Inaugural Student Experience Kicks Off at IITA Summit 2026
Click on photo to scroll through images of students from IITA Summit 2026
IITA’s Steps to Success Online Training Laid the Foundation
For the past two years, IITA members have identified education and the future tourism talent pool as critical issues and ones that IITA should address. This year’s IITA Summit 2026 in Niagara Falls, NY, introduced a new program for students to attend and learn about the inbound tour sector of the industry. The program took a two-pronged approach for tourism and meeting planning students from Niagara University.
Prior to the conference, students were tasked with reviewing the history of the travel trade industry and completed IITA’s Inbound Insider: Steps to Success™ Online, a self-paced training program developed by IITA in partnership with Alon Tourism Solutions. The course provides a practical foundation on how the global travel trade works and how destinations and suppliers can successfully collaborate with inbound operators to grow international visitation and revenue. Participating students received one college credit and gained valuable professional connections within the inbound travel industry.
During Summit 2026, meeting planning students gained hands-on experience by shadowing Kim Fisher, IITA Chief Operating Officer and Chief Meeting Planner, in the set-up and registration process of the conference. This included participating in the pre-conference meeting with on-site resort staff, organizing, setting up and working conference registration, setting signage, checking meeting room set-ups against what was ordered, and generally ensuring proper execution of banquet event orders. Students also had the opportunity to attend education sessions, observe conference social media activity in real time, and step behind the microphone to introduce panelists for education sessions.
Meanwhile, tourism students were invited to gain hands-on experience by participating in buyer-seller Power Hour appointments, as well as to gain professional development experience by attending education sessions. Students were given the opportunity to meet one-on-one with inbound operators, to ask questions about how their businesses work and what they need from the supplier side of the industry to find success in bringing international visitors to the United States.
“It is not common for an off-campus entity like your organization to directly reach out to a college like us, offering an invaluable learning experience like the IITA Summit as its new initiative. As much as we all are aware of the significance of travel trade and the essential roles that both supply and demand-sides of tourism businesses play for the national, state, and regional economy, it hasn't been easy to promote rewarding and diverse career opportunities that this fantastic industry offers the next generation. IITA Summit offered a significant look at a lesser-known, but very exciting sector of the travel and tourism industry,” said Youngsoo Choi, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Chair, Hotel & Restaurant Management and Tourism & Recreation Management College of Hospitality, Sport, and Tourism Management, Niagara University.
Dr. Choi added, “My students and I are very grateful for this high-impact opportunity that IITA offered.”
Given the success of this new program to directly engage students with the inbound industry, IITA will soon begin working with the Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau to identify local universities offering travel and tourism degree programs where this kind of hands-on experience would be a valuable addition to students’ coursework.