We had an excellent Tour Director on our trip with Trafalgar. She has been leading tours for 44 years. She has a wealth of expertise in Italian culture, history, architecture, politics, geography, education, agriculture, industry, transportation, health care, religion, and tourism.

However, each day when we stopped in a city or at a landmark for a tour, we had a Local Specialist as our guide who had deeper knowledge.

This is like associations:
➡️Associations have staff with a wealth of expertise to support members and the profession or trade.
➡️Associations need sources of specialized expertise with more detailed, up-date-information for members.

🌟Corporate Sponsors can be like the Local Specialists on our Italy tour … adding a wealth of valuable information that our Tour Director couldn’t provide.

Note: The need for Local Specialists was not a negative reflection on our Tour Director. In fact, everyone on the tour thanked our Tour Director for retaining the Local Specialists. Similarly, members thank associations for obtaining useful, educational information from Corporate Sponsors.