Southeast Tourism Society: Thoughts, Travels & Tidbits

South Florida Fair "Centennial Celebration"

2012-01-03T11:00:00.000-05:00

Auspicious year...100 years for the South Florida Fair and 100 years ago Henry Flagler's railroad reached Key West. In Florida, 100 years is ancient history.

Hope you enjoy the article. Click here to read.

Central Florida landmarks make winter day-trips a must!

2011-11-30T11:35:00.002-05:00

By WARREN RESEN - IFWTWA & NATJA

It started during the Great Depression, born of a mother’s need to feed her family. For decades, Chalet Suzanne was a stopping place for the rich and famous and became synonymous with Lake Wales, Florida.

But just what is Chalet Suzanne and what has kept it going through good times and bad? Is it a motel, a bed and breakfast, a restaurant or a throwback to another era? It is all these things and more.

Built in 1931 and remodeled in 2008, Chalet Suzanne has been characterized as “a gracious oasis amidst the tumult of Central Florida attractions.”

Chalet Suzanne is not a boxy look-alike chain motel. In fact building exteriors appear to have been pulled from the pages of an illustrated children’s story book. Each of its 26 rooms is different and furnished with antiques.

To read the rest of the article click here.

Sitting down with Samantha Brown - Her Top 6 Southern Destinationa

2011-11-18T15:21:00.001-05:00

Sitting Down with Samantha Brown – Her Top Six Southern Destinations
by Apryl Chapman Thomas

She is a familiar face on the Travel Channel.

For the past 10 years, Samantha Brown has enthusiastically introduced viewers to various destinations from around the world. Currently, she's highlighting weekend getaways through her series, “Samantha Brown's Great Weekends.”

And speaking of getaways, SHM Traveler Magazine had the opportunity to ask her about her favorite destinations in the South. The travel host with some southern roots (born in Dallas Texas; briefly lived in Richmond, Va.) happily obliged...

To read the rest of the article go here.

"There's an app for that."

2011-10-26T12:00:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Apple, that catchphrase has become part of our vernacular.

In the custom publishing world, having an “app for that” is also becoming a part of the everyday language we use with our clients.

DMOs and state tourism offices understand that digital versions provide an inexpensive yet effective fulfillment option. Adding a tablet version to a DMO's roster of mobile and digital products offers readers/visitors another easy way to access information about a particular destination.

In the North Carolina Travel Guide, for example, we can take the articles and photography for the print version and present them in a new way in the iPad app. A variety of enhancements such as slide shows, photo panning, audio and video make the tablet version come alive for readers. It also provides another avenue for advertiser sponsorship.

Take a look at the free 2011 North Carolina Travel Guide app at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/north-carolina-travel/id449000931?ls=1&mt=8, and you'll see what I mean.

As a custom publisher, we continually evaluate the digital space to present our clients with clear solutions that not only reach audiences but engage them and make a lasting impression.

Here are some compelling statistics that might make you consider investing in a tablet version of your annual publication:

• 82% of digital readers find interactive magazines to be more engaging.

• 51% of consumers between 18-34 are reading magazines electronically.

• 75% of consumers feel that digital content complements print.

• 58% of tablet and e-reader users report reading more digital content then they ever thought they would.

• Tablet and e-reader owners spend 50% more time reading magazines compared to the total sample.

• 35% of iPad owners say they “enjoy viewing ads” on their iPad.

• 86% of iPad owners would be willing to see an ad in return for free access to content, including articles from magazines and newspapers.

• More than half (54%) of U.S. consumers expect to purchase an e-reader or tablet within the next three years.

Susan Chappell
VP/Travel Publishing
Journal Communications Inc.

HR 2112 Amendment Defeated - Thank you.

2011-10-19T16:29:00.001-04:00

STS thanks all members who wrote or called their senator to help defeat the amendment that would have stripped federal highway spending on welcome centers and scenic byways. Read how your senator voted:

http://www.southeasttourism.net/newsletters/legislative/HR2112_defeated.pdf

HR 2112 Amendment Defeated - Thank you.

2011-10-19T16:29:00.000-04:00

Who is our Steve Jobs?

2011-10-07T16:07:00.002-04:00

Shortly after the news of his death broke last night around 8, Facebook, Twitter and the whole blogosphere exploded with remembrances, condolences and tributes to Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder and technology and pop culture wizard who some have called a modern-day DaVinci. Hyperbole perhaps, but not probably. Unquestionably, Jobs was the most dominant figure in the worlds of computing, consumerism, design, entertainment and music in the last 25 years. There is a direct line of genius that runs from Walt Disney to Jobs.

While his direct impact on the hotel industry was minimal (Smartphone hotel reservations apps are just part of a larger revolution in the way travel is sold, and in-room iPads are just an affectation by hotels trying to out-do the Joneses), his passing raises a pertinent question for our business: Do we have a Steve Jobs in our midst, someone who can capture the consumer touchstone to a point that it changes the entire lodging industry equation? Someone whose genius, arrogance, flamboyance and link to the common man can galvanize consumers to think of hotels and the travel experience in a new way?

No.

We've had a few in the past, most of whom I've had the good fortune to know, interview and even in a few cases, call them my friend. Holiday Inns founder Kemmons Wilson, it can be argued, is the closest we've ever had to Jobsian-type genius. He, above all others, brought the hotel experience to all classes of Americans. But there were others: Bob Woolley, the inventor of all-suite lodging; Bob Hazard, the father of hotel segmentation; John Q. Hammons, developer extraordinaire and the shrewdest real estate man I've ever known; Jack DeBoer, the serial brand builder; and Barry Sternlicht, the non-hotelier who made the industry realize its most important mission is providing guests with a good night's sleep.

It's probably the highly corporate nature of today's hotel industry that prevents a CEO of any company from stepping out on a limb to champion the next radical big thing in the hotel industry. Those kinds of leaders often find the limbs sawed off from under them. It's better to be safe, put in your 10 years as CEO and bail out with the golden parachute. The industry will continue to grow and improve under this model, but it probably won't take the leaps of innovation Jobs brought to his spheres of influence.

Our best bet lies with youth. I'm hoping somewhere in a dorm room or off-campus apartment at Michigan State or Penn State or Cornell a budding hotel genius/entrepreneur is on his or way to cracking the code on a gamechanger for this industry.

Meanwhile, we mourn the passing of Jobs, an American original whose presence will be felt on all of us for decades to come.

Ed Watkins
Original post here.

Staying on Top of Travel Advice

2011-09-07T14:34:00.000-04:00

With the advent of sites such as Facebook and Twitter, your neighbors, friends and co-workers are the people you reach out to most often for travel advice.

As we discovered with TripAdvisor, you also will listen to the advice of strangers when it comes to the best places to eat or where you should stay. Travelers just trust the advice of people they know (and don't know), over what they might find on an attraction or hotel website.

There are a few new travel sites that are cashing in on the idea of using social media sites for targeted trip advice.

Gogobot.com, Afar.com and Gtrot.com are three new sites mentioned in a recent story by Michelle Higgins in The New York Times. These websites allow users to ask specific questions about travel to Facebook friends and people who use the sites.

Gogobot, recently named one of Time magazine's 50 Best Websites of 2011, allows you to follow your friends' travels and offer up your own advice on any travel topic, including writing your own reviews on accommodations and restaurants. If someone recommends a bistro in France, Gogobot will supply address and phone – even photos – if they are available. You also can build an itinerary that you can change as you make your travel plans.

Afar describes itself as a place “where travelers connect, share trips, discover new places and ask questions to travelers and locals.” Afar is a companion site to Afar magazine, which highlights global travel. Website readers can get personalized recommendations from other travelers and the locals who make their homes in these various destinations.

Gtrot links your Facebook account to its site to share travel itineraries, find friends in your future destination and get advice, so the more Facebook friends you have, the better. The idea being that you will trust recommendations from friends more than from people you don't know. As the comments come in, Gtrot aggregates them with your trip information.

Bottom line: Travel advice is coming from all corners these days. As a custom publisher, we try to stay on top of the latest and greatest to see how it might affect our clients' marketing strategies. It helps to know about the new ways people are connecting and to start a dialogue when you can.

Susan Chappell | VP/Travel Publishing | Journal Communications

"Georgia On My Mind"

2011-08-29T15:40:00.002-04:00

I spent the week of July 25-29 in Dahlonega, GA. Thatʼs pronounced “Da-LON-ah-gah” and NOT “Dal-oh-NAY-gah” as I found out after I pronounced it incorrectly for almost three days. You may be wondering what I was doing in a city in Georgia youʼve probably never heard of. Well, I was going back to college.....Marketing College, that is.

To be even more specific, I was attending the Southeast Tourism Society's Marketing College at North Georgia College & State University. I was there on behalf of Paramore because we do a lot of business in the tourism industry and actually work with the Southeast Tourism Society. Let me start off by saying that I had a blast and now Iʼd like to tell you why from the perspective of a first-year STS Marketing College student.

Fresh Meat
STS Marketing College happens each year for one week in July. The entire program takes three years to complete and this was my first year, essentially making me a Freshman. I arrived with my toothbrush, clothes and clean sheets for my bed (oh yeah, did I mention we stayed in the dorms to authenticate the college experience?). I was ready to start college.
Classes went from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon with a break for lunch and a few snack breaks thrown in there too. The topics covered everything from how to create the perfect travel brochure, to integrating social media into your travel tourism, all the Southeast Tourism Society way, to how to properly research and request a grant from the local government. By the end of it, I felt like my brain had been pounded into a mush of new knowledge.

Itʼs Not What You Know...
As a social strategist, I had an amazing time absorbing information about our clientsʼ industry and seeing the conversation from a different direction, giving me all new insight about where our tourism partners are coming from. But as much as I learned and brought back with me, the most enjoyable and enriching part of the entire trip was the connections I made and the people I met along the way.

The true joys of any college experience are the friends made and memories shared and thatʼs exactly what STS Marketing College offered outside of the robust curriculum. The staff was amazing and the teachers were awesome, but the classmates truly made the trip worth it. After a long day of classes, people would clean up and then go out and eat together. After that, weʼd either hit up a local establishment for some karaoke or a dance contest. Even though we were exhausted from the day, it wasnʼt rare to see people still engaged in conversations well into the midnight hours.
Within a week of leaving Georgia, I had already had emails and conversations with many of my classmates and those conversations continue to this day. Iʼm already looking forward to when I go back next year and seeing how everyone has excelled in their positions with the knowledge gained in our first year and hungry for what year two brings.

Experience Learning
When was the last time you really took time out of doing what you do to sit back and learn? They say that you never step in the same river twice, yet most of us head to work and attempt to swim the same way we always have expecting the same river only to surprisingly find it has changed. Progress and change are inevitable and things like STS Marketing College allow us to stop and re-evaluate our surroundings and learn how to approach them.

While you may not be able to register and attend STS Marketing College until next July, take some time out of your day today and learn something. Set up a new Google Reader Feed or subscribe to two new, interesting blogs and unsubscribe to ones you donʼt read anymore. Find ways every day to learn a little so you can be excited to come back to that river knowing it will be different and confident you can handle it.

How do you learn something new each day? Thoughts?

Joey Strawn
the social media strategist
Paramore | the digital agency
jstrawn@paramore.is

I'm going back to college... Marketing College that is!

2011-08-25T12:59:00.002-04:00

Iʼm going back to college... Marketing College that is!

We all remember the feeling of being a freshman, the new man on campus. My first day at Southeast Tourism Societyʼs Marketing College brought me straight back to my first day as a college freshman at the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga. Though it has been a few years since my freshman year, Marketing College did not disappoint! While I was sent there for business, by the end of the week it felt more like a vacation with life long friends than a week long plummet into the tourism industry.

Per usual, that first morning got off to a later start than I had intended, which resulted in me hustling across the Dahlonega town square to try and make it to class on time, a feeling that I know all too well. I even had to stop and ask for directions, typical freshman. Once I finally reached my destination I took part in the age old dance of, “Where do I sit?” Luckily, my colleague Joey Strawn was attending as a first year along with me so the seating situation was resolved in a snap. I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about being with a group of 92 strangers from 8-5 pm that week, but as soon as our first speaker, the delightful Judy Randall, began that Monday morning I could tell this was no ordinary “college experience”.

Almost immediately, there was a sense of camaraderie between my new classmates and I. We started off with introductions that quickly got personal and had everybody laughing, a great way to start a long week. The time we spent together in class was just the beginning as Southeast Tourism Society sure knows how to bring people together. Throughout the week we were treated to family style dinners, a tubing adventure down the Chestatee River, a BBQ at the beautiful Hardman cottage, and free time in between to explore all Dahlonega had to offer.

In the midst of all the fun we were having, we were privileged to hear from some of the tourism industryʼs finest leaders and professionals on a variety of topics. The week was truly educational for me as a marketing professional because it gave me a whole other viewpoint on the travel industry that I previously had known little about. The most interesting aspect to me was that all 92 students were there as separate entities for a common purpose: to educate themselves on how to better serve the tourism industry in the Southeast as a whole.

Though the week was a long one, itʼs safe to say that we all thoroughly enjoyed our time in and out of the classroom. By Friday it felt as though I had crammed an entire year of college into just 5 days and Iʼm now equipped to take my part in educating others about the importance of the tourism industry.

I would like to say thank you to Southeast Tourism Society for all that you have and will continue to do.

To all of my Marketing College classmates,
We started out the week as strangers but ended as friends, colleagues, and (future) Travel Marketing Professionals.
Hereʼs to the next 3 years with the Marketing College class of 2013!

Marie Aderholt
New Business Assistant
Paramore | the digital agency

Along Florida's Spanish Trace

2011-07-18T14:17:00.001-04:00

An organic winery, organic wheat, an organic herb farm, elegant B&B's, a country store with a butcher named Rabbit and a historic wine tasting at Mission San Luis featuring a dry wine that should officially be declared Florida's own. Plus country cooking juxtaposed with gourmet dining. Florida's Spanish Trace is both a walk back into the time of Conquistadors and Franciscan Monks and a glimpse of a promising future for tourism in the Sunshine State.

http://www.bytheseafuture.org/Southwind_0711.html

A culinary pastime: BBQ

2011-06-27T12:05:00.001-04:00

It’s almost time to celebrate our nation’s independence. What better time to celebrate our nation’s culinary pastime: BBQ.

Doc Lawrence waxes poetically about one of our favorite noshes. Read more about it here.

The importance of food in the travel industry.

2011-06-23T13:43:00.002-04:00

Food.

It's one of the top reasons people travel.

In the custom publishing business, we have to cover food. It's a part of all of our magazines and websites, and we know how to make it appetizing for our readers.

These stories can take on many shapres: Local fare, restaurant reviews, food products, sustainability, hot chefs, food festivals, food production, the economics of food, wineries, microbreweries, farmers markers, food trends - the list goes on.

In Asheville, for example, the Convention & Visitor's Bureau has even created a Foodtopian Society that promotes both the farm-to-fork movement and the wealth of independent eateries visitors can find there.

In other cities, it's the barbecue, Tex-Mex or local goat cheese that get people talking.

Food has become a way of life here at Journal, too, and not just in magazine articles. We devote a lot of resources to shooting good - both in photographs and video. We shoot chefs at work, people eating out, tight shots of food, ingredients, food festivals and cooking demonstrations - just to name a few. In fact, we have compiled so many food stories, photos and video, we are launching a new food site called Farm Flavor that will highlight all of this delicious work.

People (well, most of us) are always thinking about where our next meal is coming from, particularly when we travel. We want to know where to eat, where to buy local products and what not to miss.

In Nashville, they say songwriters are a dime a dozen, but now food bloggers are just as omnipresent, and these folks are looking for story ideas. Go online and see if you can generate some interest for what your city/state/attraction offers. The BlogHer network is a good place to start.

After all, most of us put away three meals a day. So make them hungry for more!

Susan Chappell

Content Director/Travel Publications

Journal Communications Inc.

A Feast For My Father

2011-06-08T10:30:00.004-04:00

In honor of Father's Day, please read on for the first in a line of Father-related stories from Doc Lawrence.

