Educational travel programs and affinity travel programs rely on trusted partnerships between institutional travel planners, destinations, tour operators, hotels, cruise lines, and industry service providers. ETC brings this ecosystem together through a professional community focused on relationship-building, program development, and long-term collaboration. Through ETC, destinations, operators, and suppliers connect directly with the institutional professionals who design and manage travel programs for universities, museums, alumni associations, conservation organizations, and cultural institutions.
This membership is designed specifically for Destinations, Operators, and Suppliers (DOS) seeking to build relationships with educational travel decision-makers.
You are a “DOS” member if you check any of the boxes below:
Not a Destinations, Operators, and Suppliers (DOS) member? If you are an institutional professional who plans or hosts trips for a university, museum, zoo, or nonprofit, please head over to our For Travel Planners page.
New to the Educational Travel Consortium?
Watch this brief orientation video to discover how top-tier destinations, tour operators, and hospitality suppliers leverage their ETC membership to build relationships with qualified institutional buyers, secure recurring group bookings, and maximize their return on investment.
The ETC ecosystem is a relationship-driven professional network that brings together the key partners involved in educational travel programs and affinity travel program development. Through ETC, destinations, operators, suppliers, and institutional travel planners connect within a trusted community built around long-term collaboration, program design, and shared professional standards.
The Educational Travel Consortium brings together the organizations that make educational and affinity travel possible. Our community includes destinations and tourism authorities, U.S.-based group tour operators, international inbound tour operators and destination management companies (DMCs), nonprofit travel planners, and industry suppliers such as hotels, airlines, insurance providers, and technology companies.
The blue arrows illustrate the business relationships that ETC helps facilitate. Destinations connect with tour operators and directly with nonprofit travel planners to promote educational travel opportunities. International inbound operators and DMCs collaborate with U.S.-based operators and nonprofit institutions to develop and deliver travel programs. Industry suppliers provide essential services and support across the supply chain.
At the heart of this network are nonprofit travel planners representing universities, colleges, museums, cultural institutions, and other mission-driven organizations. They work with industry partners to create meaningful group travel experiences for their members, alumni, donors, and other affiliated travelers.
ETC’s role is to strengthen these connections through professional education, networking, knowledge sharing, and opportunities for direct collaboration. By bringing the entire supply chain together in one community, ETC helps its members build relationships, develop better travel programs, and ultimately serve the U.S. educational and affinity travel market.
The Educational Travel Consortium Annual Conference is a relationship-driven gathering for the educational and affinity travel community. Unlike traditional trade shows, ETC is designed as a professional learning environment where destinations, operators, suppliers, and institutional travel planners come together to exchange ideas, build partnerships, and collaboratively shape future travel programs.
For DOS members, the conference provides additional opportunities to connect with institutional travel planners through shared learning, discussion, and networking. These interactions support the relationship-building and collaboration that are central to ETC’s professional community and give destinations, operators, and suppliers opportunities to participate alongside the professionals who develop and manage educational travel programs.
See how leading destinations and tour operators bypass traditional B2B sales hurdles and secure predictable, multi-year group booking pipelines through the consortium.
