INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
Poll sees strengths in summer travel plans
An AP-Gfk survey shows that 70 percent of the Americans who are planning leisure travel this summer (a pool with more than four of every 10 of us) plan to hightail it outside their home states. Another 19 percent of those planning travel say they are going international. Where Americans are saving money isn’t by cancelling trips but by shortening them. “The real issue . . . is declining length of stay,” said Peter Yesawich, chief executive of Ypartnership.
On a related note, the travel agent industry reports that Orlando and Las Vegas remain the most popular summer destinations that ASTA agents are booking, although volume obviously remains an issue. Other top destinations: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, Washington, Chicago and New York.
If you’ll simply go at least 50 miles from home over the Memorial Day weekend, you’ll help validate AAA’s prediction that 32.4 million Americans take a holiday trip. Expected modes: 83 percent by car, seven percent by plane and 10 percent by train, bus, llama and surfboard.
The importance of travel . . . by the numbers
True believers that we are, we already understand the economic value of travel, but try to get your head around these numbers: $155 billion annual tax revenue, $740 billion in travelers’ spending (2007 data), one of every eight jobs in the U.S. tied to travel and tourism. Can I get an amen!
Travel Promotion Act is reintroduced
What will Congress do this time around?
The travel industry’s biggest legislative initiative, the Travel Promotion Act, barely missed passage in the last Congress, and the new version already has been introduced. It would create the Corporation for Travel Promotion that would develop a $100 million international advertising and educational campaign. The campaign would encourage visitation and communicate information about U.S. security and entry policies to overseas consumers and travel marketers. Funding would come from industry contributions and a proposed $10 fee on visitors from visa waiver countries.
One step closer to choosing a ‘Face of Travel’
This is the week you can help the U.S. Travel Association choose a winner of the “Faces of Travel” project. U.S. Travel is seeking an industry employee who best represents the vitality and importance of travel in America and has posted videos of six contest finalists on the Web. Go to meetingsmeanbusiness.com/facesoftravel to see them and vote for your favorite. Polls close at noon on May 24 (Friday). Look for a winner in June.
10 marketing tips during a tough economy
Investing in employee training—particularly teaching employees how to up-sell effectively—and focusing on retaining existing clients are two basic tips offered by hospitality marketing consultant Cindy Estis Green. Look here for an explanation of those two tips, plus details of eight more. They were written for hoteliers, but they apply broadly.
AROUND THE SOUTHEAST U.S.
Weather Channel shows off beautiful day at Brunswick and the Golden Isles
Weather Channel producer Jim Gagne records a St. Simons Island fisherman. (Photo: Brunswick-Golden Isles CVB)
Not all coverage on the Weather Channel is hurricanes, tornadoes and floods, so the Brunswick-Golden Isles CVB did a back flip when a producer called about featuring that corner of Georgia during a week of “Great Escape” features. The result was substancial positive coverage—six stories—from reporter Natalie Allen.
The series put Brunswick and the Golden Isles in the company of some other very visual American destinations, including Taos, N.M., Bucks County, Pa., and Cape May, N.J. It was a nice dividend for answering the phone.
Coca-Cola pitches in for recycling in Washington, trails in national parks
Let’s say you have 25 million people visiting a single location a year. Now, think about the volume of soft drink bottles and other recyclables they generate. The National Mall in Washington, D.C., is the spot, and the recycling question looms large. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola has anted-up a $500,000 down payment for the National Park Service and others to create a recycling program on the Mall.
On a related green note, Coke also contributed $600,000 for trail enhancement projects in seven national parks (those in the Southeast: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail and the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area).
Reporter Ponders the Virtue of Sitting in a Traffic Jam
Jeff Farrell, a reporter for The Mountain Press, which serves Pigeon Forge and surrounding Sevier County, Tenn., posed an interesting question in a recent column. To wit: After years of bad-mouthing tourist-generated traffic, doesn’t it feel good to get caught up in a traffic jam right now? Read his column about the ups and downs of living in a county where tourism is the dominant industry.
IMPORTANT STS DATES
+ STS Marketing College: July 26-31, 2009; Dahlonega, Ga. Registration form.
+ STS Fall Meeting: The Clear Road to Recovery. Sept. 9-10, 2009; Atlanta, Ga. Registration form.