A Feast For My Father

In my hometown of Atlanta we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the publishing of the book, Gone With The Wind. I recall how much Gerald O’Hara, Scarlett’s Irish-born dad loved his wife, children and, of course, Tara, and how proud Rhett Butler was to be a father to a little girl, albeit for a short time. Fathers are special and those like me who are lucky enough to have theirs still around, should think about a feast for the dear guy this month as we celebrate the men who occupy this hallowed status.

My father remains my hero. A combat soldier in World War II who still hates war. A decent guy who did his best to give his family a wonderful life and never thought of expecting anything in return. But, my dad also enjoys good food, particularly things that are farm fresh, often advising me during my adolescent “know-it-all” days that home grown tomatoes would extend my life. Now, I pray he’s right.

My feast for Father’s Day is what I would serve the great blockade-runner and smuggler, Captain Rhett Butler, a man who enjoyed the finer things in life and, according to Margaret Mitchell’s book, got what he wanted. Because Rhett Butler was from Charleston, the great epicurean center of the Southern Atlantic Coast, lived in Atlanta, traveled to Paris and New York, and had business in New Orleans, we can assume that he loved Champagne, was very familiar with the wines of the world and had a refined palate that was attuned to great dishes that, as we say down here, were properly prepared.

(to continue reading, please click the link below that will take you to the rest of the article)

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Doc-Lawrence/ToastToFather.htm

Tourism Works for the Southeast

2011-05-02T12:43:00.002-04:00

Tourism Works for the Southeast

That’s the message we will be bringing to Washington, DC next week with our annual Congressional Tourism Summit. In a struggling economy, tourism is one of the few economic bright spots, generating $704 billion in spending each year, creating $113 billion in tax receipts and supporting 7.4 million jobs nationally. As every economic indicator has declined over the last year, international visitors to the U.S. increased by 9%.

As essential as tourism is proving to be to the economic vitality of communities throughout the Southeast, like every economic sector, tourism’s situation is precarious. We’re just a natural disaster or bad summer season away from a serious financial loss. It is a loss that would send shockwaves throughout the region.

We’re using National Tourism Week as a platform to educate Members of Congress on the broad diversity of the travel and tourism sector and the significant contribution it makes to our national and local economies. Perhaps more importantly, we want to deliver the message that tourism vitality cannot be taken for granted. Recognizing that tough budget decisions must be made, we also recognize that our Representatives and Senators to be leaders on the issues that are important to the economic health and growth of tourism.

The issues we will be talking about include:

• Strong Investments in the Nation’s Transportation Infrastructure. A robust and connected transportation infrastructure is critical to the economic vitality of the tourism industry. Yet nearly 600 days have passed since the reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Act lapsed. Recognizing the critical role transportation plays in securing a healthy national economy, STS is calling for timely passage of a highway bill that ensures the input and priorities of state officials, communities, and the private sector allow sufficient time to adequately plan and utilize these vital transportation programs and that continues the Transportation Enhancements and the Scenic Byways programs.

• Preserve and Promote American’s Cultural and Natural Resources. Some of the Southeastern states’ greatest tourism resources are its cultural and natural sites. One of the challenges in preserving and promoting these resources is that an array of management of these shared resources is the responsibility of a number of state and federal land agencies, including the National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, United States Forest Service, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and all the branches of the military. Sound national investment strategies are needed to preserve, protect, and improve all of these public lands.

If you have not yet signed up, there’s still time to join us. Contact Bill Hardman at bill@southeasttourism.org to secure your spot. If you can’t join, stay tuned to this blog for updates the day’s events.

The Prevailing Power of Print

2011-04-25T11:46:00.002-04:00

The Prevailing Power of Print

“What a magazine can offer readers is a path to understanding, a filter to sift what’s important, a pause to learn things that the Web has no time to explain, a tool to go back over the things we think we know but can’t make sense of. A magazine allows the reader to play in a different key. There is a time for the quick zap of news on the Web – and a time for the more interpretative pleasures of the printed page.”
– Tina Brown, Newsweek and Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief

We’re firm believers at Journal that not only is print not dead but is fully expected to live a long and healthy life. While it’s true that the advent of social media and mobile apps have changed the way information is shared and received, we believe print still plays a vital role in customer and client communication. Turns out we’re not the only ones. In a recent issue of Folio:, Joe Pulizzi – author and self-proclaimed content marketing evangelist – shared his seven reasons print will make a comeback in 2011.

1. Getting Attention: Have you noticed how many fewer magazines and print newsletters you are getting in the mail these days? I don’t know about you, but I definitely pay more attention to my print mail. There’s just less mail, so more attention is paid to each piece. Opportunity? Less traditional publishers are printing magazines today, which leaves opportunities for content marketers.

2. The Focus on Customer Retention: In a soon-to-be-released research study conducted by Junta42 and MarketingProfs, customer retention was the most important goal for marketers when it came to content marketing outside of basic brand awareness. Historically, the reason why custom print magazines and newsletters were developed by brands was for customer retention purposes. We have a winner!

3. No Audience Development Costs: Publishers expend huge amounts of time and money qualifying subscribers to send out their magazines. Many times, publishers need to invest multiple dollars per subscriber per year for auditing purposes (They send direct mail; they call; they call again so that the magazine can say their subscribers have requested the magazine. This is true for controlled (free) trade magazines).

So, let’s say, a publisher’s cost per subscriber per year is $2 and their distribution is one hundred thousand. That’s $200,000 per year for audience development.
That’s a cost that marketers don’t have to worry about. If marketers want to distribute a magazine to their customers, they just use their customer mailing list. That’s a big advantage.

4. What’s Old Is New Again: Social media, online content and iPad applications are all part of the marketing mix today. Still, what excites marketers and media buyers is what IS NOT being done. They want to do something different…something new. It’s hard to believe, but I’ve heard many marketers talk about leveraging print as something new in their marketing mix. Unbelievable.

5. Customers Still Need to Ask Questions: We love the Internet because buyers can find answers to almost anything. But where do we go to think about what questions we should be asking? I talked to a publisher last week who said this:
“The web is where we go to get answers but print is where we go to ask questions.”
The print vehicle is still the best medium on the planet for thinking outside the box and asking yourself tough questions based on what you read. It’s lean back versus lean forward. If you want to challenge your customers (like Harvard Business Review does), print is a viable option.

6. Print Still Excites People: I talked to a journalist recently who said it’s harder and harder to get people to agree to an interview for an online story. But mention that it will be a printed feature and executives rearrange their schedule. The printed word is still perceived as more credible to many people than anything on the web. It goes to the old adage, “If someone invested enough to print and mail it, it must be important.”
Whether that’s true or not, that is still a widely-held perception.

7. Unplug: More and more people are actively choosing the unplug, or disconnect themselves from digital media. I’m doing this more myself. I’m finding myself turning off my phone and email more to engage with printed material. A year ago I didn’t see this coming. Today, I relish the opportunities when I can’t be reached for comment.
Online content marketing is definitely here to stay. Yes to social media, apps and the rest of it. But don’t forget that print can still play an important role in your overall content marketing mix.

Susan Chappell
Content Director/Travel Publications
Journal Communications Inc.
615.771.5568 | 800.333.8842
schappell@jnlcom.com

Groceries and Green M&M's

2011-04-15T12:58:00.002-04:00

Groceries and Green M&M’s

An aspect of my Job that folks ask me about on a consistent basis, Artist Catering and hospitality needs. The artist contracts come with a litany of wants and needs. Most of the time you can boil these 5-50 pages down into a few real items and for festivals and community concert series it usually is just two; Production and Hospitality.

“I have to pay these guys all this money and feed them too”, has been uttered to me on more than one occasion. I have gotten into the habit of holding back the 1-6 page hospitality portion of the contracts before I give it to my clients for the simple reason that for multi act festivals and community concert series the artists will accept a lot less than what they are asking for on their rider. Most of our civic clients cannot provide alcohol of any kind, on occasion that can knock out half a page or more and 50% of the bill. Most don’t have proper dressing room facilities, rather a hospitality tent backstage or someone’s office, hard to put out a large spread on the city managers desk. While I can understand some of the artists dressing room needs I do have a bit of a hard time with what they call “bus supplies.” This can often times be more than is required for their dressing rooms and I can just imagine the drummer crawling out from his bus bunk, at 3am, 300 miles away from the show and making a PBJ with our groceries.

Over the years I have learned what is important to most of these acts and most tour managers approach our events in a very reasonable manner. Box lunches for the artist and crew when they arrive mid day and a cooler of assorted beverages at or back stage will generally get the day off to a fine start. If we are loading in early, a box of hot coffee and some warm biscuits will have these road warriors doing cartwheels off of the bus. A hot dinner with a salad and dessert will suffice, some artists even prefer a dinner buyout, others will accept the former in to go containers but if possible we aim to have dinner set up buffet style, since the entourage will often eat at different times. This does not mean that you have to employ a caterer, with some advance notice a local restaurant or possibly one of your on site food vendors can prepare dinner for chafing dishes, a backstage volunteer or team member to set it up and you are on your way to a proper evening meal, which most of these road wary brethren look forward to every day. Follow that up with a few sleeves of sodas, a case of water, a case of Gatorade and bag of ice for the bus and generally they will leave your town a happy band of merry men, eager to tell their contemporaries how well they were treated at your event.

Stephen Moore
RCS Productions

Civil war buff?

2011-04-12T15:58:00.006-04:00

Civil War buff? Check out Doc Lawrence’s blog about artwork from the
War Between the States.

DaVinci Speaks Blog

2011-03-25T12:48:00.002-04:00

Greetings,

Because of the ongoing research relationship you share with us here at MWI, we wanted to invite you to join us on a new endeavor we are initiating here at the Marketing Workshop: the “Marketing Analytics at MWI” web blog. The chief contributor to the blog will be our own Vince Raimondi, who is the Director of Marketing Sciences at MWI.

The blog Vince will write will engage researchers in a lively discussion on how marketing analytics can be used in a practical way to provide deeper insight and bottom line results. Blog entries will cover a wide variety of analytically-oriented research topics, including the appropriate use of point scales in question designs, leveraging choice-based methodologies to gauge customer preference.and everything else in between!

The blog will be written in plain English from a practical, easy-to-understand point of view, but Vince will be happy to address more technical or statistical issues through email. Vince’s direct email address will appear at the bottom of each blog entry for private correspondence.

We are already off and running, with three blog entries already written and posted on the MWI website! The first entry introduces the blog. It can be found at:

First Entry

And, the latest entry discusses best practices for providing well-differentiated survey data:

Best Practices

We anticipate posting a new entry every 1-2 weeks, and welcome you to comment on the blog entries posted, with both your questions and opinions. Additionally, feel free to send us your requests on future blog topics. It’s going to be a great way to have a meaningful exchange on something we all care about - making research more insightful!

As always, thanks for your time, and we look forward to your participation!

Warm Regards,

The Marketing Workshop, Inc.
3725 Da Vinci Court | Norcross GA 30092
main 770.449.6767, ext 340 | fax 770.449.6739
vraimondi@mwshop.com | www.mwshop.com

Marketing Intelligence Through Research

Upcoming Southeast Tourism Society Events 2011

2011-03-23T13:15:00.000-04:00

Can't Miss Events

Southeast Tourism Society has a jam-packed agenda this year. Please make sure to join us for these events that will not only enrich your career but your networking circle.

Spring Meeting: March 28-30

Kick off your spring with this annual tradition. This year's theme of "Transformation Among the Breezes" will help us set the tone for this exciting decade to come.

Complete agenda | Register

STS Congressional Summit: May 11-12

We bring back this ever-popular program in 2011.

It is important that we educate and inform our members of congress by communicating our message and legislative priorities early in the 112th congressional session and make certain that they understand that tourism is economic development and can be a major contributor to economic recovery.

STS, in conjunction with NTA, will host a two day Congressional Summit on Travel & Tourism designed to educate new member of congress about tourism and its benefits towards economic recovery, and carry our message and legislative agenda for 2011 to all of our members of congress.

On Wednesday, May 11 we will have a luncheon and afternoon reception highlighting to our nation's representative the power of tourism. The following day is a day to meet individually with your congressperson.

More information | Place on my Outlook calendar

STS Marketing College: July 24-29

The granddaddy of all tourism education programs.

Propel your career and your organization to the next level by attending STS Marketing College. This weeklong event has churned out quality tourism professionals for close to two decades.

Marketing College is presented by Miles Media, STS' partner in education.

More information | Place on my Outlook calendar

STS Fall Meeting: Nov. 8-10

Laissez le bon temps rouler! Join us at the elegant The Hotel Monteleone as we hit New Orleans, La. for a revamped STS Fall Meeting. We've moved the dates to November for greater convenience and accessibility. The Shining Example awards will be held in conjunction with Fall Meeting, Nov. 9.

More information | Place on my Outlook calendar

STS Corporate Partners

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On the Road Again

2011-03-03T11:03:00.001-05:00

On the Road Again

The predictions about travel in 2011 are in. TripAdvisor recently released the results of its annual travel trends survey of more than 3,000 travelers in this country, and there is good news. Some 36 percent say they plan to spend more on leisure travel in 2011 than 2010, while 42 percent expect to spend the same.

Here's some other trends to look for in 2011:
• Eco-traveling and the quest for green accommodations and attractions is on the rise---everyone is interested in reducing their carbon footprint.
• Special travel packages will be offered to mark the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War all across the country.
• TripAdvisor's survey respondents say travel deals were the best travel development of 2010 and that trend will continue this year.
• Techno-travel: Smartphones enable last-minute bookings, and the Internet is accessible any time of day. Social travel searching will increase due to the many sites that integrate with Facebook.
• Ironically, because there is so much information on the Internet, travel experts
will come back on the scene. Traveler's will look to travel agents and tour operators to help them plan their adventures.
• Vacation or “Fake-ation?” Leisure travelers will continue to stay connected to work when they travel, checking email and calling into the office.
• Top two travel worries for 2011: Rising air fares and bed bugs.

And finally, here are TripAdvisor's top five vacation activities for 2011:
• 1. Visiting an historic site – 85 percent
2. Visiting a museum – 73 percent
3. Visiting a national park – 46 percent
4. Attending a festival – 43 percent
5. Hiking – 42 percent

Susan Chappell
Content Director/Travel Publications for Journal Communications, Inc.

"TOURISM TIDBITS" FROM TOURISM & MORE, INC.

2011-03-02T14:00:00.005-05:00

The goal of "Tourism Tidbits" is to provide travel professionals with a monthly, easy-to-read overview of creative ideas. With proper referencing, we invite you to quote or reproduce "Tourism Tidbits" and to pass it along to a friend.

"Tourism Tidbits" is published monthly in English and Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish. Mtra. Patricia Koalska of Mexico does the Spanish translation, Ericka Amorim of Lisbon, Portugal provides the Portuguese translation, Elise Magras from the French Caribbean provides our new French translation, and Dr. Turgut Var provides the Turkish translation.

TOURISM & MORE'S "TOURISM TIDBITS" for March 2011

Green Tourism is Beautiful Tourism
It is no longer a rarely to find on your hotel bed a sign asking you to reuse your towel and/or to accept having your sheets changed once every three days rather than once a day. While tourism's critics may have had some reasons to argue that tourism was an unfriendly industry to the environment, much of those criticisms are no longer valid. The reasons for tourism's overuse of resources are numerous. Few people will argue against the notion that travel is hard, and that people on vacation or a business trip want to be pampered. Many travelers believe that part of the fun of traveling is leaving cares and concerns behind and enjoying those little extras luxuries that are not part of most people's every day lives.

Tourism professionals are now keenly aware of the importance of green spaces. When urban areas have become fields of concrete held together by rivers of asphalt tourism suffers. These area are not only visually unappealing, but tend to hold heat in causing higher air conditioning usage. Tourism professionals are now working with locales to create green spaces that not only add beauty to their visitors (and citizens') lives but also help to replenish the oxygen supply. Police are also aware of the fact that green and beautified locales tend to have lower crime rates. In fact, one of the least expensive ways to reduce crime rates is through beautification projects.

Tourism and travel then are faced with the issue of balancing the needs of the environment with the needs of its customer base. If travel becomes too hard, then it may lose its enchantment and glamor; if on the other hand, if tourism does not respect the Earth then there may be no place to which to travel!

