jan-2018

236 237 THE AMERICAN BUS ASSOCIATION tourism-related companies and organizations that work in partnershipwith theNorthAmericanmo- tor coach industry.They include travel and tourism companies,convention and visitor bureaus,desti- nationmarketing organizations,accommodations, attractions,food service organizations,and tourism service professionals,such as receptive operators who specialize in tour planning for a local area.“Last- ly,”says Pantuso,“we’ve got companies as associate members whomostly service the bus side of the industry-busmanufacturers,engine providers,tire manufacturers,insurance providers,etc.” Pantuso says that theABAattracts newmembers in several ways.“We participate in a lot of industry events that go on around the country,”he reports. “There are a lot of state association busmeetings; there are travel conferences in almost every state, throughout the year; there are regional travel and/ or busmeetings; there are other associations that run national meetings,both in the U.S.and Canada. We have staff at a lot of those events and I speakat some of them.I’ll speakat governors’conferences, throughout the year,as well.So,it’s an opportunity for us to be visible and not only tell the industry what’s going on but also be able to encourage them to participate in theABA.There are a lot of compa- nies that just don’t understand the role of an asso- ciation-theydon’t want their competitors to know what they’re doing,or theydon’t want to expend the funds; some people are just not joiners,or think that they’ll get whatever information is necessary through someone else.It happens with all associations when trying to bringmembers in,but it behooves us to try and develop that right value proposition and edu- cate people.” TheABA’s staff consists of about 20 people.“Alarge segment of the staff works onmeetings,education, andmembership,”says Pantuso.“We’ve got staff in the publication/media/communications side.Then we have our government affairs/regulatory/policy group.Those are the three big buckets.We’re prob- ably typical of most trade associations in terms of functionality.We also have staff that workwith our foundation,which does research and provides over 20 industry scholarships annually to the industry. We’re a little unique in that we’ve brought in a cou- ple of smaller organizations into theABAtomanage that are in the travel and transportation space.For example,there’s a FloridaMotor CoachAssociation is one that wemanage. For nearly30 years we have managed theNational BusTrafficAssociation,a clearing house for the intercity-scheduled bus indus- try. We also provide the administrativemanagement and support to Skal International USA(SIUSA). So,in that respect,wemight be a little different than other associations with the outsidemanagement pieces.” According to Pantuso,themotor coach industry is always changing and evolving,especially in its technological requirements.For example,the federal government mandated that all buses were required