The American Tourism Society (ATS) has set its Annual Fall 2011 Conference for October 23–27 in the Czech Republic spa town of Luhacovice, to be followed by a product development tour to Moravia and Slovakia October 27–20.

In making the announcement, David Parry, ATS Chairman and Chairman, Academic Travel Abroad, noted “we are confident that our US-based ATS members will find that, true to our mission of ‘Presenting Tomorrow’s Destinations,’ this conference will showcase another region in the Czech Republic and Slovakia that Americans are less familiar with, but which has great tourism potential for this market.”

Pavel Kosar, Director of Czech Tourism North America said, “We are thrilled to work with ATS and bring the acclaimed conference to the Czech Republic for a second time, but to a totally different area. Czech Tourism is especially pleased that the ATS delegates will be able to experience and tour the beautiful region of Eastern Moravia—starting with Luhacovice, the biggest Moravian spa town with a distinct architecture and the iconic town of Zlin, famous for the historic Tomas Bata’s factory and museum.”

ATS will bring its ATS Tourism College Program to students at Zlin University. The well-respected ATS Tourism College has received much praise from host countries of the past three conferences in Egypt, Germany, and most recently, Kosovo in October 2010.

The program consists of three tracks—the first where ATS tourism professionals spend a day teaching students at the local university tourism programs; students are invited to attend the ATS conference sessions in the second track; and the third focuses on how to promote and sell to the US market, geared to local and non-US travel professionals.

Following the Fall 2011 ATS Conference, delegates on the optional product development tour to picturesque Moravia and Slovakia will start from Luhacovice to Bratislava with visits along the way to Spa Piestany and the Tatra Mountains.

Information about ATS, as well as conference registration, itinerary and agenda is available online.

American Tourism Society (ATS), info@americantourismsociety.org, www.americantourismsociety.org; Czech Republic, www.usa.czechtourism.com