From the perspective of tourism, beautification projects help the industry grow by attracting more visitors, providing positive word of mouth publicity, creating an inviting environment that tends to lift the spirits of service personnel, and creating community pride. Here are some suggestions on how to improve your tourism locale while caring for the environment.

-Look at your community the way others may see it. All too often we become so accustomed to run down appearances, dirt, or lack of green spaces that we simply come to accept these eyesores as part of our urban or rural landscaping. Take the time to view your area through the eyes of a visitor. Are there landfills in clear view? How well are lawns kept? Is garbage dealt with in a clean and efficient manner? Then ask yourself, would you want to visit or live in this community?

-Turn your Environmentalism into a form of marketing. All too often people in the travel and tourism industries forget that a clean and healthy environment does not take away from the bottom line it adds to it.

-Encourage hotels and restaurants to promote sensible laundry policies. Policies such as washing sheets every three days rather than every day do wonders for the environment, also consider the use of new technologies such as light bulbs that save on light/heat pollutions. Restaurants can be careful to use soaps that pollute less and serve water only upon request

-Involve the whole community/locale and not just tourism people, in beautification projects. Too many places have come to believe that beautification is the other person's business. While governments must provide funding for major projects such as sidewalks or road reconstruction, there are a whole host of projects that local citizens can accomplish without government assistance. Among these are planting of gardens, cleaning of front yards, developing interesting street corners, creatively painting walls, and/or planting bushes to hide dumpsites.

-Choose one or two key and do-able projects. Nothing succeeds like success, and beautification projects reflect as much about a community's insides as outer appearances. If a community does not like itself, that will be manifested by the way it looks to visitors and possible business developers. Before beginning a beautification project, set do-able goals and then make sure that as many people as possible are enthusiastic about the project and reject negative thought. Beautiful places begin with community harmony.

-Make sure that your tourism beautification projects fit your climate and terrain. A major mistake in beautification projects is trying to be what a locale is not. If you have a desert climate, then plant with water concerns in mind. If you have a cold climate, then seek ways to deal with not only a harsh winter climate but also in a manner to present a cheerful face during the gray winter months.

-Think of beautification as part of an economic development package. Remember that tax incentives can only do so much. No matter how much money a community offers in tax abatements, quality of life issues will always have a major impact on where people choose to live and locate their businesses. Tourism demands that a community offer a clean and healthy environment, with good restaurants and places of lodging, fun things to do and good customer service. The way your community appears has a lot to do with the choices which business executives make regarding site selections.

- Involve local police and security professionals in the planning of your community's beautification projects. The New York City experience ought to prove to everyone in tourism that there is a connection between quality of life issues and crime. The basic principle is that as communities seek ways to beautify, crime decreases and money used to fight crime can be redirected to quality of life issues. Policing tends to be reactive by nature; beautification projects are proactive. While pretty flowers beds and tree-lined boulevards will not prevent all crimes, the elimination of garbage along streets, unkempt lawns and shoddy structures does a great deal to lower crime rates.

Do not define "green" in its most narrow sense, but rather in its broadest sense. Few people will spend a lot of money to eat over a garbage dump, but many people are more than willing to spend top dollar to eat in a charming setting, be that setting a table overlooking an ocean, a crystal clear lake, a beautiful garden, or a forest. By promoting green and by finding innovate ways to protect the environment, tourism is assuring that it will continue to offer products that are pleasant to the eye, and good for generations that are yet to be born.

What topics would you like to see discussed in Tourism Tidbits?

Please send us a list of topics of interest to you and we will do our best to dedicate future issues of Tourism Tidbits to your needs/desires.

TOURISM AND MORE'S WIDE RANGE OF SPEECHES AND TRAINING SEMINARS

For a complete listing of topics and information, please check our web page http://www.tourismandmore.com/contact or e-mail us at ptarlow@tourismandmore.com

Please note our all-new special course: Tourism Confronts Terrorism: What You Need to Know to Maintain a Viable Industry in the Face of Terrorism.

Here is a partial list of some of our other most popular topics. All seminars and speeches can be presented in English or Spanish.

Brand New Lectures concerning the World's Economic and Health Crisis:

1) Smoothing out rocky economic roads: What tourism needs to do stay in front of these economically challenging times!

2) Surviving Economically Challenging Times: Best Practice from Far and Wide.

3) What Tourism Needs to Do in a Potential Age of Pandemics.

Additionally:

Our trained staff of professionals are ready to meet with your board and you to discuss specific strategic planning in this most difficult of times.

Please contact us at ptarlow@tourismandmore.com for more information regarding costs and available dates.

Also New!!!! How to tourism communities need to work to prevent and recover from natural disasters

Other lectures include:

-Tourism Confronts Terrorism: What You Need to Know to Maintain a Viable Industry in the Face of Terrorism.

-Training Your Police: Tourism Oriented Policing (TOPs), how it works and why it is essential for a viable tourism industry.

-Getting On Board: Helping Your Police and Other City Employees to be Part of the Tourism Industry.

-Marketing to the Baby-boom Generation, Generation X and beyond.

-New Trends in Tourism Marketing and International Tourism.

-When the Market is Tight and the Economy Is Slow: New Ideas in Marketing.

-Developing a Successful Agricultural and Rural Tourism Industry.

-Something from Nothing: The Art of Creating New Attractions.

-Tourism Ethics: Linking the Wisdom of Moses to Your Tourism Product.

-Understanding Tourism Statistics: When is a fact a fact and when is it not? How to present data to the media?

TOURISM ON-LINE/EDUCATION

TOURISM SECURITY. The George Washington University's Tourism Destination Management and Marketing Certificate Program announces the launch of "Safety and Security for Tourism Destinations: Achieving a Safe and Secure Tourism Environment". This is a course designed to help tourism professionals understand the importance of safety and security within a destination, as well as provide them with the "tools" needed to create a secure environment for both visitors and residents. World-renowned travel safety and security expert, Dr. Peter E. Tarlow, has developed this course by drawing on his wealth of experience and the growing number of publications in this area. The course is available worldwide via Internet-based distance learning. For more information please contact Kristin Lamoureux at klam@gwu.edu
BOOKS ON TOURISM

NEW!!! Tourism Tidbits: The Book, by Dr. Peter Tarlow and Assisted by Dr. Tom Marrs. This book gathers the best of Tourism Tidbits articles from 1995 until 2010 into coherent chapters. The Book can be purchased by contacting Dean Enrique Cabaniila at . It will shortly be available electronically at Amazon. Com

1) Event Risk Management and Safety (ISBN 0-471-40168-4) by Peter E. Tarlow, published by John Wiley & Sons. Presenting theory and practical applications. To purchase this book, visit http://www.wiley.com/ or http://www.amazon.com/. If you would like Dr. Tarlow to speak or train people in this area, please contact him atptarlow@tourismandmore.com

2) Restoring Tourism Destinations in Crisis by Dr David Beirman: Published By Allen & Unwin (Australia & SE Asia) and CABI Publishing North America/ Europe 2003. For more information contact the author at mailto:david@aicc.org.au.

3) Leisure Travel: A Marketing Handbook, by Stanley Plog, Pearson Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2004. It's available through the website of Pearson Prentice-Hall for $25.

4) Tourism in Turbulent Times. Toward Safe Experiences for Visitors. Edited by Jeff Wilks, Donna Pendergast, and Peter Leggart. Published by Elsevier.

5) Tourism Security & Safety, from Theory to Practice. Edited by Yoel Mansfeld and Abraham Pizam, published by Elsevier.

6) The Economics of Tourism Destinations, by Norbert Vanhove, Published by Elsevier

7) Beach Safety and the Law, Edited by Jeff Wilks published by Queensland (Australia) Law Society

8) Media Strategies for Marketing Places in Crisis, by Eli Avraham and Eran ketter Published by Elsevier

9) Tourism Development: Growth, Myths and Inequalities. Burns, P. and Novelli M. eds. (2008). Wallingford: CABI

10) Tourism Management: Analysis, Behavior and Strategy, edited by Woodside and Martin, published by Cabi, London, England

11) Tourism and Mobility, Burns, P. and Novelli M. eds. (2008). Wallingford: CABI.

12) Two new books for Spanish readers: (1) Inversión Hotelera, by Alfredo Ascanio and Turismo Sustentable both by Alfredo Ascanio and Marcus Vinicius Campos, You can purchase both of these books at http://etrillas.com.mx/trillas/busqueda/php

13) "The Ethics of Terrorism. Innovative Approaches from an International Perspective."

Eds Thomas Albert: Publisher: Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Il; USA. Mailing Orders may be obtained directly to use: PO Box 19265 Springfield, Illinois, 62794 - 9265. USA or by calling (800) 258-8980); ask for customer service, at "www.ccthomas.com"
or at books@ccthomas.com. Global Congress on Travel: Public-Private Dialogue and Research Presentation Opportunities

The Global Congress on Legal, Safety, and Security Solutions in Travel, August 25-28, in Houston, Texas, is an unprecedented public-private dialogue addressing all aspects of the travel and tourism equation. The academic and research community are invited to submit research presentation abstracts for the Global Congress on Travel "Poster Session". The Global Congress will address topics such as "Legal Issues Arising From Online Reviews, Ratings and Testimonials," "Is it Time for Standard Protocols on Medical Travel & Tourism?" and "A Dialogue on Traveler Rights." To register for the Global Congress, please visit www.regonline.com/2011GlobalCongress.

Some Upcoming Tourism Conferences

We invite you to submit your conferences to Tourism Tidbits. Please submit request in the form found below. If you do not tells us, then, we cannot list the conference. We are happy to list all conferences about which we are informed. Please follow the below format when sending us a conference announcement. Thank you!
Unless otherwise stated, English is the conference language.

March 6-8
Wisconsin Dells, WI
Wisconsin Governor's Conference on Tourism
For more information go to; http://www.wigcot.org

March 14-20
Vladamir, Russia
"IMMIGRATION, MIGRATION AND HUMAN TERAFFICKING"
For more information contact Gilly Thomas at TH_gilly@yahoo.fr

Mar. 28-30, 2011
Sandestin, Fla.
STS Spring Meeting and SETTRA Symposium 2011
Contact Neville Bhada Neville@southeasttourism.org or go to http://www.southeasttourism.org/spring

April 7-8, 2011
Sonora, Mexico
Congreso Estudiantil de las Universidades Mexicanas
Conference language is Spanish.
For more information, please contact Idyall Sánchez at April 10-12
New York City, NY
ACTE Global Educational Conference
For more details please go to: http://events.acte.org/ehome/index.php?eventid=17342&tabid=22341&

April 15-17
Volcán, Chiriqui, Panama
Volcan Verde Integral Festival
For more information please go to: http://volcanverdeintegral.wordpress.com/
Language: Spanish

April 24-29
Fethiye, Turkey
6th World Conference for Graduate Research in Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure
Open both for graduates and faculty members who are encouraged to submit their regular conceptual or empirical papers. http://www.anatoliajournal.com/conference

April 24-29
Fethiye, Turkey
2nd Interdisciplinary Tourism Research Conference
For more information please go to: http://www.anatoliajournal.com/irtc2012/

April 27-30, 2011
International Conference on Tourism (ICOT 2011)
Rhodes Island, Greece
Tourism in an Era of Uncertainty please go to: http://www.cut.ac.cy/icot

April 27-30, 2011
International Conference on Special Interest Tourism & Destination Management
Kathmandu, Nepal
For more info please visit: http://www.specialnepal.com or contact Eugenia Wickens at: ewicke01@bucks.ac.uk

May 2-4, 2011
Havana, Cuba
6/o Congreso de Ciencias aplicadas al Turismo (Conference language: Spanish)
For more information please contact: "Dr. Eduardo Salinas" esalinas@geo.uh.cu
Conference language: Spanish

May 9-11, 2011
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas Tourism Security Conference. Please visit www.touristsafety.org both for conference information and to registration

May 22 - 24, 2011
Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
BEST EN Think Tank XI - Learning for Sustainable Tourism
For more information, please visit http://www.besteducationnetwork.org/index.php

May 30-June 1, 2011
St. Kitts
Eastern Caribbean Tourism Security Conference
For more information, please contact Flor van der Vaart at mhrs.skbrb.gm@marriotthotels.com or Peter Tarlow @ ptarlow@tourismandmore.com

June 19-24, 2011
Istanbul, Turkey
Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Marketing and Management
For more information please visit: http://www.httrc.com/ahtmm/index.htm

June 23-26, 2011
Nicosia, Cypress
Ist International Conference in Safety and Crisis Management
For more information please go to http://1stCOSaCM.euc.ac.cy

July 7-9, 2011
New Delhi, India
1st International Conference on Tourism & Technology 2011" (Banking & Insurance Sectors Involvement) - KEY FOCUS ON NEXT GENERATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS For more information please go to icttindia@gmail.com or visit website www.icttindia .com

July 13-15 2011
Zhangjiajie (Hunan), China
Tourism People, Places and Environments
http://www.geog.nau.edu/igust/China2011/
Contact: Prof. Alan A. Lew alan.lew@nau.edu

Aug 25-28
Houston, Texas
2011 GLOBAL CONGRESS ON LEGAL, SAFETY, AND SECURITY SOLUTIONS IN TRAVEL
For more information please go to http://www.hospitalitylawyer.com/Announcements/GC2011_SaveTheDate.html. The call for papers can be found at http://www.hospitalitylawyer.com/Announcements/GC2011-AttendeeAnnouncement.html

Sept 4-7, 2011
Marbor, Slovenia
IV Advances in Tourism Marketing Conference
For more information please go to http://www.institute.si/atmc-2011/

Oct 24 - 28 (2011)
San Salvador, El Salvador
XXI Congreso Panamericano de Escuelas de Hotelería, Gastronomía y Turismo CONPEHT El Salvador 2011
"Cultura de Paz, Espacio de Encuentro para el Turismo". (Conference language is Spanish)
For more information please contact: Claudia de Lorenzana clorenzana@ufg.edu.sv

Nov. 2-4
Palm Springs, CA
12th International LGBT Tourism Conference
For more information contact David Paisley at 415/437-3800 or david@communitymarketinginc.com

Dr. Peter E. Tarlow is the President of T&M, a founder of the Texas chapter of TTRA and a popular author and speaker on tourism. Tarlow is a specialist in the areas of sociology of tourism, economic development, tourism safety and security. Tarlow speaks at governors' and state conferences on tourism and conducts seminars throughout the world and for numerous agencies and universities.

If you know of anyone else who might enjoy "Tourism Tidbits," please send his/her email address to ptarlow@tourismandmore.com, Please let us know of any topic that you would like to see covered by "Tourism Tidbits." We invite others to submit articles for consideration for publication.

You are welcome to reproduce "Tourism Tidbits" or any part of "Tourism Tidbits" with proper citing. We hope that you will see "Tourism Tidbits" as a place where tourism, visitor, and travel professionals exchange ideas and information. "Tourism Tidbits" does not offer or provide specific legal or financial advice. Our goal is to provide a "review" for industry personnel and discuss provocative issues. We remind all readers that every specific business decision should be made only after you have done the proper research. The author(s) accept(s) no responsibility for any loss due to any information published in "Tourism Tidbits."
All articles sent to "Tourism Tidbits" and accepted for publication are owned by "Tourism Tidbits" and may be subjected to editorial review and rewriting (with permission of the author). All questions about "Tourism Tidbits", suggestions, or cancellations should be addressed to Dr. Peter E. Tarlow at ptarlow@tourismandmore.com

Does Advertising on Facebook Work?

2011-03-01T09:33:00.000-05:00

For over a year, Southern West Virginia CVB considered testing some ads on Facebook to determine the viability of Facebook as a marketing venue and to see what kinds of results could be generated.

In the summer of 2010, after my return from Marketing College, we modified our grant and inserted $20,000 in it for ads on Facebook. These ads were targeted to our top markets and demographics and we used a very basic ad to gain attention.

From September 2010 through December 2010, we received 61,239,033 impressions which resulted in 13,510 click throughs to our website. Our cost per click was $1.48. With the 50% re-imbursement from our grant, our total cost was $10,000! We also saw our Facebook fan page increase from 6000 to 10,000 fans during that period.

