→ Tax rebates
→ What are they thinking?
→ Most-visited parks
→ Discover native America
→ A heartfelt salute
→ A futurist's look
→ Hey, it’s real money
→ STS Events & Dates
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
Is there a silver lining for travel in the tax rebates?
May 2 looms large for the travel industry. No, it’s not the day gas prices will magically plummet, nor is it the birthday of St. Christopher (you know, the patron saint of travelers).
So what’s the big deal with May 2? It’s the first day that federal tax rebate checks land in Americans’ mailboxes. The money shower continues into July ($600 per adult and $300 per dependent child for typical households). For a family of five, that’s an impressive $2,100.
If a University of Tennessee economist is right, a hefty chunk of those checks will go to travel purchases—despite claims by many that they’ll save the money or use it to pay down debt. More...
At about the time UT economist Steve Morse was announcing a hopeful sign for increased travel, another study showed Americans continue to throw away vacation days at a startling rate.
Harris Interactive, the polling and research group, has been studying unused vacation days for seven years at the behest of Expedia.com. Last year’s tally of forfeited vacation days: 438 million.
That’s enough to make a travel marketer cry himself to sleep.
If tourism and pro sports had a Las Vegas prize fight, you’d have the Great Smoky Mountains, the Everglades and Mammoth Cave in one corner and Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA in the other.
At the end of 10 rounds, the national parks would eke out a victory because America’s national parks tallied 275 million visits in 2007—more than the total attendance of MLB, the NFL, the NBA, soccer and NASCAR combined.
The park's gain over 2006 was modest (just 3 million), but that came in the face of higher gas prices. Wonder which park was king of the hill? View the list.
Discover Native America
What is one of the fastest growing segments of travel and tourism? That would be discovering the culture of the Native American. Lee Tiger of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians created a one-stop Web site that educates, communicates and promotes Native American tourism and culture.
"It has taken us over six years to develop this important historical treasure for Native Americans and the world at large," said Tiger. Within the site you'll find history, current events and interactive maps.
Visit discovernativeamerica.com.
AROUND THE SOUTHEAST
More changes are taking place rapidly online. Ready or not, we are in a Web 2.0 environment and moving toward Web 3.0. What new opportunities are in the offing for Internet marketers? Leah Woolford of USDM reports.
A heartfelt salute
Two beacons in Southeastern tourism—Spurgeon Richardson and Karen Lingo—are making transitions, and the region is saluting them.
Richardson, who drew a line in the professional sand in 1991 by leaving 25 years at Six Flags Over Georgia to start a 17-year run as president of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau—says he is retiring at the end of the year. His theme park-to-CVB shift came at age 50, a time when some people start coasting.
Lingo wrapped up more than 35 years of travel writing for Southern Living Magazine earlier this year. She’s had a variety of titles through the years, but each of them allowed her to write about the region she loves. There’s hardly a town anywhere in the South she hasn’t written about.
“Both Spurge and Karen have made the Southeast a better place, and I don’t really expect either to retire to a rocking chair,” said Bill Hardman Sr., the first staff member of the Southeast Tourism Society and someone who has seen retirement as an excuse to stay active.
Hey, it’s real money!
“Come to Washington, and spend your euros.” That’s the message some businesses in the District of Columbia are sending to European travelers. They see it as a convenience to people who didn’t exchange currency before hitting the streets. And if you’ve seen the exchange rate lately, you might want some euros of your own in the cash register.
IMPORTANT STS DATES
June 25 - 26, 2008:
STS Board Meeting - Daufuskie Island, S.C.
July 27 - August 1, 2008:
Marketing College - Dahlonega, Ga.
