INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
People will travel this holiday season
‘Put the turkey in the oven, because we’re on the way’
If you’re expecting holiday company in November and December, don’t skimp on the groceries because you’re guests probably are coming—despite the challenging economy or concerns about the H1N1 flu.
A national survey showed that 94 percent of Americans say H1N1 won’t deter their holiday travel. In addition, more than 60 percent of Americans say they already are planning a holiday trip and that they don’t expect to change their minds for any reason. (Another study from the U.S. Travel Association generated similar results.)
the bloggers of the world
For all we read about the Internet’s power, consider this tidbit from Mintel, a market research company with outposts worldwide:
Only five percent of a Mintel survey’s respondents would buy a product or service because of a blogger’s recommendation, but 34 percent would take a friend’s recommendation. The moral for the travel industry is clear—your happy customers are an extension of your marketing department.
The data are from an independent survey commissioned by Mondial Assistance, the world’s largest travel insurance and travel assistance company, and conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs.
Mondial’s survey (1,000 respondents/margin of error 3.1 percent) showed that three-quarters of those employed full-time and almost as many part-timers plan holiday leisure trips with at least one night away from home and the opportunity to each someone else’s cooking.
A cautionary tale about our kids and Mother Nature
Children discovering nature
Charlotte Observer environmental writer Bruce Henderson used Great Smoky Mountains National Park as a case study to ponder whether today’s young people will grow up to be good stewards of the nation’s parks and natural areas. Here’s an excerpt from his cautionary tale.
New hardware adorns the Museum of Science & Industry in Tampa and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga . . . the National Medal for Museum and Library Service.
There are 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums in the U.S., but only 10 a year receive this award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the primary source of federal support for these community anchors. A prize of $10,000 accompanied the medals.
AROUND THE SOUTHEAST U.S.
Goodbye South Bend, hello downtown Atlanta
The College Football Hall of Fame will have an Atlanta address in 2012. It opened in 1995 in South Bend, Ind., near the University of Notre Dame, but its new neighbors will be the powerhouse tourism duo of the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola.
Attendance was more than 150,000 its first year (1995), but it’s averaged only 60,000 recently. Atlanta boosters predict their $50 million, 50,000 square foot attraction will draw a half-million visitors a year. Read how it all came about.
A museum in a hotel...
Conde Nast readers say Southeastern spots are tops
The suave and sophisticated readers of Conde Nast Traveler have cast their 2009 Readers’ Choice Award votes, and they say the top U.S. hotel and the top U.S. mainland resort are in the Southeast. The top two friendliest cities in the country are, too. Care to guess?
In West Virginia: Anniversary of a pre-statehood storm
The complete story of John Brown, from youth to gallows, is told in Harpers Ferry's John Brown Wax Museum.
It was 150 years ago this month (Oct. 16, 1859) that John Brown and his small band of abolitionists took over the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Va., writing another chapter in the build-up to the War Between the States as well as the eventual creation of a new state, West Virginia.
Today, the National Park Service explains that history lesson at the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, including the irony that it was Robert E. Lee who was sent to put down Brown’s insurrection and how the fact that one of Lee’s officers brought the wrong sword to Harpers Ferry helped build up the story of John Brown’s raid. The Washington Post recapped those anecdotes with this story.
SOUTHEAST TOURISM SOCIETY EVENTS
+ December 7 - 8, Atlanta, Ga.: STS board meeting.