We will continue to look at Facebook as a viable online source. We are also working on devising a method of tracking and determining how many of the click throughs filled out our online form when they visited our website.

Kay Bess

Director of Sales and Marketing
Southern West Virginia
Convention & visitors Bureau

Social Media Heavy

2011-02-24T15:16:00.003-05:00

Message from your NCDO Chair

Facebook updates that promote a new attraction. Tweets about a cool article that features your city. Blog posts with pictures of a recent event. If you're not already incorporating social media into your marketing mix, then you're missing a great opportunity to reach travelers through some of the most popular channels. And in these trying times, many destination marketers are finding social media to be one of the more cost effective forms of marketing around.

Speaking for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, we now have a dedicated social media budget across all departments. And the ROI can't be ignored – our social media fans and followers more than tripled in 2010, exponentially increasing the reach of our content.

Let's face it, social engagement isn't going away anytime soon. Sure, the popularity of various social media services will change from year to year – but the important point here is that creating a dialog with potential visitors is critical to smart marketing. In fact, this direct interaction with visitors differentiates destination marketers from the rest of the pack (OTAs, etc).

I urge you to share the unique ways your organization is using social media to attract business on NCDO Connect.

Warm Regards,

Sharon Rossi
Chair of NCDO
Vice President of Advertising
Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation

Established in 1999, the National Council of Destination Organizations (NCDO) unites Destination Marketing Organization professionals like you from across the nation and from every size and type of destination. Destination Brief and NCDO Connect are destination-member exclusives from U.S. Travel and NCDO.

U.S. Travel Association
1100 New York Avenue NW
Suite 450
Washington, DC 20005-3934
Tel: 202-408-8422
Fax: 202-408-1255
Email: feedback@ustravel.org

The Outer Banks: Untouched by Time

2011-02-21T12:01:00.002-05:00

Another way of viewing the timeless beauty of North Carolina's Outer Banks: http://bit.ly/gh4DiI

By Lynne Brandon

Southeast Congressman named Tourism Caucus Co-chair

2011-02-14T09:21:00.004-05:00

by Bill Hardman, president & CEO, Southeast Tourism Society

Last week, it was announced that Congressman Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) will co-chair the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus (CTTC) alongside Congressman Sam Farr (D-Calif.). The focus of The Congressional Travel & Tourism Caucus’ is supporting and developing national policy that promotes domestic and international travel to the United States.

Rep. Bonner, whose district represents vast tourism resources along the gulf coast and the greater Mobile area, understands the importance of tourism and the economic impact generated by visitors and tourism receipts. His knowledge and understanding makes him an outstanding choice. He and Congressman Sam Farr deserve our support.

The travel caucus, which consisted of more than 100 members in the 111th Congress, works to develop and support legislation that promotes the nation’s travel and tourism industry. Southeast Tourism Society has been instrumental in its support and growth of the caucus as it works to educate Congressional Members and staff on the importance of securing a vibrant tourism industry for all 50 states.

In the last Congress, the caucus was busy supporting the Travel Promotion Act, which passed both Chambers of Congress and was signed by the President in February 2010. The new law is working to promote the U.S. as a premier travel destination and better explain travel policies—making it easier for tourists to visit the many tourist destinations the U.S. has to offer.

With the passage of the Travel Promotion Act, we have some momentum now and must carry it over into the new 112th congress. And here is our challenge:

The November elections in 2010 brought in a whopping 35 new members of the House of Representatives into congress from our 12 state region. These freshman members should be encouraged to join and become active in the Congressional Travel & Tourism Caucus. They should know that travel & tourism is the first, second or third largest revenue producing industry in our region of the country and is a critical economic component to thriving local economies. They should know that tourism and travel are significant jobs providers. They should know that travel is largely comprised of small businesses and are uniquely positioned to rapidly create new jobs in local communities.

Among the overriding themes of this election appears to be a referendum on decreasing government spending and improving current economic conditions. So, this message from the tourism industry is expected to resonate in this new congress.

Join with STS now and help build membership by asking your member of congress to join the caucus. And don’t forget, there are 35 new members that should be encouraged to join as well. Below are posted the new members from our 12 state region of the southeast. If your congressman is on the list, take time today to extend a personal invitation to join the caucus and help support the efforts to advance the tourism message to our members in the 112th congress.

FRESHMEN REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE SOUTHEAST U.S. FOR 112th CONGRESS

NAME    District

Martha Roby [R]   AL-District 2
Mo Brooks [R]    AL-District 5
Terri Sewell [D]   AL-District 7

Rick Crawford [R]   AR-District 1
Tim Griffin [R]    AR-District 2
Steve Womack [R]    AR-District 3

Steve Southerland [R]   FL-District 2
Richard Nugent [R]   FL-District 5
Daniel Webster [R]    FL-District 8
Dennis Ross [R]   FL-District 12
Frederica Wilson [D]    FL-District 17
Mario Diaz-Balart [R]   FL-District 21
Allen West [R]    FL-District 22
Sandy Adams [R]    FL-District 24
David Rivera [R]    FL-District 25

Rob Woodall [R]    GA-District 7
Austin Scott [R]    GA-District 8
Tom Graves [R]    GA-District 9

Cedric Richmond [D]   LA-District 2
Jeff Landry [R]    LA-District 3

Alan Nunnelee [R]    MS-District 1
Steven Palazzo [R]    MS-District 4

Renee Ellmers [R]   NC-District 2

Tim Scott [R]    SC-District 1
Jeff Duncan [R]    SC-District 3
Trey Gowdy [R]    SC-District 4
Mick Mulvaney [R]    SC-District 5

Chuck Fleischmann [R]   TN-District 3
Scott Desjarlais [R]    TN-District 4
Diane Black [R]   TN-District 6
Stephen Fincher [R]    TN-District 8

Scott Rigell [R]   VA-District 2
Robert Hurt [R]    VA-District 5
Morgan Griffith [R]    VA-District 9

David McKinley [R]    WV-District 8

Use this link to contact your congressperson: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml

2011-02-10T13:32:00.002-05:00

STS releases Top 20 Events for July, August and September 2011

Here are July 2011's:

July 1-4 62nd Annual Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, Gulfport, Miss. 228-896-6699 (tourism@gulfcoast.org gulfcoast.org) YEEHAW! Fireworks, fishing, fellowship and fun are all here at this family-friendly rodeo! Contestants fish the Gulf in hopes of winning prizes or breaking a new record!

July 2-4 Independence Day in the Pinehurst Area, Pinehurst, N.C. 800.346.5362 (cvbgolf@ncrrbiz.com www.HomeOfGolf.com) Parades, fireworks, and street fairs can be found during this Independence Day Fest! Relive the childhood fun of pick-your-own farms then sample some homemade ice cream!

July 2-5 City of Jacksonville Fourth of July Celebration, Jacksonville, Fla. 904-630-3690 (events@coj.net makeascenedowntown.com) Everything from motorcycle rides to ice skating is being offered at this year’s gala! Fireworks over St. Johns River choreographed to a patriotic soundtrack round out the fun!

July 3-4 Spirit of American Festival, Decatur, Ala. 800-232-5449 (info@decaturcvb.org spiritofamericafestival.com) Those who have put the needs of their country first are honored during this festival that promotes patriotism among all Americans! An amazing fireworks show promises to wow!

July 4 Red, White and Blue You Festival, Lake Charles, La. 800-456-SWLA (visitlakecharles.org) Live music, a powered parachute flyover and a citywide prayer service are just a few of the activities that unite the community through patriotism and excitement in this free party!

July 4 CLAMerica Celebration, Cedar Key, Fla. 352-543-5057 (LNST@ufl.edu cedarkey.org) It’s “clamania!” Clams anyway you like ‘em as well as something for the landlubbers during this patriotic tribute by way of its beloved home-grown mollusk!

July 4 Operation Celebrate Freedom, Fayetteville, N.C. 910-396-9126 (Rhett.Stroupe@us.army.mil FortbraggMWR.com) What better way to celebrate the 4th than with the brave men and women who fight for our freedom? Music, rides, food and parachutists all help commemorate our nation’s independence!

July 4 Sertoma’s 4th of July Celebration, Pensacola, Fla. 850-434-1234 (vicoperator01@visitpensacola.com VisitPensacola.com) Bring the kids to the largest 4th of July extravaganza on the Gulf Coast! A patriotic parade and live entertainment lead up to a huge fireworks display over Pensacola Bay.

July 5-10 Lexington Junior League Horse Show, Lexington, Ky. 859-971-7416 (gen@lexjrleague.com www.lexjrleague.com) The world’s largest saddle-bred horse show promises to offer something for the whole family. From pony-rides for the kids to dancing for the folks, each evening offers something new.

July 6-8 Wild Horse Days, Corolla, N.C. 252.453.8002 (info@corollawildhorses.com corollawildhorses.org) Take part in the preservation and protection of the endangered wild Colonial Spanish Mustangs that roam free on the Outer Banks during this three-day party.

July 9-11 The Forecastle Festival, Louisville, Ky. 502-472-7555 (jk@forecastlefest.com forecastlefest.com) Music, Art, and Activism are equally showcased in this symposium on the Louisville Riverfront for three days. Come experience this new cultural entertainment medium!

July 9-11 33rd Annual Uncle Dave Macon Days Old-Time Music and Dance Festival, Murfreesboro, Tenn. 615-893-2369 (wbryant@rutherfordchamber.org uncledavemacondays.com) This year’s traditional old time music and dance festival will include a gospel music showcase, historic photo exhibit and “Motorless” parade to name a few!

July 10 Battle of Huck’s Defeat, McConnells, S.C. 803-684-2327 (abarron@chmuseums.org chmuseums.org) See the Carolina backcountry as it was during the days of the Revolutionary War through demonstrations, period music, camp life and talks by experts.

July 10 Classy Chassis Car Show and Country Flea Market Wilmington, N.C. 910-686-9518 (pgp@poplargrove.com poplargrove.com) He can peruse the vintage cars, trucks and tractors on display while she can shop the flea market under the shade trees of an old southern peanut plantation!

July 15 – Aug. 15 Shakespeare on the Square, Knoxville, Tenn. 865-546-4280 (tennesseestage@bellsouth.net tennesseestage.com/sos.htm) “All the world’s a stage,” in this month long event that brings the Globe Theatre down south. Put down a blanket and enjoy a play in the open air of Market Square!

July 15-17 Virginia Lake Festival, Clarksville, Va. 434-374-2436 (clarksville@kerrlake.com clarksvilleva.com) “Virginia’s Only Lakeside Town” comes alive with hot air balloons, sand sculptures, live entertainment and much more fun for young and old alike during this free event.

July 15-18 Keeneland Concours d’Elegance, Lexington, Ky. 859-422-3329 (sue.entwisle@keenelandconcours.com keenelandconcours.com) In this “Showplace of Thoroughbred Horsepower,” vintage and modern cars, trucks and motorcycles are showcased along with automotive art, a silent auction and more!

July 16-24 Fun Fest, Kingsport, Tenn. 423-392-8806 (funfest@funfest.net funfest.net) You’ll find yourself wanting to come back in the fall after this nine-day fest that includes an old-fashioned Cornhole Tournament where you can test your corn bag tossing skills!

July 22- Aug. 1 FOLKMOOT USA, Waynesville, N.C. 828-452-2997 (info@folkmoot.com folkmootusa.org) In the spirit of European Festivals, the Smokey Mountains become a world bazaar as over 300 dancers and musicians from all over the world perform in authentic costumes.

July 24-25 12th Annual Butternut Creek Festival, Blairsville, Ga. 706-835-1948 (genehar37@gmail.com butternutcreekfestival.com) The very best artistic talents have their work carefully juried during this two-day free festival nestled along the shady banks of Butternut Creek in beautiful Blairsville.

Which have you attended?

Complete list can be accessed at: http://southeasttourism.org/top20/top20_summer_2011.html

2011-02-03T12:36:00.002-05:00

How do you calculate ROI when it comes to social media? Paramore | Redd explains how in the latest "Social Therapy" column.

ROI

I was in a meeting recently where somebody said, “Online ad equivalency just isn't there, and it's making our PR numbers look bad.”

I took a deep breath and reached for my phone to call my therapist.

Granted, I am not a PR professional, so I had to think really hard for a minute about what ad equivalency might really be. I understand now, after some quick Google work, that the PR world has been using ad equivalency for more than three decades to measure the value of a campaign.

It’s a mathematical calculation that takes the prominence of the station the story ran on (traditional speak here), the time of day it ran, the length, duration and frequency of the story and mashes it all together to get some number that they believe in.

The thing is, somebody made this up 30 years ago, and folks are still using it as if it's real.

At this point, you might be wondering why I’m talking about this in a column about social media. Well, here's my point:

Everybody wants to know how to calculate ROI on social. You can Google that all day and get lots of input and opinion. But who knows if those writers are right? They might be, but then again, we haven't had decades to prove or disprove a theory or a set of mathematical equations.

What I do know is this – if you can't measure it, you can't value it, and eventually it will get written out of your budget. So, we have to start somewhere. In our social media hierarchy of needs, ROI is level #3, right in the middle of the pack, which would say to you that it's pretty important. Start, then measure, then start over. That's what we want you to do.

There are several fairly costly tools that will help you aggregate (that means get together in one place) all your social data so you can manage and measure your social campaigns. Raven and Radian6 are two such tools, but all they really do is combine the functionality that is out there in free tools that would take you, maybe, an extra hour once a month to use. And they're too slick. It's easy to gloss over their charts and well-formatted numbers and move on to the next thing.

Before you go there, try this: Go through all of your social platforms – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr – every month and manually count what has happened. Count the number of friends you added, the number of people who commented, the number of new subscribers, etc. Then put them into an Excel spreadsheet and sit back and look at it. You'll be amazed what you'll learn over a period of months.

Then, look at the type of content people are responding to. You'll see trends over time. Discuss those with your team or just with yourself. Do more of what's working and less of what's not.

The main advantage to this approach is that it keeps you, a real person, involved in actively reviewing your social work, listening to your clients and learning how they react to your brand in the social networks. It's easy on a daily basis to overlook or gloss over our customer's feedback, to miss a trend or just to get too tired to respond. My boyfriend has that problem sometimes.

But I digress.

We have created a nifty set of measurement spreadsheets to help you track and measure your social work, and you can download them here. At least every month, set aside some time to really deeply review it and see where you are and what you can learn. It's a check-up. Like you do with your doctor. Or your trainer. Or your therapist.

Mine says that I'm a little needy every three weeks or so, but that's a trend he can live with. I pay him.

Hannah Paramore
Paramore | Redd

http://www.southeasttourism.org/newsletters/connections/2011/february/social_media.html

“I am STS" Sneak Peak

2011-01-28T12:59:00.003-05:00

February’s “I am STS” column will be released next week and here's a sneak peak:

What is your greatest personal accomplishment?
Running a successful business for 10 years.

Complete this sentence: “If I wasn’t in PR, I’d . . . “
“ . . . be driving the tour tram at the Daytona International Speedway (my dream retirement job).

What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given?
"Don't look back." From my dad, whenever I doubted any decision.

What do you know now that you wish you’d known earlier?
Good always triumphs over evil.

Can you name this person?

Helpers in the International Guest Search

2011-01-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

Two of the 11 board members of the Corporation for Tourism Promotion, the new public-private entity to promote international travel to the U.S., are from the Southeast. They are Daniel Halpern, president and CEO of Jackmont Hospitality in Atlanta, and Al Weiss, president of worldwide operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in Orlando. Here’s the full list.

T3: Travel & Tourism Talk / January 2011

2011-01-20T10:04:00.003-05:00

Top headlines for this month include:

Upcoming STS Events:

ITB Berlin: Press Breakfast
March 10-14, Berlin, Germany
Learn More
STS Spring Meeting:Transformation among the breezes
March 28-30, Beaches of South Walton, Fla.
Learn More

Do you wish to reach an audience outside of the U.S.?

