[Travelandtourism] August 27 Meeting Minutes

[Margo and Arrow]

Hi, everyone. I humbly apologize for being so late with these Minutes. I've had some urgent family issues to deal with and am playing catch up right now. I am going to attach the Minutes to this email and will also paste it into the body of this email because sometimes attachments don't work.

Minutes, Travel and Tourism Meeting: August 27, 2012 
The meeting started at 8:05. 
All were in attendance except for Daniel Carr. Guest: John Eger 
President Echevarria welcomed everyone. 

Cheryl announced the 2012-2013 officers who will serve 2-year terms.
The officers are: 
Cheryl Echevarria-President; Treasurer of the Long Island Chapter of the NFB and Owner of Echevarria Travel. 
Maurice Shackleford-Atlanta, Georgia — Owner of Peachtree Travel Agency.
Margo Downey-Secretary; Buffalo Chapter member, President of the New York Association of Guide Dog Users which is a Division of the National Association of Guide Dog Users; Board Member of NAGDU, Seniors 
Milt-Taylor, Treasurer; President of Seniors of Utah, Utah Valley Chapter President.
Board Members: Amy BaronMinnesota. 
Jamal Powell-Illinois 
Daniel Carr-Texas, Travel and Tourism Webmaster. 

Treasury Report: Milton Taylor. 18 paid members. We have $97.18 in the Treasury. We still have officers who need to get membership dues into us. We need to send a check for $15 to Peter Donahue. We need to pay dues prior to Convention.
At the Convention, elections were held and we had a presentation from Sendero Group. There was also a panel discussion with Robert Newman-Writers Division, Karl Smith-Utah; and Cheryl Echevarria discussing traveling independently here and abroad. Purpose: getting more people to believe they can travel independently. Karl went to Vietnam and Australia. Robert Newman talked about working with travel agents.  
Dr. Maurer had mentioned at the Convention that he would like to have all Divisions to have NFB in their Division names. 
When do we ask the NFB President to approve the Constitution? Cheryl will ask Carl Jacobsen. 

 Constitutional Discussion: 
The purpose of the Travel and Tourism Division: Helping people travel independently; helping people get into the travel industry; more accessible travel. Milt moved to approve; Margo seconded. Milt made an amendment to move all voting until the end unless there is a special need to vote sooner and Margo seconded. 

We only have one Vice President.  
Special meetings:  Re-word special meetings to special Division meetings. Majority instead of 15 members quorum. 
President and VP have to be blind; Secretary and Treasurer do not have to be blind. Milt moves we accept that; Margo seconded; ayes have it to accept the changes discussed this evening. 

 


Walt Disney World, FL-Has non-expiring hopper tickets. 

Mark Riccobono conversation: 
WE expressed to him that we have no problem helping Travelocity with their accessibility implementation, but we will not in any way help with any type of promotion they want to do.  Why didn't Travelocity reach out to us? If big agencies are accessible, small ones will, too. The difference between businesses like Travelocity and travel agents is that travel agents can help people with trips any time; they educate the consumer. 
We should NOT mix apples and oranges.

Prices for Disney: You do more than one day: hopper with non-expiration-over age of 10 for 3 days-per person is $339. The more days you go, the less you'll pan. 

Evaluation:
People told why they joined the Division and what they hope to get out of it? People thought the meeting went very well and that there were great ideas and lots of information. People said they like to travel and want to improve services to blind travelers from travel agents, airlines, cabs, buses, trains, cruises. People want to be able to network with others.

Meeting adjourned at 9:50
Respectfully Submitted By:
Margo Downey, Secretary, Travel and Tourism Division, National Federation of the Blind

Margo Downey, Secretary, Travel and Tourism Division

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