Dear APTA Members:

Kathryn Monaco

The first quarter is off to a busy start and APTA been a blur for many of us! Between Discover Africa, Focus on Africa, the ASTA IDE, the 3rd Annual APTA Indaba Educational, our National Forum and other APTA related activities and meetings we are all working hard to keep things fresh and dynamic and believe the word "volunteer" takes on new meaning! It is still incredible for me to think of all we accomplish as a completely volunteer organization and I commend each and every one of you for all you do for APTA.

The Discover Africa series went brilliantly this year and myself and Kate Daniel attended every show. The shows were unique, well organized and we were treated to a lot of firsts and very creative programs. Thank you to our host chapters: Northeast, Orange County, Sacramento and Southeast for truly a job well done and to all our Corporate members who exhibited with us.

The Northeast launched DA with a spectacular event in New York, close to 200 people - one of the largest I remember at a Discover Africa. Southeast closed the series with a private tour of the King Tut exhibit in Atlanta and in between Orange County and Sacramento wowed us with their programs and special events that included but are not limited to: consumer participation, African dress, Africa flea markets and incorporating non traditional exhibitors into the mix – some great added value initiatives and well thought programs. A special thanks to the AWF and ATTA for our guest speakers. We value our partner relationships and look forward to working more closely with them in the future. For more info on the events look on www.apta.biz

Our Northeast Chapter worked with the National Board and New York Times Travel Show to coordinate the seminars and educational component at the Focus on Africa Show, an Africa only, trade only event in conjunction with the New York Times Show - we even launched the first ever APTA pavilion at a trade show! Thrilled to report the pavilion was filled and the feed back from agents, exhibitors and show organizers positive. We thank Tiru, Yvette, Kate and all involved for making this a success and the people at MSE and New York Times for inviting us to be a part of it. We look forward to an even bigger event next year! Oh and did I mention, somewhere in the midst of all this we had a National Board Meeting!

Cheryle attended the ASTA IDE for us and manned the APTA table in a prime location (thanks ASTA!). She met with many agents (and our APTA members) and show cased the benefits of APTA to them as well as suppliers who attended. For more on the IDE see inside and check the web site. Thank you ASTA, South African Tourism and SAA for taking this event to South Africa and to all who attended - it was wonderful to be a part of it.

The 3rd Annual APTA Indaba Educational departs May 3 and will be another amazing program with visits to Cape Town, Durban (for Indaba), Swaziland and the Sabi Sands. More info available on the web site and special thanks to our primary supporters: SAA, The Vineyard, Protea Hotels, Lion Sands Private Game Reserve, Sun International, Springbok Atlas and all who are working with us to ensure a successful program. For the third year in a row andBeyond is inviting ALL APTA Members to join them on their stand for a sun downer after the last appointment on May 9th and hope to see everyone there!

Our National Forum is being hosted by our Arizona Chapter and in Phoenix 05 – 07 June. Kate Daniel and the AZ Chapter are putting together a fantastic program for us and more details can be found on the web site (notice a trend here?). We are expecting good attendance so please make arrangements soon and hope to see as many of you as possible. We realize these are challenging times and are striving to provide informative topics, in addition to usual business, to ensure an educational component with much take home value.

I have been told my letters need to be "condensed" so am signing off and reminding you to log on to www.apta.biz for the latest!

See you at Indaba and/or the National Forum!

Best regards,

Kathryn