2011-01-18T11:26:00.000-05:00

Let STS do the work for you

FACT: International travelers to the U.S. spent a record $12.7 billion in August, a 20% increase from the same month a year ago, according to the Commerce Department.

Economic conditions have Europeans coming to our shore in great numbers. Here is an opportunity to reach those hungry for a new and different experience.

STS will be represented at ITB Berlin March 9 - 13 and is looking for partners who want to have their locales, events and attractions promoted to the German-language media.

Have your materials translated into German and watch a new demographic visit your spot.

This is inexpensive representation you cannot afford to miss.

For more information, click here.

Custom Publishing: Digital Magazines

2011-01-07T15:59:00.002-05:00

When December rolls around at Journal Communications Inc., it's a bit like a labor and delivery room for our travel publications.

This is the month when five of our annual travel guides are put to bed, and that means Journal's production team is busy uploading files to the printer, doing press checks and flipping through those long-awaited advance copies.

But in today's publishing environment, print isn't the end of the road anymore. Every print product also has a digital twin, which has to be checked and double-checked before the links go live. And alive they are – offering a variety of creative features to keep readers engaged beyond the printed product. From compelling videos and animated ads to photo galleries and active covers, digital magazines have become an important part of custom publishing – for consumers advertisers and clients alike. iFly magazine, a digital magazine by KLM Airlines that won Travel Magazine of the Year in the 2010 Digital Magazine Awards, offers all kinds of interesting features.

Because this technology is developing so quickly, it's critical to devote the necessary resources to explore all of the new options for this evolving publishing platform. Here at Journal, our media technology department researches and tests the latest advances in the digital arena so we can offer the best solutions to our clients. The printed books are delivered, the digital versions soon follow and we all breathe a quick collective sigh of relief before gearing up for all of the new challenges and innovations that 2011 will bring.

- Susan Chappell, Content Director/Travel Publications for Journal Communications Inc.

Identifying Sustainable Resources

2011-01-05T13:02:00.001-05:00

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Sustainability is

“of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged
of or relating to a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods.”

It’s not just your physical environment that is a resource. Resources are inclusive of history, local people and their cultural distinctions. To begin thinking about developing a sustainable tourism brand for your destination, you must first perform an inventory of its “total resources.”

Think large.

What aspects of the physical environment make your destination unique and attractive?
What are the historic and cultural resources that contribute to a visitor’s overall sense of authenticity?

Once you become aware of your destination’s comprehensive resources, think about how to preserve by striking a balance between stewardship and tourism growth.

For a list of helpful resources and examples, check out National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations.

- Justin Gaull, West Virginia Division of Tourism

Propel your career and your organization to the next level

2011-01-03T12:16:00.002-05:00

The premier educational program for the tourism industry in the U.S.
A superior educational opportunity in a tranquil environment...
Classes taught by industry leaders and working professionals...
A perfect forum for the exchange of ideas...
Opportunities for networking with your peers from across the Southeast and the U.S....

For one week each year, tourism industry professionals from all over the Southeast meet at North Georgia College & State University for the Southeast Tourism Society Marketing College. During the week, students experience a broad-based curriculum of courses designed to teach marketing techniques from all facets of the tourism industry. Marketing College professors are working, experienced professionals from across the U.S. who not only bring expertise, but real-world knowledge and experience, to the classroom. From the time students arrive on Sunday evening until they depart on Friday, they enjoy classes, lectures, discussion groups and one-of-a-kind networking opportunities in an academic environment conducive to learning. Students who attend three years of Marketing College receive a Travel Marketing Professional (TMP) certification, presented at a special graduation ceremony at the STS spring meeting.

New Congress: New Opportunities

2010-12-21T10:05:00.008-05:00

Now is the time to start educating Members of Congress on the economic importance of tourism to their districts, states, and the nation. We want to be sure that when issues critical to the health and growth of travel and tourism are debated in Congress, the voice of tourism is heard and considered.

Click here for all of the newly elected Senators and Representatives, their party affiliation and district, as well as a link to The Hill newspaper's biographical profile of the new editions to each state's delegation.

___________

Contacting Congress

A question often asked of associations is what is the most effective way to get your message to your Senator or Representative.

Congressional staff members say that an individual phone call or letter is still extremely effective. The drawback in sending a letter is that it takes several days to be delivered since all mail is sent to a facility to be screened for contamination before being forwarded to congressional offices.

Also effective is going to the website of the member of Congress and using the option there of sending an email. According to staff members each of those emails is individually read.

A less effective way is using a mass e-mail system, such as Capwiz. Many associations provide that option to you and you are encouraged to use them on specific issues but know that each message sent through Capwiz is tallied by the congressional office, but they are not individually read.

While you have several options, contacting your Senators or Representative using your own words -- either by phone, by traditional letter, or by using the email option on a Congressional member's website -- is still the most effective way. Nonetheless, using Capwiz or signing and sending a petition does get a message through to them. Those who prefer to contact their legislators personally and locate their contact data at contactingthecongress.org.

Rain drops and ice and snowflakes OH MY!

2010-12-17T10:09:00.002-05:00

The life of a traveling salesperson. It cracks me up when my friends rant enviously about what a glamorous lifestyle I have. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s a fabulous job and I get to do a lot of amazing things with people I really enjoy, but those memorable experiences can sometimes be lost in the haze of the stress of it all. For example, after struggling to work out the timing for two months and planning for another, I had everything in place for three accounts out of state that are very critical to my business. A lot of hard work and so excited to finally have my time on stage. Research? Check. PowerPoint presentations printed and bound? Check. Copies of back issues with all the ads flagged? Check. Lead generation numbers? Check. All the reasons they couldn’t possibly say anything other than “yes” to me? Check! I’m driving to the airport rehearsing my PPT presentation notes out loud to myself and I get a text from the airline.

My flight was canceled.

I made a call and after going through an automated attendant situation reminiscent of a hilarious Modern Family episode, was told that the next day’s first two flights were also canceled. It baffles me that if a single snowflake falls anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line, the Atlanta airport morphs from a gateway to heavenly destinations far and wide to a portal for hell on earth. Sigh . . . So I had to cancel those appointments and hope it wouldn’t take me another 3 months to get in front of these people. It’s very frustrating, I have to tell you. And it would have been so easy to get agitated with the airline representative but it occurred to me that she didn’t create this situation and she can’t fix it. And even if she did create it would it make me feel better or worse to yell at her. The answer is definitely not “better.”

I had checked my list. I had checked it twice. Things didn’t work out perfectly and now I had the choice to be naughty or nice. Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy Holidays! However you choose to say it, isn’t the underlying meaning behind the words the same: I’m thinking of you and wishing you well. Wouldn’t life be so much more enjoyable if we all wished each other well every day – not just on holidays? It’s so easy to get caught up in the tasks we have to accomplish, the calls we need to make, the items we need to check off our list, especially this time of year. Everyone is not only thinking about all the things they need to do for the holidays but also trying to wrap up all the loose ends before the end of the year. It seems the list is never-ending and when I find myself getting irritable because things aren’t going as planned, I find that it all goes much more smoothly if I stop, take a deep breath, and ask myself, “Is it really that important?”

I’ve heard it said that a satisfying life isn’t about getting the right answers to your questions, it’s asking the right questions. So, is it my “job” that I love or is it the people? Great question, easy answer. It’s the people. What’s the point in being so determined to check things off the job list that I mistreat the people? Doesn’t make sense, does it?

Media Madness
Jeannea Spence

STS Spring Meeting & SETTRA Symposium 2011

2010-12-16T10:04:00.005-05:00

During this winter weather, stay warm by thinking about the beach!

STS Connections - December 2010

2010-12-09T12:06:00.001-05:00

Our fondest wish is that you have a relaxing and wonderful Christmas holiday. As this year comes to a conclusion, the staff of Southeast Tourism Society thanks you for your membership and all you do to spread the word about the power of tourism. Happy New Year to all.
- Southeast Tourism Society

For the entire STS Connections - December 2010, eNews click here.

What makes destination marketing special

2010-12-03T09:46:00.001-05:00

Thanks to North Star Destination Strategies for this excellent post!

A few months ago, I sat in a college classroom in Dahlonega, GA with over 100 other eager students. For a week, my classmates and I stayed in dorms, ate in the cafeteria together, and sat through class after class of various subjects, bonding together as any college class does. But we weren’t there for actual college; all of us are working professionals who graduated from our universities years if not decades earlier. We were there for the Southeast Tourism Society’s Marketing College. For destination marketing professionals from all over the southeastern states, STS Marketing College is the premier educational program for the tourism industry in the U.S.. That means it’s THE place to go to learn about anything and everything to do with marketing a destination directly from the experts who know the most about it.

The funny thing is, to a certain extent everyone in that room was competing for the same consumers. Coming from a corporate background, this was at first a mystery to me. As destination marketers, everyone’s goal is to attract more visitors to their specific community (well, not everyone—my goal is to help them understand those visitors through research). I tried to imagine professionals from Kraft, General Mills, Nestle, Pepsico, and Kellogg spending a week bonding and learning about how to attract more consumers, sharing information and helping each other with their specific consumer issues—the idea was laughable. In a world where the #1 rule is to protect and grow your market share, sharing of information is frowned upon at best and illegal at worst.

It’s different working with destinations. Consumers don’t necessarily recognize community and regional lines, and decisions on where to travel often involve factors like proximity and awareness of offerings. It’s to the benefit of everyone, producer and consumer alike, that regions work together to increase awareness of their little corner of the world. Besides, unlike consumers of food products, who often remain loyal to one or another, visitors experience many different communities and are always looking for something new. The possibilities for finding a new place to experience are almost endless, so marketing a destination effectively is critical for attracting them.

STS Marketing College taught me more than just marketing techniques—it taught me about professional cooperation and collaboration and left me with an invaluable network in the tourism industry. Turns out going back to college isn’t all that bad—at least when it’s STS Marketing College.

"Tourism Tidbits" From Tourism & More, Inc.

2010-12-02T09:36:00.005-05:00

The holiday season is a wonderful time to showcase your community and/or attraction. It is also a time when if things go wrong there will be a great number of people with and for whom you will need to do damage control.

Do not overcharge.
Everyone understands that during the holidays prices will rise a bit, but gauging is never a good idea. The few extra dollars that you will make by raising prices unfairly will be more than offset by negative publicity. Instead, offer holiday specials. Consider these to be part of your advertising campaign. Nothing promotes your industry better than good word-of-mouth advertising.

Remember that your employees are people too.
These are people who are giving up their holidays for others, and while they may be receiving extra pay, no amount of money can compensate for lost time. Treat your employees with extra respect; prepare them for longer than usual hours and visitors who are tired, frustrated or even angry.

When in doubt, smile!
The holidays are supposed to be about fun, family, and memories. Travel should also be about those very same things. Even when people have had to deal with the hassles of travel, train your employees to go out of their way to smile, be cheerful and do something extra nice for people.

Making travel a personal gift item.
Another good marketing tool is to encourage your local citizens to consider travel to your locale as a personal gift option. Even in these difficult economic times, may of people will be spending a great deal of time trying to find new and innovative gifts and travel gifts not only provide for friends and family to see each other but also aid your local economy.

There are numerous ways that you promote your locale as a travel gift. Many travel agencies will be more than happy to work with you. Before promoting the gift of travel to your locale remember the following:

Make sure that you locals check with the people receiving the gift to determine which dates will work for him/her/them and which dates will become a problem. Help locals to know when airline prices are reasonable and promote travel to your location when the hotels are in their low season.

Make sure that the person giving the gift is aware of about how much the gift will cost the receiver. It is not helpful to give an airline ticket or a free night stay at a hotel if the person cannot afford to get to the destination and/or stay at a destination's hotels. Make sure to match the gift with the receiver's ability to pay for the other parts of travel.

Encourage people to give travel gifts to your community that create positive memories and a desire to return. It does not matter what giver likes or may think the other person ought to like, rather make sure that the travel gift reflects the receiver's lifestyle and shows off your community in the best light. Know if the person to whom you are giving the gift likes adventure travel, urban travel or perhaps countryside travel. You will get the best results from gift travel if you can encourage the givers to match the travel experience to the receiver's psychological profile.

Do not be afraid to encourage the people who live in your locale to use air miles as a way to bring people to your community. Once the person is in your community, s/he will be spending money and adding to the local economy. How the person gets to your community is less important than what the person does once there. Although many airlines charge for transferring miles, but allow you to "purchase" a trip for another person for free. Do not transfer miles but rather purchase the trip for the person who is to receive the gift. Remember that paid airline tickets usually are not refundable and charge for date transfers, most tickets bought with air miles are much more flexible.

If inviting friends and relatives from another country, make sure that the person has a passport and meets all visa requirements. If you are dealing with US citizens, remember that all US citizens need a passport if they are traveling by air or sea. That same requirement is true of many other nations.

Purchase the gift around the other person's likes and dislikes. If giving an urban travel gift, provide a special add-on. Travel is about memories. When encouraging your local citizens to give the gift of travel, aid them to turn these trips into special memories. Make sure that your citizens understand that special memories need not be expensive. For example, a bottle of wine or a fruit basket will set the stage. Lots of communities have local theaters or sporting events that are fun and add a bit of local color. Always remind people to chose events for their guests that fit the receiver's lifestyle.

Make sure that the person receiving the gift has an opportunity to let your local tourism office know what he or she thought of your community. Feed back from gift travel is especially helpful in knowing your community's strengths and weaknesses. When people come to your community make the gift of travel more than merely seeing and doing new things, make it about sharing memories and a desire to return again and again.

"TOURISM TIDBITS" by Dr. Peter Tarlow, TOURISM & MORE, INC., College Station, Texas”

Blogged with permission:
You are welcome to reproduce "Tourism Tidbits" or any part of "Tourism Tidbits" with proper citing. We hope that you will see "Tourism Tidbits" as a place where tourism, visitor, and travel professionals exchange ideas and information. "Tourism Tidbits" does not offer or provide specific legal or financial advice. Our goal is to provide a "review" for industry personnel and discuss provocative issues. We remind all readers that every specific business decision should be made only after you have done the proper research. The author(s) accept(s) no responsibility for any loss due to any information published in "Tourism Tidbits."

Body Scanners or Pat Downs?

2010-11-23T09:54:00.003-05:00

This has been a big topic of debate lately and there is even an internet campaign to boycott the new body scanners. Whether you are for or against the new safety measure, one thing is for sure: This holiday season lines may be long at security checkpoints in airports across the nation.

When stress levels are high with travelers, what will your organization be doing to ensure a good experience when that traveler ends the day at your place of business?

STS Spring Meeting 2011 & SETTRA Symposium 2011

2010-11-22T14:04:00.002-05:00

STS Spring Meeting 2011 & SETTRA Symposium 2011

March 28-30
Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort
The Grand Sandestin
The beaches of south walton, Florida

Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort
Group Code 22G2T7
800-320-8115
$133 per night, plus tax

Registration
Sponsorship Opportunities
Silent Auction Donations
Info on Sandestin, Florida

Spring 2011 Top 20 Events

2010-11-16T12:40:00.002-05:00

The best events across the Southeast compete to receive the prestigious Top 20 Events designation. Through a nomination process, Southeast Tourism Society chooses the Top 20 events in the Southeast for each month of the year and publishes this list of winners quarterly. The Top 20 Events publication is sent to over 1,600 newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, AAA publications and others.

Check out which events made the STS Top 20: Spring 2011 list!

Connecting Veterans Day with Tourism

2010-11-10T14:29:00.004-05:00

An excellent way to honor our nation’s veterans is to dive into the storied history of the men and woman who have answered the call of duty and defended our country and our freedoms. The National Park Service (NPS) has 52 sites devoted to preserving the battlefields, military parks, and historic sites that commemorate and honor the service of American veterans.

From lesser known sites like Fort Necessity National Battlefield, which preserves a colonial battlefield from the French & Indian War in 1754 to renowned sites like the Vietnam Veteran Memorial, NPS preserves and commemorates sites of historical significance and showcases the stories and people who fought for and served their country.

This year, in an effort to make the stories of our nation’s veterans accessible to as large an audience as possible, the National Park Service is waiving entrance fees at its parks on Veterans Day, Thursday, November 11, 2010. To make the day memorable, many national park service concessioners are supporting this effort by offering special offers.

