Become an Ithaca/Tompkins County Visitor A2D Champion!
What is A2D?
Ithaca/Tompkins County Visitor Journey A2D™ is a new tourism champion training that helps everyone in our destination create positive visitor experiences from their Arrival to Departure, or from A2D!
Highly customized for our area, this course helps our entire community learn more about the richness of what we offer visitors.
Participants LEARN about what makes our area so special, ENJOY meeting others, and join together to STRENGTHEN TOURISM, which benefits us all!
Who Is It For?
The Visitor Journey A2D™ program benefits anyone who works directly with visitors or anyone who might encounter a visitor in the course of their job duties.
Citizens and non-traditional hospitality positions, for example, Realtors and police officers, will also benefit from learning about helping visitors and how important they are to our local economy.
Why Take the Course?
Tourism is very important to our destination.
The Visitor Journey A2D™ tourism training program was designed to increase awareness of how all of the tourism sectors fit together to build the visitor’s total experience. And, how one person’s actions can create a snowball effect of negative or positive encounters.
Visitors who have a negative encounter or feel unwelcome have the means through social media to tell hundreds of people about their bad experiences. This bad publicity negatively impacts income generated from tourism and over time can adversely affect our entire community.
Visitors who have an enjoyable experience will spend more, plan to return in the future, and will tell their friends about the great place they just visited!
The money generated from visitor spending benefits local businesses, and moves through our community with a multiplier effect, providing lower taxes, new amenities, and better infrastructure, which increases everyone’s quality of life.
How Does it Work?
Visitor Journey A2D™ is a blended-learning program presented in TWO parts:
Part One - ONLINE COURSE
There are seven short online modules filled with videos, activities, and quizzes about our area and helping visitors. The entire online course takes about 75-90 minutes to complete, but you can come and go and finish it at your own pace.
Part Two - LIVE CLASS (Now available as a virtual class!)
Next, you’ll attend a 60-75 minute in-person class to discuss your answers from the exercises in the online course. The engaging class gives you the opportunity to share what you know and to learn from others in our community. Register using the link below to see the full upcoming live class schedule.
Once you’ve successfully completed both parts, you’ll achieve your Ithaca/Tompkins County Visitor A2D Champion™ certificate!
Visitor A2D Champions continue to learn about our destination with access to special resources, updates, and invitations to FAM Tours and industry events.
What Does It Cover?
The interactive and easy-to-follow A2D training helps you create positive experiences by providing you with local resources, service skills, and an increased understanding of your importance to our local tourism industry.
Modules cover how tourism works, discovering our area, answering visitor questions, helping upset customers, and much more.
Class activities explore our destination’s unique assets, attractions, and challenges in helping visitors.
How Do I Register?
The Ithaca/Tompkins County Visitor Journey A2D™ program is open to anyone interested in learning more about our local tourism and helping visitors.
When you sign up, you’ll receive immediate access to the online course and be able to choose a live class session that fits your schedule.
The cost is Free!
Go toIthaca.VisitorJourney.com to register in the A2D Learning Center and get started on your journey!
Can I Enroll My Whole Staff?
Absolutely! Employers, contact us to learn more about providing the Ithaca/Tompkins County Visitor Journey A2D™ training to your employees.
Can’t send staff off-property for the Live Class? Why not host a public A2D class at your place of business?
Public classes allow your employees to connect with and learn from their peers in our tourism community.
You can expose your business to a new set of promoters.
You’ll demonstrate support for our local tourism industry.
Please contact us to learn more about creating Ithaca/Tompkins County Visitor A2D Champions in your company!
