Each year, ETC’s Premier Annual Gathering for Educational & Affinity Travel brings together institutional travel planners, destinations, tour operators, and industry partners from around the world to exchange ideas, build relationships, and collaboratively shape future educational and affinity travel programs.
Join ETC’s professional community to access high-quality educational programming, structured networking opportunities, curated one-to-one meetings, and year-round connections across the educational travel sector.
Who this is for: Professionals representing universities, alumni associations, museums, zoos, aquariums, and conservation nonprofits.
Who this is for: This membership category is intended for tour operators, DMCs, tourism boards, cruise companies, and travel industry service providers.
Each Educational Travel Consortium conference concludes with ETC’s signature Learning Labs — experiential, field-based sessions designed to connect conference themes with real-world practice.
These small-group experiences take participants beyond the conference setting and into local communities, cultural institutions, historic sites, and community-led initiatives. Learning Labs are designed to explore the principles of educational and affinity travel through direct engagement with topics such as cultural heritage, storytelling, sustainability, preservation, interpretation, and community partnership.
Please Note: Learning Lab is an offsite experience and is not included with the general conference registration. Participation requires separate registration of $95. A ticket is required for check-in.
Timing:
8:00 am – 3:00 pm
Leaders:
Sesha Joi Moon, PhD
Co-Founder and Executive Director – The JXN Project
Catherine Fitzgerald Wyatt
Education and Outreach Manager – Library of Virginia
Barbara Batson
Exhibitions Coordinator – Library of Virginia
Timing:
8:00 am – 3:00 pm
Leaders:
Sesha Joi Moon, PhD
Co-Founder and Executive Director – The JXN Project
Catherine Fitzgerald Wyatt
Education and Outreach Manager – Library of Virginia
Barbara Batson
Exhibitions Coordinator – Library of Virginia
The Educational Travel Consortium will host the 2027 Annual Conference at our official headquarters hotel in the heart of historic Richmond, Virginia. ETC attendees receive access to exclusive conference room rates through ETC’s official hotel block for the duration of the conference.
Please note that access to ETC’s published conference registration rates is contingent upon booking accommodations within the official ETC hotel room block. Attendees who choose to stay outside the block will be subject to an additional registration fee. Hotel reservations will be verified by ETC, and reservations booked through third-party websites, points programs, or outside the official booking link do not qualify for the discounted conference rate.
Official Event Venue: Richmond Marriott, 500 E Broad St, Richmond, VA 23219
ETC Discounted Nightly Rate: $202/night
Room Block Cut-Off Deadline: January 15, 2027