With the NPS launch last week of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, this Veterans Day program offers an opportunity to showcase to the public the rich heritage of military service and sacrifice that is preserved through out the Southeast.

Details on the National Parks that preserve and commemorate battlefields and military parks and the special programs and offers can be found on the NPS website by clicking here.

mad·ness /–noun

2010-11-09T16:16:00.000-05:00

mad·ness /–noun
1. the state of being mad; insanity.
2. senseless folly.
3. frenzy; rage.
4. intense excitement or enthusiasm.

I am a media salesperson. 3 weeks ago, I did what some say media salespeople do all the time. I changed jobs. Returned to a company that I had worked for 8 1/2 years. With the exception of one fellow media rep, every person I have told of my news has been so excited for me. When I shared the change with this media rep, he said “Are you mad?” I was noticeably irritated with his response. Bothered me for a couple of days. And then I realized I am indeed mad. “Intense excitement or enthusiasm.” This is a job I really loved. A magazine I have always felt passionate about. This is home to me.

Eavesdrop on most any conversation about the business of media and you’ll probably walk away with the opinion that most people think the business of media is the business of madness. To some it may be a senseless folly. And in many ways it is insanity. But it’s fun. And rewarding. I work with people I admire, for people I respect, and call on clients that I genuinely like. Some of them have become my dearest friends. So it may indeed be madness but it is a madness for which I am grateful.

As media reps we have a chance to be heroes. It’s an interesting time. “Survival of the fittest.” Our clients are challenged to accomplish more with less. Media reps: be a partner to your client. Be creative. Be respectful of their time. Be professional. Advertisers: give us the opportunity to be your partner. The good ones among us are not “just salespeople” but want to understand your business and help you generate solutions to meet your objectives.

Let’s use this space to talk with each other about how we can be of service to each other. I certainly don’t have all the answers. I’m not even sure I have all the questions. What’s that line from Jerry McGuire? No, not the “show me the money” line. “Help me help you.” That’s it. Let the conversation begin …..

Media Madness
Jeannea Spence

Civil War to Civil Rights

2010-11-08T13:58:00.002-05:00

Yesterday the National Park Service (NPS) and the National Archives launched the sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War with a series of events in the Nation’s Capitol. The event was held to capitalize on the press surrounding the 150^th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s election to the presidency, which is on Saturday. Coordinated by Destination DC, Washington’s official tourism office, the program featured a number of STS’s members and friends, and was promoted under the banner from “Civil War to Civil Rights.”

The afternoon of events started with a preview of the National Archives exhibit, Discovering the Civil War, which explores little-known aspects of the war, then an abridged bus tour of the Downtown DC Heritage Trail, which included a stop at Clara Barton’s home and missing soldiers office, which is currently being converted into a museum. The site is not yet open to the public but the General Services Administration, which owns the property, and Civil War preservationists were eager to show off their efforts. The story of the property is fascinating and it was almost lost to demolition when a serendipitous discovery of a stash of Barton papers led to the realization that the property is historically significant. The Washington Post recently covered the story of the site and its renovation, which can be read here.

Afterwards the bus dropped everyone off at the Willard Hotel for a ballroom reception featuring 20 Civil War-oriented destinations and sites, including Arlington Convention & Visitor Services. The Willard Hotel is a historic site that played a significant role in the Civil War to Civil Rights timeline. In 1861 the last-ditch Peace Congress to head off the impending Civil War was held at the hotel. Julia Ward Howe wrote the lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the Republic while staying at the hotel that same year. And Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. completed his renowned “I Have a Dream” speech in his hotel room at the Willard in 1963.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who was a noted civil rights activist, spoke to the crowd on the economic importance of tourism. STS member Tina Osceoloa also spoke on the importance of Native American history to the Civil War history and why it is critical to tell the full story of the war. Although he was not on the program, STS friend, Dean Reeder, NPS Director of Tourism, was a big presence at the event, and was surrounded by Park Rangers in uniform and period costumes.

Click for more information on the Civil War programs of the National Park Service and National Archives.

- Halle Czechowski, Consultant

Key Terms

2010-11-04T09:42:00.002-04:00

Here are some key term acronyms that may be useful in future planning or research:

ISO 14001 - the international standard for environmental management systems.

ISTEA - Intermodial Surface Transportation Efficiency Act

MPI - Meeting Professionals International

NBTA - National Business Travel Association

NCA - National Concierge Association

NCBNP - National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners

NCSTD - National Council of State Travel Directors The National Council of State Tourism Directors is an industry council of the Travel Industry Association of America

NMA - National Motorists Association

NPCA - National Parks & Conservation Association

NPF - National Park Foundation

NRA - National Restaurant Association

NTA - National Tour Association

PR - Public Relations

PRSA - Public Relations Society of America

RSA - Receptive Services Association

SATW - Society of American Travel Writers

SGMP - Society of Government Meeting Planners

SMERFs - Social, military, educational, religious, and fraternal market segments. Usually targeted and separately tracked by DMOs.

TDA - Tourism Development Authority

TIA - Travel Industry Association of America

TODS - Tourist Oriented Directional Signage

TTRA - Travel & Tourism Research Association

URL - Universal Resource Locator. This is the term used for the address of a Website. Think of a URL as similar to a phone number or street address. Example: http://www.rtmnet.com; http://www.usdm.net.

VFR - Visiting friends and relatives

VFRM - Visiting friends and relatives of the military

WTM - World Travel Market

WTO stands for two international organizations: 1) the World Tourism Organization, a UN-related institution based in Madrid that collects data on tourism and lobbies on behalf of the industry; and 2) the World Trade Organization.

STS Connections - November 2010

2010-11-02T11:42:00.001-04:00

Take a quick minute to read this month's edition of the STS Connections.

Industry Jobs

2010-10-29T12:49:00.002-04:00

If you or someone you know is looking to make a job change in the travel/ tourism industry, take a look here.

Travel Promotion Progresses

2010-10-25T12:19:00.002-04:00

Recently, the Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke announced the appointment of the board for the Corporation for Travel Promotion, the non-profit corporation created under the Travel Promotion Act to promote travel to the United States and communicate and improve the entry process for international visitors.

The 11 travel and tourism leaders were selected to represent the various regions of the United States as well as to bring the expertise and experience of specific sectors of the broad industry to the work of the Corporation. The newly named board members are:

Caroline Beteta, President and CEO, California Tourism Commission
Stephen Cloobeck, Chairman & CEO, Diamond Resorts International, Nevada
George Fertitta, CEO, NYC & Company
Daniel Halpern, President & CEO, Jackmont Hospitality, Georgia
Tom Klein, President, Sabre Holdings, Texas
David Lim, Chief Marketing Officer, Amtrak
Mark Schwab, Senior Vice President-Alliances, International and Regulatory Affairs, United Airlines, Illinois
Diane Shober, Tourism Director, State of Wyoming
Al Weiss, President, Worldwide Operations, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Florida
Roy Yamaguchi, Owner and Founder, Roy’s Restaurant, California
Lynda Zengerle, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson, Washington, DC

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke noted in the press release making the board announcement that “President Obama recognizes the critical role that attracting international visitors to the United States plays in creating jobs and growing our economy.”

In a press release hailing the “momentous step” for boosting international visitation, the U.S. Travel Association pointed out that key next steps for the Corporation will be hiring an executive director, developing a global marketing strategy, and establishing a private sector fundraising effort. Under the Travel Promotion Act, the travel and tourism industry is responsible for raising 50 percent of the Corporation’s annual budget.

- Halle Czechowski, Consultant

Investing in Advocacy, An Investment in Tourism

2010-10-22T09:26:00.003-04:00

Mark Twain wrote, “we could certainly slow the aging process if it had to work its way through Congress.” A colorful way to say that effective advocacy is a long process. And yet, like slowing the aging process, federal advocacy is worth the investment of time and energy.

Each year thousands of bills are introduced in Congress but only those that can show broad public support are taken up for debate. Demonstrating public support is an involved process requiring lots of phone calls, emails, letters, meetings, press conferences, and other events. Sometimes it takes time to capture the attention of Congress. But the long, sometimes complicated process of advocacy should deter no one from raising their voice in our democracy. Washington may seem like it operates in its own world, but Members of Congress are elected to serve their communities and they are eager to hear from and know what their constituents think.

As Congress grapples with how to provide recovery support to the Gulf States in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the tourism industry is once again scrambling to get tourism marketing funds included in the recovery program. Having a dedicated domestic grants program that would serve as a source of funds and expertise would provide a major boost to future efforts to help local economies dependent on tourism to come back from a major disaster, as well as support ongoing efforts to expand the nation’s tourism markets.

Representative Sam Farr, co-chair of the Congressional Travel &Tourism Caucus recently introduced a bill to establish a competitive grant program to promote domestic regional tourism. The Travel Regional Investment Partnership Act or TRIP Act, directs the Secretary of Commerce to create a grant program designed to promote domestic regional tourism growth and new domestic tourism market creation. The bill (H.R. 4676) authorizes $10 million in competitive grants, to range between $100,000 and $1 million each, to accomplish those goals.

The grant program will complement the Travel Promotion Act by directly funding the promotional efforts of state, local, and regional tourism efforts, and will apply to convention and visitor bureaus as well as partnerships between state or local governments and tourism entities. Groups will be required to provide matching funds for the projects.

Currently, the bill has 14 sponsors, but a stronger show of support is needed. Speaking out on this bill is a great way starting raising your voice with Congress. Click here for a website that provides a listing of all Members of Congress and a connection to their websites, where you will find their email addresses and phone number.

Please call on your congressional delegation today to ask them to co-sponsor the TRIP Act.

- Halle Czechowski, Consultant

Timing Is Everything

2010-10-21T12:16:00.001-04:00

“Timing in life is everything”. Somehow that quote always pops up following a misstep or error in….timing. As marketers we know timing is critical. When to do research? When to change strategy? When to place advertising? When to send out promotional mail or email?

Timing is one of the critical elements of a research based marketing plan. A good plan has every step in the marketing cycle spelled out with budgets and deadlines. And yet, with the most detailed plans we have to remain nimble to respond to the changes in the marketplace. That is when the element of timing can get lost in the shuffle. Sometimes events occur and we have to change course in our marketing strategy and even the most experienced marketer can make an error in…timing.

Some of the most common timing errors in marketing and research are:

Surveys received by recipients during periods in which they are too busy to respond (holidays, Mondays, peak vacation periods, etc.)
Conversion surveys sent out too soon – if they inquired last week it is highly likely that they have not had an opportunity to convert to a visit yet.
Surveys and marketing pieces sent out during “bad news cycles”. If a major disaster or event is dominating the news media, it’s probably not a good time to be noticed.
Advertising placed too far in advance or too close to the advertised period to be effective.

So how can you avoid these errors in timing? Dr. Larry Gustke has always professed that 1/3 of the total time invested in a research project is in the planning phase. So yes, while planning often prevents mistakes, rushing often guarantees them. It is important to be time sensitive so you proceed at the fastest and most accurate rate possible but also strike at the best time.

It is always a good idea to bounce that idea or promotion off another industry professional. I remember once being tasked with a last minute golf promotion for a destination. I knew nothing about golf promotion at the time so I contacted a fellow STS member who was a golf promoter. He provided all the guidance needed and told me exactly how and when to get my message out for maximum ROI. He prevented me from making a costly timing error.

It all comes down to planning and partnership. Remember that someone else has most likely already faced the situation that you are in and they are glad to help you learn from their wisdom!

So, slow down and pay attention to all that is going on around you before you hit that send button. Have a plan and use your STS partners for guidance.

- Berkeley Young, Young Strategies

Travel Marketers Can Learn from ‘Mindset List’

2010-10-20T10:05:00.004-04:00

A tip sheet designed to help college professors not sound too far behind the times in the lecture hall can provide guidance for travel marketers. Both groups must be sure their audiences understand what they’re saying.

Consider this example: If you’re a male political science professor and you mention your Vietnam War-era draft lottery number, it’s entirely possible you’ll have to explain that (1) there was a war in Vietnam, (2) young men got drafted to fight in that war and (3) that your lottery number had nothing to do with Powerball and winning millions of dollars.

Every year, two guys at Beloit College in Wisconsin compile a list of cultural references to remind the faculty what incoming freshmen consider normal . . . and all the things they’ve missed. It’s called the Beloit College Mindset List.

Realizing that certain references might make no sense at all can be sobering to people only slightly older than those worldly, iPhone-holding freshmen born in 1992. For instance, for these students:

John McEnroe has never played professional tennis.
Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.
Korean cars have always been a staple of American highways.
Doctor Kevorkian has never been licensed to practice medicine.
They never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around their wrists while chatting on the phone.
DNA fingerprinting and maps of the human genome have always existed.
Czechoslovakia has never existed.
Russians and Americans always have lived together in space.
Nirvana is on the classic oldies radio station.
The historic bridge at Mostar in Bosnia always has been a copy.
They never have worried about a Russian missile attack.
Rock bands always have played at presidential inaugural parties.

The list is long, and it should make professors – and marketers, too – research their audiences. It’s awfully easy for a message to miss the mark.

- Tom Adkinson, BOHAN

It’s Green, Sustainable, Eco-Geo Tourism!

2010-10-19T15:54:00.002-04:00

Are you confused about the differences between sustainable tourism, “green” tourism, ecotourism and geotourism? If you are, welcome to the club.

When I think of tourism being “green,” my initial thought is about the carbon footprint of a trip; which ultimately is a consumer lifestyle choice rather than a tourism industry mandate to which we should all immediately conform.

When I think about “ecotourism,” I picture people zipping gleefully among treetops and educational nature walks highlighting local fauna. When I think of geotourism, I picture Anthony Bourdain biting into a succulent slice of offal as he samples cultural delicacies at a Chinese food market.

Finally, there is sustainable tourism, which seems to be a trio that’s part “green,” part “eco,” and a good bit “geo.” This blog is dedicated to examining the meaning and development of sustainable tourism.

Check back weekly for updates and new topics.

- Justin Gaull, West Virginia Division of Tourism

Top 20 Events in the Southeast U.S.

2010-10-14T15:16:00.006-04:00

Top 20 Events
in the Southeast U.S.

Upcoming Events
Fall 2010
Winter 2010

What is the Top 20 Events listing?
The best events across the Southeast compete to receive the prestigious Top 20 Events designation. Through a nomination process, Southeast Tourism Society chooses the Top 20 events in the Southeast for each month of the year and publishes this list of winners quarterly. The Top 20 Events publication is sent to over 1,600 newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, AAA publications and others.

What are the requirements?
The event must:

Have at least 1,000 in attendance
Be in at least its 3rd year in existence
Submit a $10 nomination fee per event

Do you want to nominate your event? Click here.

Key Terms

2010-10-08T15:45:00.002-04:00

Here are some key term acronyms that may be useful in future planning or research:

AAA - American Automobile Association

ABA - American Bus Association

ABT - Association of Business Travellers

ACF - American Culinary Federation

AGA - American Gaming Association

AH&MA - American Hotel & Lodging Association

ASAE - American Society of Association Executives

ASTA - American Society of Travel Agents

ATA - Air Transport Association

ATS - Adventure Travel Society

CAA - Canadian Automobile Association

GHA - Green Hotels Association

GLAMER - Group Leaders of America Travel Show

HSMAI - Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International

IAAPA - International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions

IACC - International Association of Conference Centers

IACVB - International Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus

ICTA - Institute of Certified Travel Agents

IDRC - International Development Research Council

IFEA - International Festival & Events Association

ISTEA - Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act

ISES - International Special Events Society

Social Media: Facebook

2010-10-05T10:32:00.002-04:00

Facebook is one of the largest and most commonly used social networking platforms used by the general public. So, how does one crack the science of Facebook marketing?

Well, first you need to have a social media strategy. Need help with that? Check out our Potluck Guide to Social Media.

Now that you have a strategy in writing, it's time to dig deeper into Facebook. One of the most common mistakes marketers use on Facebook is not choosing the proper profile. Need some help clarifying the differences between a Personal Profile and a Fan Page? Check out this blog.

