FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the Travel South SHOWCASE?
Travel South Showcase is a regional appointment-style marketplace focused on increasing travel to and within the 12 southern states. Showcase offers the most targeted opportunity for tour operators / wholesalers and travel service providers to meet face to face with southern travel suppliers. Last year, Travel South USA hosted more than 160 tour operators from 37 states (plus Washington D.C.) and 3 countries!

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Who is eligible to attend?
Travel South Showcase is an invitation-only event. Suppliers must be approved by their respective state tourism office as a destination marketing organization (DMO), attraction, hotel, or restaurant in the state and maintain a business address in one of the 12 southern states. National organizations are extended invitations if they maintain a regional office in the south or more than 75% of the business is in the south.

Tour Operators (Buyers) are extended invitations at the discretion of Travel South USA and are subject to review by the Showcase Task Force Committee. Only Buyers who meet the specific requirements outlined by the Task Force Committee are considered. We invite senior level personnel, such as owners and senior management as well as product development managers, charter tour planners, outside sales representatives and group tour specialists.

All attendees must be at least 18 years of age and an employee or contractor of the member organization and must receive income for his/her service and/or serve as a member of the organization's governing body.

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How is Travel South Showcase different than other marketplace shows?
The 12 state tourism offices own and produce Travel South Showcase. We consider it a primary marketing program designed to “showcase” tourism organizations state by state and connect Buyers and Sellers to bring more visitors to the south.

The Marketplace show floor is arranged in state aisles with each aisle uniquely decorated with consistent floral arrangements to show continuity. The state office of tourism representative is the primary contact for the decorations. Travel industry suppliers have booths, and the buyers walk the floor and move from supplier booth to supplier booth for their appointments.

Travel Service Providers (advertising media and online providers) are very important and help create consumer demand for southern destinations; therefore their booths are located in the center of the show floor.

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When should I arrive and how long should I stay?
You should plan to arrive on Saturday, March 1 and stay until Wednesday morning, March 5, to take full advantage of all the destination marketing and endless networking opportunities.

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When do I need to register?
For Suppliers, on-line registration opens August 27th and confirmations will be sent on October 26th. Space is limited and strict ratios will be imposed this year, so we urge you to register when registration opens.

For Tour Operators (Buyers), early-bird registrations are available until December 14th after which the price increases.

For Travel Service Providers, first come, first serve guarantees you a select booth position in Connections Café.

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Can I just register to come for a day or a specific event?
Travel South Showcase does not sell day passes, event passes or partial registrations.

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What is Connections Café?
The Connections Café is the meeting and gathering place on the show floor and it located in the highest visible position. Travel Service Provider booths form a ring around the area and our refreshment lounge is located in the center of the booths. The food and beverage guarantees traffic through the Connections Cafe.

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What is the lottery and how does it work?
Travel South Showcase has become the premier marketplace in the south and because of its popularity Travel South USA uses a lottery to decide which supplier delegates may attend. Each of the 12 states has a limited number of booths available in their state aisle. National organization or groups with locations in several states will be placed in the Multi-State Aisle. All suppliers who register are considered pending until after the lottery takes place. Suppliers that are not confirmed after the lottery will be wait-listed until January 2, 2008. All wait-listed Supplier registrations will be considered active unless a notice of cancellation is submitted by the Supplier organization. Confirmed Suppliers who have not paid in full by November 3rd are removed from the list and wait-list suppliers are moved up. Travel South Showcase staff will communicate with you directly on your pending status.

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I forgot my Travel South USA Showcase ID & password, what do I do?
Your Company ID and individual password are printed on your invitation letter. If you do not receive an invitation letter, send an email with your name and organizations name to Showcase@TravelSouthUSA.com and the information needed will be forwarded to you.

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I can’t register on-line because I don’t have access to a current version of an internet browser or my company has controls on computer that deny me access to the TravelSouthUSA.org Showcase Passport site, what do I do?
In select circumstances, the Travel South staff can manually enter your registration and appointment schedule, however, profile information about delegates, both tour operators and suppliers are only available on-line in your Showcase Passport.

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Other suppliers in my state are receiving monthly updates and I have not received any emails from Travel South Showcase, what should I do?
Most likely, Travel South Showcase is not on your ‘safe’ email list. Simply add Showcase@TtravelSouthUSA.com. Contact your email administrator for assistance.

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How are the appointments scheduled?
More than 12,000 appointment requests are prescheduled for the four Showcase Marketplace sessions. Beginning on January 2, 2007 and ending February 8, 2008, all appointment-taking delegates have the opportunity to electronically research and request appointments with the organizations they most want to meet with during Marketplace. Our automated scheduling system matches appointment requests and schedules nearly 100% of all mutually requested appointments and 90% of all Buyer requested appointments — giving you quality appointments.

Travel South Showcase gives you the flexibility of requesting your appointments on our web site allowing you to change and update your requests up until the minute they are scheduled. Once again this year, you will see which companies have requested your organization, allowing you to continually update your requests in order to gain more mutual appointments.

In addition, Suppliers have the opportunity to register for up to 24 additional “mini-switch” appointments on-site at the registration desk. Sign-up is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

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How are the appointments prioritized?
Of the more than 12,000 appointment requests that are pre-scheduled, we instruct the computer-matching program to process appointments in the following order:

1. Perfect Match - Buyer & Supplier request each other
2. Buyer Request
3. Supplier Request

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How many appointment slots are available?
Each appointment-taking delegate has the opportunity to have up to 52 pre-scheduled appointments and additional 24 mini-switch on-site appointments.

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How long do I have for each appointment during the pre-scheduled sessions?
You have 7 minutes to discuss business one-on-one and open doors for future business in the pre-scheduled appointments. Buyers have 2 minutes to move to the next appointment.

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What is the mini-switch session?
The Mini-switch session is an opportunity to meet with tourism organizations that you do not have pre-scheduled meetings with. During the mini-switch sessions, the Tour Operators (Buyers) are seated and the suppliers move from booth to booth. Each appointment is 4 minutes, and suppliers have 1 minute to commute to the next appointment.

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How do I sign up for mini-switch appointments on-site?
This second round of appointment scheduling will take place on-site at the Gulf Coast Convention Center in the registration area. There will be two scheduling sessions available during the registration hours on Saturday and Sunday.

Simply pick up your registration materials and then head over to the Lounge where computers will be set up. Once you complete your mini-switch appointments, we'll print them out on site and add them to your appointment book.

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