research and Analysis at New York City Tourism + Conventions. With his extensive knowledge of the travel industry and New York City performance, he has become a key player in the company’s stakeholder and member reporting efforts. Jason is responsible for monitoring trends in the travel industry, visitor segments and behavior, and generating actionable insights for internal and external constituents. He has helped build new models, develop new reports and formats, and supervise the creation of analytic dashboards. This research involves combining quantitative and qualitative data to understand the visitor market and support marketing strategy and planning. Jason has worked to incorporate research into every department and ensure the company is data driven at every level. ​
Kelley M. Keeling, Visit Bucks County
As the Senior Research & Destination Development Manager at Visit Bucks County, Kelley’s role focuses on the collection and analysis of research and data to track the economic impact of tourism in Bucks County and to identify and develop new opportunities. Since 2017, Kelley has played an integral role in developing and enhancing new tourism products such as Visit Bucks County Restaurant Week, the Bucks County Ale Trail, and the Bucks County Sweet Spots Trail. Kelley also oversees the Bucks County Tourism Grant Program which distributes awards to hospitality organizations for the purpose of increasing travel to Bucks County and enhancing the visitor’s experience. Kelley has a diverse career background in the tourism and hospitality industry. Prior to joining Visit Bucks County, Kelley held positions as Director of Event and Member Services at the Valley Forge Convention and Tourism Board, Senior Event Manager at the Drug, Chemical and Associated Technologies Association, and Program Manager at Apothecom. Her accomplishments have been honored by the PA Tourism and Lodging Association and the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association.
Sunday Tour

​Beyond the Bell Tours presents the Philly Gayborhood Tour
On April 16 at 10am, NETTRA will be hosting an optional private tour of Philadelphia with the local organization, Beyond the Bell Tours. This will be a walking tour that will explore LGBTQ History and Philly's Gayborhood to discover the controversies, paradoxes, and hidden histories of the only formalized Gayborhood in the country. Additionally, Beyond the Bell will share with us their experience of moving through the pandemic. We have reserved a discounted price for the tour at just $39 and will plan to host a debrief after the tour. Check out more information on the tour here: LINK. 

Register for the tour:
Please sign up for the tour using this link specially for our group. (Friends and family are welcome to accompany conference attendees on this tour.)

View the full conference schedule here.

Location

Saturday conference location: 1810 Liacouras Walk, Room 520, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Getting to Temple University: 

Lodging/Accommodations

To help keep conference costs low for our attendees and to allow more flexibility and freedom, we will not have an official conference hotel. Please plan to book your own accommodations. Please note that there are no major hotels near Temple University. We recommend booking in the Center City area and taking the subway, taxi or rideshare to reach Saturday's conference venue. Friday's welcome event and Sunday's optional tour will be near Center City.

Registration Dates & Cost
​
Early Bird Rates: Available through February 6, 2023
  • $69 Student (Member)
  • $119 Student (Non-member)
  • $129 Non-student (Member) 
  • $179 Non-member 
Regular Rates: Available from February 7th - March 31, 2023
  • $99 Student (Member*)
  • $149 Student (Non-member) 
  • $179 Non-Student (Member*) 
  • $229 Non-Member 
*Membership is through TTRA. Membership rates start at just $25/year, so we encourage you to please consider joining TTRA!
Be sure to specify NETTRA as your home chapter.

Cancellations/Refunds:
For requests made through Feb. 28th, we will refund 75% of registration fee. Through March 31st, we will refund 50%. Starting April 1st, there will be no refunds. Please email any refund requests to Soyoung Park at soyoungpark@fau.edu.

To join TTRA: https://ttra.com/membership/join-now/

A limited number of scholarships are available for community and technical college students. Learn more and apply here. 

Registration ends March 31, 2023

Call for Papers

Please note that the submission period has ended. Authors will be notified of their acceptance status in late February - early March.

The conference will host oral and poster presentation sessions. Both sessions will be held during the afternoon of April 15th, 2023 (Saturday). We invite abstract submissions from travel and tourism researchers, professionals, as well as Master's or Ph.D. students at any stage in their journey. This year's conference theme is Collaborative Futures, but any research that spotlights and celebrates travel and tourism research related to the region is welcomed. Graduate students in the process of obtaining Ph.D. and Master's degrees are particularly encouraged to submit abstracts of their complete or ongoing work. 

The submission formats for the oral and poster abstracts are identical. Authors can select a submission type based on their study's quality and level of completeness. We encourage studies that are in progress to be submitted for poster sessions. 

Among the submitted papers, we will select one for the Best Paper Award, and the audience will select the Best Presentation during the conference. Additionally, the best papers will be invited to submit a full manuscript for publication in the Tourism Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Tourism & Hospitality Journal. 

Deadline to submit: February 6, 2023. 

Notification of acceptance: February 20, 2023. 
*If your paper or poster is accepted, you will still be able to receive the 'Early Bird' rate for the conference*
If you have any questions regarding the CFP, please email Dr. Soyoung Park (soyoungpark@fau.edu) or Dr. Jada Lindblom (jada.lindblom@unh.edu). For more information on the NETTRA Conference including registration details, check our website https://www.nettra.org/or email us at northeast@ttra.com 

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