Don't worry, it's a common mistake that many social media rookies make. Just this past month, Paramore|Redd had to help us sort through our Facebook issues. If you want to see what our Fan Page looks like, check it out here.

What are some things your destination, attraction, hotel or restaurant needs help with on Facebook?

Key Terms

2010-10-01T16:10:00.002-04:00

STS has blogged about getting back to the basics of the travel and tourism industry. The basics start with key terms. Each week we'll be reminding or teaching you about some key terms so you can have a better understanding of the travel/tourism industry.

Reconnaissance - An on-site evaluation of an attraction or destination from the perspective of the customer. Best performed by an outsider who is not familiar with the location and who is trained in fair and scientific methods of evaluation.

Why is this important? By using a trained professional to evaluate an attraction or destination from the traveler view point, it will point out what that attraction or destination is doing well and where improvement can be made. This can prevent future visitor complaints and ensure the most positive visitor experience possible.

Teaser Piece - A teaser piece can either be a rack brochure or a mailer, giveaway, or some other promotional piece that is intended to "tease" the receiver into taking a specific action.

Why is this important? A teaser piece is valuable because it can help convince a potential visitor or customer to make the final decision to either visit a particular attraction or destination.

What are some teaser pieces your destination uses? Has your attraction or destination considered performing a reconnaissance?

Calendar of Events

2010-09-28T14:20:00.001-04:00

T3: Travel & Tourism Talk

2010-09-21T14:06:00.001-04:00

To view the entire September 2010 eNewsletter, click here.

Key Terms

2010-09-20T12:05:00.002-04:00

STS has blogged about getting back to the basics of the travel and tourism industry. The basics start with key terms. Each week we'll be reminding or teaching you about some key terms so you can have a better understanding of the travel/tourism industry.

Carrying Capacity - Carrying capacity refers to the number of visitors that can adequately be accommodated with existing infrastructure including lodging, dining, public bathrooms, roads, parking, etc.

Why is this important? It's important to make sure that the capacity demand for your restautant, restrooms, lodging, etc. is met. It's key to know the difference between waiting at a GREAT restaurant and having people wait in a mile-long line for the restroom. Happy customers mean more business, and happy customers know the difference between waiting for a great outcome and just having to wait.

Fulfillment Piece - Promotional literature, video, or other material that is sent in response to an inquiry. Usually contains full trip planning information.

Why is this important? Have you ever wanted to visit a destination, but needed more information? Well, a great fulfillment packet may make or break a travel decision. Make sure the fulfillment pieces match the branding of the destination.

STS Economic Significance of Tourism tool

2010-09-15T10:39:00.004-04:00

Tourism is big business. As a tourism professional, you know that’s true.

The challenge, however, is explaining tourism’s true economic value to your board, your community’s elected officials and to local citizens — all of whom benefit from tourism and all of whom influence the resources you have to do your job. What you need is clear and simple numbers that demonstrate tourism’s awesome economic power.

Southeast Tourism Society, working with a noted Southeast economic tourism expert, has a turn-key solution and method for you to easily prove tourism’s economic significance to your local community. Using statistics from your state’s tourism department and the U.S. Travel Association, show how many jobs are created, how many dollars visitors spend and how much tax relief results from tourism — directly in your community.

There is no more guessing about tourism’s importance in economic development. Use the STS Economic Significance of Tourism tool, and transform your community contacts into tourism advocates.

2010 Shining Example Award Winners

2010-09-13T09:52:00.003-04:00

2010 Shining Example Award Winners

Congratulations to all 2010 Shining Example Award Winners!

Travel Attraction of the Year
Rock City Gardens, Lookout Mountain, Ga.

CVB of the Year (Category 1)
North Little Rock Visitors Bureau – North Little Rock, Ark.

CVB of the Year (Category 2)
Myrtle Beach Area CVB – Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Top 20 Event/Festival of the Year (Category 1)
Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion – Bristol, Tenn./Va.

Top 20 Event/Festival of the Year (Category 2)
North Carolina Seafood Festival - Morehead City, N.C.

Internet Excellence
Richmond Metropolitan CVB

Visual Excellence
VISIT FLORIDA

Tourism for Tomorrow
Botetourt County, VA. Office of Tourism
South Carolina Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Tourism

State Tourism Office of the Year
Virginia Tourism Corporation

Governmental Tourism Leadership Award
Earlene Teaster, City Manager, Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

Rising Star Award
Kyle Edmiston – Ruston Lincoln CVB, La.

Chairman of the Board Award
Dr. Steve Morse – University of Tennessee

Spirit of STS Award
Dana Lee Jennings, Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association

Key Terms

2010-09-10T14:39:00.003-04:00

One of them missions of Southeast Tourism Society is to educate those involved in the tourism industry. The basics of any learning experience start with key terms. Each week we'll be reminding or teaching you about some key terms so you can have a better understanding of the travel/tourism industry.

Familiarization Trip - A complimentary or reduced-rate travel program for travel agents, airline or rail employees or other travel buyers, designed to acquaint participants with specific destinations or suppliers and to stimulate the sale of travel. Familiarization tours, also called fam tours, are sometimes offered to journalists as research trips for the purpose of cultivating media coverage of specific travel products.

Why is this important? Do you want your destination to be in the news? If the journalists and reporters are highlighting your area and giving your destination media coverage, the more likely visitors and vacationers will be given an opportunity to learn about your destination.

Attractor - A significant tourist attraction, which compels visitation. The primary "must sees" in an area. The top reasons a tourist would choose to visit this area.

Why is this important? One of the most popular questions when someone is on vacation is... "What must I do while I'm here?" While attractors are key to the destination, a visitor may want to find an attraction that is off the beaten path - something that supplements an attractor.

What are some attractors in your area?

Social Media Strategy

2010-09-08T10:38:00.010-04:00

You've taken the plunge and invested time and energy into creating accounts for Flick, Facebook, Twitter, among others.

Now, take the time to formulate a hands-on strategy to reap the benefits of your earlier investment.

Paramore|Redd Online Marketing and STS have created an easy-to-read, illustrated guide to help you navigate this burgeoning field.

This colorful manuel will assist you in setting a budget, narrowing your target audience and defining successes when it comes to social media.

This guide is available to all STS members.

STS Connections - September 2010

2010-09-01T15:27:00.007-04:00

September 2010 Fall Meeting
We hope to see you in Greenville, S.C. for STS Fall Meeting. It won't be the same without you. Learn more.

Social Media Tips
What is the importance of Facebook? Read about the vitality of this still-growing platform.

Accountability
Members are cautiously saying their visitor business is stabilizing.Others are still looking to turn the corner. See how to use this extraordinary time to become an expert at converting visitors.

I am STS
He epitomizes the South with his charm and grace. Catch up on this Virginian.

WhoWhatWhere?
News about STS members and organizations.

Neighbors Assisting Neighbors
Asheville CVB is reaching out to the Gulf Coast. Click on here and a donation of 10 cents (up to $10K) will be given to the National Audubon Society to assist in restoring the Gulf Coast ecosystem. Thanks to the Asheville CVB for stepping up to the plate!

STS Top 20 Events
Summer '10 Events
Fall '10 Events
NEW:Winter '11 Events
Nominate an event - Deadline for Spring 2011 events: Friday, October 10

New Jobs
Find an open position on the STS Website.

Looking for the entire eNewsletter? Click here.

Contact STS
404.364.9847
sts@southeasttourism.org
www.southeasttourism.org

Win an iPad

2010-08-31T14:18:00.000-04:00

Please take a few minutes to fill out this web-based survey regarding your organization’s practices once travelers reach your destination. PhoCusWright has partnered with STS to conduct this study. As a thank you for your time, PhoCusWright will send you a complementary key findings summary report of this research and your name will be entered into a drawing for an Apple iPad.

Start the survey now.

Glossary of Terms

2010-08-25T13:19:00.002-04:00

Last week, we blogged about getting back to the basics of the travel and tourism industry. The basics start with key terms. Each week we'll be reminding or teaching you about some key terms so you can have a better understanding of the travel/tourism industry.

Attraction - Any visitor service or product which tourists would enjoy visiting or using. An attraction may not be an "attractor" but can still be an attraction. To be considered an attraction, a product must be: a. Findable (clearly located on maps and street addresses, and directions provided). If tourists can't find the facility, it is not a tourist attraction.

Why is this important? Many like to claim a particular travel destination as an "attraction", but that word is used loosely in our society. It's important to know what is and is not a real attraction.

Hospitality - A general term used in travel & tourism describing the "hospitality industry"; refers to the general greeting, welcoming, food service, etc.

Why is this important? Without hospitality, why would anyone want to visit your destination? Be sure that all employees are properly trained to be most helpful when guests arrive at your hotel, restaurant, park, etc.

What are some ways your employees (or you) demonstrate hospitality?

Marketing College 2010

2010-08-23T12:12:00.004-04:00

STS Marketing College 2010 was a great success and it wouldn't have been possible without our 232 participants and dedicated teachers.

"The sheer number of students shows there is a hunger for professional travel and tourism education for working professionals. Tourism is a huge and significant industry,” said Bill Hardman, president and chief executive officer of STS.

Click here to review the week in pictures.

What is Marketing College?
STS Marketing College is a professional development program that for one week each summer turns the facilities of North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, Ga., into a laboratory to teach tourism marketing.

Why is Marketing College Important?
Tourism ranks as a top four industry in each of the 12 STS states that stretch from Virginia to Louisiana. Students come from many industry sectors such as convention and visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, attractions and hotels. Marketing College gives tourism industry participants valuable materials and seminars during this week long educational conference.

What Can I learn at Marketing College?
Course topics include special events marketing, media relations, tourism advertising, vacation research and crisis management. Courses in heritage tourism and community/rural tourism have attracted special interest in recent years.

“Our curriculum is practical. What students learn can be put to practice as soon as they get back to their workplaces,” Hardman said.

What have past Marketing College participants learned?

"Marketing College has continued to revitalize my energy towards tourism, the organization and customer service."

"Attending STS Marketing College is one of the most memorable experiences of my career. The one week session each year allows you the time to step out of your day-to- day work responsibilities and become re-energized which in-turn helps you stay competitive and marketable in today’s travel and tourism environments."

How can I learn more about what Marketing College has to offer?
Easy. Click here.

Travel and Tourism Terms

2010-08-20T11:43:00.002-04:00

It's easy to get wrapped up in the busy work week and forget the basic terms of the travel/ tourism industry, so STS is here to help. Over the next several weeks, we will be highlighting some key terms that may help you with every day tasks. It's about getting back to the basics, so you'll be prepared to do you job well.

DMO (Destination Marketing Organization): A company or other entity involved in the business of increasing tourism to a destination or improving its public image(such as a convention and visitor bureau).

Why is this important? DMO's are crucial to a city or location because those organizations have an over arching goal to increase tourism or improve the public image of that area.

FIT - Acronym with multiple meanings. RTM has seen it used to mean the following: -Foreign individual traveler -Frequent individual traveler -Fully independent traveler - Usually a "FIT Package" will include lodging, meals, and attractions.

Why is this important? Knowing how to offer a FIT package in your destination is important because it will create a bond with the lone traveler. As stated, package offers may include lodging, meal, and attraction options that appeal to those traveling alone.

What are some FIT travel packages your organization offers?

Easy access to our elected officials

2010-08-17T15:02:00.002-04:00

Influencing public policy, at the local, state and federal level, is one of the most important activities any industry pursues.

Tourism businesses are not exempt from this activity; however our industry has sometimes been absent, or, at the very least, weak when it relates to influencing policy with the intent to benefit the very communities they market and promote.

Recently Southeast Tourism Society added a new member, South Carolina Living Magazine. As I was visiting their website, I noticed that along with information about their publication, they have also posted a 2009-2010 Legislative Guide. The guide is a handy reference for elected officials on the State and federal level where S.C. readers can learn who and how to contact their elected officials.

South Carolina Living Magazine is to be commended for providing this kind of information. It sends a strong reminder to those who visit their web site that we must be pro-active when it comes to issues of policy and legislation that could impact our businesses and livelihoods.

Tourism entities must have a clear awareness of policy in order to compete, maintain relevance and make sure those issues of policy and legislation which impact our industry are well represented in the public policy arena. I encourage you to visit Southern Carolina Living Magazine’s web site at http://www.ecsc.org to see an example of how this publication is making a difference by promoting easy access to our elected officials.

- Bill Hardman, Southeast Tourism Society

How Important is Travel & Tourism?

2010-02-26T09:33:00.000-05:00

Question: How important is Travel & Tourism to those not in Travel & Tourism? Not as important as it should be (or as important as I think it is).

One of the most significant industry events just happened (passing of the Travel Promotion Act) and no one outside of industry insiders has yet to notice. Think I'm kidding, do a search on Google, Bing or any other engine and see how many 'non-tourism' news outlets talk about a multi-million dollar piece of legislation that will bring (by some estimates) $4 Billion dollars in business to the U.S. All I found were old stories, and not many of them. Granted, there is much else going on in the world to command the media's attention, but don't you think something that effects every state's economy (1st, 2nd or 3rd) is something worth reporting about?

This is a good bill, supported by a large portion of our industry for many years and apparently we are the only ones who notice. A lot of you have worked very hard spending time, energy and influence to make it happen - congratulations to you all, it is something to crow about for sure. But why no coverage? Is it shame on them?

No, I think it is shame on us as we have yet to make it clear how important our industry is to the well being of our communities - at the local level, at the state level, at the regional level and the national level!

There are many advocates of our industry doing the heavy lifting - but more of us need to get involved; speak our minds openly, honestly and often. We need to work together and do more as it is our industry and our livelihood. We work hard every day to shine the light on our communities.

The Travel Promotion Act is just a beginning - there is much left to do... and I know a great group of folks who have risen to the challenge before - and will in the future. I'm very proud to be part of such a great industry - makes me smile, just like you all do for the rest of the world when they come visit.

Travel & Tourism Rocks!

Enjoying what I do...

2009-12-17T10:39:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite reasons for working in travel & tourism is that people are happy when they get to talk about where they are from... and then they invite you to visit them! It doesn't get much better than that except perhaps bragging on grandchildren.

Recently I discovered a friend of ours is writing a regular blog on travel around the United States with many of his postings focused on the southeast - and that makes me smile too! Below, you will find several of his recent writings about my favorite region. If you enjoy these, you can see more stories under the byline US-Traveler on wordpress (http://travelusblog.wordpress.com/) and follow great tweets @Travel_Bee.

To see other places we like to brag about in the southeast have a look here: http://southeasttourism.destinations2discover.com/.

May your holiday season be wonderful and the new year bring you health & happiness in abundance...

Chuck

(@SoutheastTouris)

The Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival in FL

Come and visit the Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival, a special taste experience! Enjoy free live entertainment and sample Frog Leg Dinners or Gator Tail. There is also a variety of food available from Sausage and Peppers to Candy Apples. Several craftsmen will be there offering shopping opportunities. Have your kids take a fun pony ride or go on an adventurous helicopter ride with beautiful views. This year the Festival Committee is planning to serve nearly 7,000 dinners and estimate more that 80,000 people attending the 4 day event. The purpose of the Festival is to continue to raise funds for the recreational needs of children in Fellsmere with proceeds also donated to volunteer organizations who work the Festival.

Broadway at the Tennessee Theatre: The Wizard of Oz

Experience your favorite musicals in the majestic setting of Knoxville’s Grand Entertainment Palace. Whether you are a seasoned fan of the Great White Way or brand new to the world of musicals, you’re sure to be thrilled by the spectacular dance moves, visually stunning costumes, and unparalleled artistry of the shows we’ve selected for the 2009-2010 season! There truly is no place like home as the greatest family musical of all time, the wonderful Wizard of Oz, twists its way into Knoxville! A spectacular celebration of the iconic 1939 MGM film, the Wizard of Oz will blow you away from the moment the tornado touches down and transports you to a dazzling art deco Oz, complete with munchkins and flying monkeys.

“Grasshopper” Airboat EcoTours on St. Johns River Florida

Experience a unique and thrilling Florida Airboat ride adventure! Join Captain Rick’s personalized, interpretive eco-tour as you look for alligators, native and migratory birds, and other Florida wild life on the St. Johns River. Climb aboard “Grasshopper”, a state-of-the-art Airboat, custom built for a comfortable and safe Florida Airboat ride, promising you an educational and fun wildlife experience. The Airboats are specially designed and custom built with the visitors in mind. Elevated seating ensures a full undisturbed view, no matter where you sit. The weather proof seat bottom and back rests are cushioned for a comfortable ride. You also have the opportunity to sample Gourmet Alligator Snacks as part of your unique Florida dining experience! Make sure to bring sunglasses, sun screen – and your camera of course!

24th Annual Southern Gardening Symposium in Callaway Gardens

Learn from an outstanding group of experts at this 3-day symposium devoted to gardening in the South! Designed for all gardeners, this jam-packed schedule offers lectures, demos, workshops and a one-stop gardening marketplace. The symposium will take place in Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain GA. This content-rich event provides the unique opportunity for personal interaction with the speakers including for instance Lee Anne White, Pam Baggett, Pamela Crawford and Dr. Mark Windham. Attendees can also take part in a pre-conference tour of Jim Scott’s fantastic Lake Martin Garden with imaginative use of water features or participate on a silent and live auction for unique plants and garden items.

Bourbons of the Bluegrass—Distillery Tours in Lexington, KY

Tour a Bluegrass bourbon distillery and you’ll not only learn how bourbon is made, but you’ll start to understand why the “good old whiskey of old Kentuck” has inspired pride, passion (and even poetry) among Kentuckians. Distilleries in the Lexington area have regular tour programs. And just like the different brands of bourbon they produce, the distilleries themselves have distinct personalities. Children are welcome. The tours do involve a fair amount of walking and stair-climbing, so wear comfortable shoes.

Bringing the Best of our Communities to Light

2009-12-03T10:43:00.000-05:00

'Tis the Season to share... so in that spirit I want readers to see a story about the travel & tourism industry and how we help bring the best of our communities to light. Each year, all over the southeast, we deck the halls (and the roads, the parks and anything else we think of) for family, for friends and visitors from around the world... and it really makes me smile. Enjoy the season, and this story by Tom Adkinson.

Chuck

"We'll Leave the Holiday Lights On for You"

By Tom Adkinson
tadkinson@bohanideas.com

"We'll leave the lights on for you" is never truer than in December when communities across the Southeast brighten the night sky with stunning displays of holiday lights.

Many people—not just ones with twinkling lights in their eyes—point to Wheeling, West Virginia, as a pioneer in "turn on the lights and they will come" winter tourism.

That's because of the Winter Festival of Lights that started in 1985 at the Oglebay Resort. It started big (a three-mile drive and 125 acres of lights) and got bigger (a six-mile drive showcasing 300 acres now). Among the huge displays is a poinsettia wreath with candles 60 feet tall.

What Oglebay started, Sevier County, Tennessee, jumped on after the Tennesseans visited their West Virginia tourism cousins. The result is Smoky Mountain Winterfest, with light displays and festivities from November through February in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville.

The Pigeon Forge portion of Smoky Mountain Winterfest is on the current Top 100 Events in North America list as judged by the American Bus Association. In addition to the city's five million holiday lights, the Dollywood theme park flips the switch on four million more for its Smoky Mountain Christmas festivities.

Another regional event on the Top 100 list this year is the Callaway Gardens Fantasy of Lights in Pine Mountain, Georgia. If there's a chill in the air, you'll want to bundle up for this five-mile trolley ride through the gardens to see displays that use eight million lights.

A third Southeastern event on the ABA list is the Galaxy of Lights at the Huntsville Botanical Garden in Alabama. The ride may be shorter than at Callaway Gardens (1.5 miles), but the displays still will still dazzle you. In addition to traditional holiday scenes and nursery rhyme displays, lighted dolphins will jump over your car, and you'll even encounter dinosaurs.

Over on the coast, Charleston, S.C., has celebrated the holidays for centuries, and for the last 20 years, the Holiday Festival of Lights at James Island County Park has been a Lowcountry tradition. It offers more than two million lights in 600 displays. A bonus is a touching display of holiday cards made by area schoolchildren.

At the other edge of the Southeast is Lake Charles, Louisiana, where the whole region sparkles with the Southwest Louisiana Lighting Festival. Fireworks over Lake Charles (the actual lake, not the city) kick off the festivities on December 5, and you'll find displays in six communities—Lake Charles, Sulphur, DeQuincy, Vinton, Moss Bluff and Iowa.

If you crave the full experience, enjoy the lights and then head over to Steamboat Bill's for a bowl of seafood gumbo or chicken and sausage gumbo. You'll feel like a real Louisianan at Christmas.

Help on the Web

Here are some Web sites for holiday light details.

Charleston: www.ccprc.com
Huntsville: www.hsvgb.org
LakeCharles: www.VisitLakeCharles.com
Pine Mountain: www.CallawayGardens.com
Tennessee: www.MyPigeonForge.com, www.Gatlinburg-Tennessee.com, www.VisitSevierville.com
Wheeling: www.Oglebay-Resort.com

Gateway and Tribal Communities and Tourism

2009-10-09T13:37:00.000-04:00

On September 15, 2009, The Western States Tourism Policy Council (WSTPC), Southeast Tourism Society (STS), the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA) and key Federal agencies participated in a one-day Policy Forum on Gateway and Tribal Communities in Washington, D.C., held at the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The forum "Stimulating Economic Vitality and Resource Conservation in Gateway and Tribal Communities" focused on how gateway and tribal communities, which serve millions of visitors to the Federal public lands, can balance their need for growth and vitality with the conservation and protection of natural resources during a time of severe economic challenges.

Speakers included Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. Attendees included top leaders from gateways and tribes, state and local governments, the tourism and recreation industry and major Federal land and other agencies whose policies have a significant impact.

The economic and ecological condition of gateways and tribes were reviewed and participants had an opportunity to consider future policies, strategies and partnerships.

Executive Summary Notes (Draft)

View pictures from the event | View comments from the event

Pay Attention... or Pay the Price

2009-09-18T10:15:00.000-04:00

By Chuck Bonelli

Southeast Tourism Society

Have you heard? Local city and county councils and state legislatures have one thing in common these days... revenues are down.

Revenues from property taxes, revenues from sales tax, school taxes and fees of all kinds just aren't what they used to be. Besides the obvious problem, lack of funds, there's this - where to get the money to fund schools & services in a time when every revenue stream is hard hit, and you don't want to impose another new tax; a very unpopular solution?

Councils often look to funds that are now being used to attract visitors... bed tax collections. This should be of particular concern to the travel & tourism industry and especially for destinations and visitor bureaus. We hear it all the time in one form or another: "That money is just sitting there doing nothing when it could be used for the good of the community..."

Note: The time to educate them about the importance of tourism to economic development is before you hear this - but that is a topic for another time.

However, there is something you can do to be proactive for your destination - simply pay attention and be engaged.

Be sure that someone from your board or your staff attends every council meeting and workshop... especially budget workshops. Although this may not stop a funding loss, at least your input will be heard and the truth be told about how important marketing a destination is - especially in a down turn. There are many other reasons than budget to get to know the council and those who govern – but this one may be the most important.

Follow the links below for a few stories about funding cuts suggested or approved… the bottom line is snooze, you could lose (and so could the effort to bring tourism to your community). To be sure there are stories about those that have increased funding to their DMO or CVB – but I bet you they attend those meetings – don’t you think?

Oh, if those tourists don’t visit your town because they aren’t invited… do you suppose they just stay home, or perhaps they go someplace they recently heard about.

Don’t you think the last thing we should do is to cut the source of our income by pulling in the welcome sign – we all know that market share is easy to lose, and hard as hell to regain.

I’m just curious,

Chuck

Gainesville, GA http://bit.ly/H51Bn

Roanoke, VA http://bit.ly/8AZcW

Macon, GA http://bit.ly/3IKoJS

Pierce County, WA (Tacoma) http://bit.ly/lYLLH

Palm Beach, FL http://bit.ly/1HNTaU

Pennsylvania http://bit.ly/4CrgpS

Relevancy & Member Organizations

2009-06-24T09:28:00.001-04:00

Continuing the discussion of relevance (Is relevance enough? How associations can achieve relevance and maintain it over time -- Acronym: http://bit.ly/fIQOl)

Being relevant is nice - but leading is the path to success. Relevancy is achieved by communication with members; leading is achieved by knowing what lay ahead.

The way to lead is different for everyone, but I believe that associations that put members first are stronger for their effort – in fact that is a cornerstone of a great association. If the first question an association staff member thinks about when they go about their day is “How does this affect our members?” Then, that is a group I want to belong to, because I know if the answer can not be determined easily, then this is something that association will give much consideration before proceeding. The process of answering that question can (and in my view, should) be member driven.

Associations should not wait for an issue to be presented to ask that question. Taking the lead means first being up-to-date on our industry. After all, is that not something the member pays dues for us to do? Consistently having a out-reach to a variety of members representing the diversity of the organization including new members, old members, different categories, protagonists & antagonists shows us the way to lead. Association managers can not afford to live in a bubble - the dues we receive generally come from discretionary budget line items... and those that join our organizations will go away if we fail them.

How do you get ahead of that curve? Only by having a future vision for your industry. Not only where it is heading, buy why; how is it getting there - and perhaps most importantly... is that the right place to go? Having an effective, active and monitored (by the membership) strategic plan is one way to ensure you stay relevant. How you do that is another topic entirely - but if you undertake a strategic initiative like this be sure to involve your membership every step of the way. Most importantly, be accountable to your membership for the progress (or lack of progress) to that plan... and be open to change as the industry changes.

Relevant is not just repeating the buzz of the day, there are thousands of opinions floating around right now about how to survive 'these challenging economic times.'

I am just curious, wouldn't it be more relevant for an association to take the lead on what the new business model will be (should be?) in 24 months? If we as an association don't know that answer - I bet some of our members do... and they are probably just waiting to be asked to share that information.

For more information about Southeast Tourism Society plans, programs and upcoming events: view our industry web site: http://bit.ly/wXT3p

Why Meetings?

2009-03-27T10:01:00.000-04:00

Driving home from Montgomery following our Spring Meeting, I had a chance to think about "Why Meetings?"

The standard answers all apply - from the U.S. Travel Associations’ Meetings Mean Business campaign (see: http://is.gd/lMaZ) to the sound of hopeful meeting attendees everywhere quoting education, networking, etc. as reasons they have to attend. But standard answers do not tell the whole story… there is so much more happening when you hit the road and gather with a common purpose.

Why Meetings? Well, at this conference I know a good friend found a great job; and an downsized entrepreneur made contacts that will launch his new business. I also witnessed first hand selfless tourism pros giving back shoveling mulch & painting railings at the Montgomery Zoo; they also dug deep to bid on silent auction items raising over $13,000 to help fund Marketing College (they donated the items too). It is also where we saw 27 seasoned professionals earn their TMP from that 3-year program, many citing the scholarships they received from Southern Living, Miles Media, Alabama Mountain Lakes and others as the reason why they were there.

Why Meetings? Where else can you generate great conversation amongst so many in our diverse industry – where researchers (shout out to our friends at Southeast Chapter of TTRA) mingled with destinations who sat next to attractions who visited with suppliers and publishers. You just can’t do that on the phone; web meetings just do not generate that enthusiasm or the bonding relationships that sharing a meal, a moment and a memory at meetings accomplish. It is so hard to connect like you can at a meeting - where a panel of CVB directors can not only give some advice, but get some back with audience feedback on the spot; and when times up, you still have the chance to talk with those to dig just a bit deeper. It just is not the same when not in person.

I hope you are not surprised that this week I heard and felt a prevailing sense of optimism; and why not? Tourism folks from all across the country deliberately traveled here to have a chance to figure it out, to socialize and to try to make their job just a bit easier. They attended to refresh and brainstorm the issues of the day. They attended to share that optimism and a hope to help. They truly get it, and more importantly want to share it. Why in these challenging economic times (Hell, Yeah!) it is just what successful people always do - take the next step in that journey to success.

Montgomery CVB Staff
I think the true magic of the week goes beyond the speakers and the attendees; it came from the spirit of Montgomery. Their obvious appreciation of what tourism does for their community... from the inspiration and leadership of their Mayor (past & present) to the hard work of the CVB staff - they really get it. I could define better "get it," but I think you might know what I mean... tourism really is economic development – and if anyone does, Montgomery really puts a face on the tourism industry.

I am Just Curious, were you part of the many memorable moments in Montgomery? You can see a few of them here: "Montgomery Alabama Virtual Trolley Tour" http://is.gd/pgJp and more here: "STS Trade Show" 3 Video Shorts, http://is.gd/pizB, http://is.gd/piAf and http://is.gd/piAD.

The Montgomery Virtual Trolley

Southeast Tourism Society: Thoughts, Travels & Tidbits

South Florida Fair "Centennial Celebration"

Central Florida landmarks make winter day-trips a must!

Sitting down with Samantha Brown - Her Top 6 Southern Destinationa

"There's an app for that."

HR 2112 Amendment Defeated - Thank you.

HR 2112 Amendment Defeated - Thank you.

Who is our Steve Jobs?

Staying on Top of Travel Advice

"Georgia On My Mind"

I'm going back to college... Marketing College that is!

Along Florida's Spanish Trace

A culinary pastime: BBQ

The importance of food in the travel industry.

A Feast For My Father

Tourism Works for the Southeast

The Prevailing Power of Print

Groceries and Green M&M's

Civil war buff?

DaVinci Speaks Blog

Upcoming Southeast Tourism Society Events 2011

On the Road Again

"TOURISM TIDBITS" FROM TOURISM & MORE, INC.

Does Advertising on Facebook Work?

Social Media Heavy

The Outer Banks: Untouched by Time

Southeast Congressman named Tourism Caucus Co-chair

STS releases Top 20 Events for July, August and September 2011

“I am STS" Sneak Peak

Helpers in the International Guest Search

T3: Travel & Tourism Talk / January 2011

Do you wish to reach an audience outside of the U.S.?

Let STS do the work for you

FACT: International travelers to the U.S. spent a record $12.7 billion in August, a 20% increase from the same month a year ago, according to the Commerce Department.

This is inexpensive representation you cannot afford to miss.

Custom Publishing: Digital Magazines

Identifying Sustainable Resources

Propel your career and your organization to the next level

New Congress: New Opportunities

Contacting Congress

Rain drops and ice and snowflakes OH MY!

STS Spring Meeting & SETTRA Symposium 2011

STS Connections - December 2010

What makes destination marketing special

"Tourism Tidbits" From Tourism & More, Inc.

Body Scanners or Pat Downs?

STS Spring Meeting 2011 & SETTRA Symposium 2011

STS Spring Meeting 2011 & SETTRA Symposium 2011 March 28-30Sandestin Golf and Beach ResortThe Grand Sandestin The beaches of south walton, Florida

Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort Group Code 22G2T7800-320-8115$133 per night, plus tax

Spring 2011 Top 20 Events

Connecting Veterans Day with Tourism

mad·ness /–noun

Civil War to Civil Rights

Key Terms

STS Connections - November 2010

Industry Jobs

Travel Promotion Progresses

Investing in Advocacy, An Investment in Tourism

Timing Is Everything

Travel Marketers Can Learn from ‘Mindset List’

It’s Green, Sustainable, Eco-Geo Tourism!

Top 20 Events in the Southeast U.S.

Top 20 Eventsin the Southeast U.S.

Key Terms

Social Media: Facebook

Key Terms

Calendar of Events

T3: Travel & Tourism Talk

Key Terms

STS Economic Significance of Tourism tool

2010 Shining Example Award Winners

Key Terms

Social Media Strategy

STS Connections - September 2010

Win an iPad

Glossary of Terms

Marketing College 2010

Travel and Tourism Terms

Easy access to our elected officials

How Important is Travel & Tourism?

STS Spring Meeting 2011 & SETTRA Symposium 2011

March 28-30
Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort
The Grand Sandestin
The beaches of south walton, Florida

Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort
Group Code 22G2T7
800-320-8115
$133 per night, plus tax

Top 20 Events
in the Southeast U.S.