| FYI News and Insight
Your Best Way to Reach Groups (February 2004)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happy
Valentine's Day, and welcome to the February
edition of FYI, brought to you
by Leisure Group Travel,
TRAVEL Tips, Leisure Travel Directory and
Goexperience.com. Well,
after all these years I've finally made it to
Broadway. Next week I'll be
appearing live in New York,
co-starring in Broadway Festival, hosted by Theatre
Direct. It's not a big role - I'll be handing out copies of
Leisure
Group Travel to a couple thousand happy group
leaders and tour operators
attending the event to learn
about the latest and greatest in Broadway
entertainment...but hey, everyone's gotta start
somewhere!
If
you're attending this year's Travel South, stop by
our booth - George, myself,
Dolores and Hutson will be
in attendance. jg We just picked
these reader comments from the January batch of reader service cards
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Got one mystery tour lined up the day the magazine
arrived. Most helpful
at keeping us updated!
Dianne Shinner, Milton Freewater, OR Love it
- has improved so much through the years -
Great job!
Michaelena Hughes,
Sunnyvale, CA I enjoy the magazine and get good ideas from it for
trips.
Arlene Lighthall, Del Mar, CA Excellent publication!
Marjorie Thomson,
Denver, CO Your magazine is a great help with trip planning,
thank
you!
Marion Anderson, Los Angeles, CA Great Magazine - thank you!
Rosanne Newton, Seabeck, WA I enjoy (Travel Tips) very much.
Betty Marthaler,
Willmar, MN Keep up the good work!
Robert Peshall, Tempe AZ Our
readers will say nice things about you when you advertise! >> http://www.premiertourismmarketing.com/advertising How's
Business? Rising Most Would Agree
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NTA
just released a study on Wednesday that shows
business is on the rise. 44%
of their members believe
business will increase in 2004 and 40% predict similar
results as last year for a total of 84%. It also points to
a consistent
growth pattern which began in back '03.
Additionally, during an interview
with John Kloster
(PTM's editor in chief), Peter Pantuso, president of the
American Bus Association, reports robust advance sales
for their members
this year. In January, we surveyed Travel Tips readers for their
prognosis
for the upcoming season. As the publication
has a Western editorial slant,
the readers tend to be
predominantly from the West. 46% believe business
will increase, 49% believe it will be the same
and only 5% believe it
will be lower. These regional
results almost perfectly mirror NTA's national
results.
We've been hearing anecdotally over the past few
years from
both group organizers and suppliers that the
travel business in the Western
U.S. and Canada has
suffered more than in the rest of the country. Our
conclusion is that the recovery that is underway
across the nation is bringing
the West along with it. We are in the process of surveying Leisure Group
Travel readers and will report the results to you in the
March edition
of FYI. Stay tuned! Regional Marketing - A Self Fulfilling Prophesy
By John Kloster
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keep doing what you're
doing and you'll keep getting
what you're getting. This is an old adage,
but one we
view as particularly relevant today when it comes to
tourism
promotion. Both the economy and the travel industry started to
turn
down in the early part of 2001. This happened
well before 9/11, as evidenced
by the national hotel
occupancy rate dropping from 63.7% in 2000 to 60.1%
in '01. Sep. 11 did severely crimp international travel,
as well as
reduce air travel. As a result, local drive
business became the only business
for a few months. What's happened since then in terms of promoting
tourism is what has us concerned. It seems that too
many travel marketers
have shifted towards targeting
only that local business and we believe that
approach
to be both wrong and self-limiting. In both '02 and '03
hotel
occupancy levels ran at 59.2% - meaning that
the drop from '00 to '01 was
a whopping four times the
drop from '01 to '02. The after effects of 9/11
on
occupancy have been almost immeasurably small. The
challenge for
a destination that wants to be healthy,
vibrant and thriving is to bring
in new visitors. Repeat
visitors spend less money and visit fewer attractions.
Yet all we hear is that tourism marketers are shifting
funds towards
potential visitors closer and closer to
home. The long term effects of this
is that you will
become a regional destination with little or no appeal to
travelers further away than a tank of gas. Read
the entire article... >> Reach over 4,000 Groups in Going Places
E-newsletter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More and more group organizers
are turning to the
internet to research destinations and suppliers. Hits
to
our web sites and subscription growth of our reader e-
newsletter
Going Places over the last 18 months are
literally jaw dropping. We've responded
to the needs of
suppliers seeking to reach more groups on-line - first
with the relaunch of our cutting-edge
leisuretraveldirectory.com web site
last fall, and now
with an advertising component in Going Places. We
launched the new Going Places this month to over
4,100 opt-in subscribers
with a destination feature on
Tunica, specials on Hawaiian Retreats, Collette
Vacations, Carolina Opry, Dollywood, and MSC Cruises. You can take
a sponsorship banner, post a special
offers or destination features with
rates from just $175. Request
a Going Places Rate Card >> Happy New You, by Mike Marchev
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a competitive, racy, stressful, unfair
working
environment, I am afraid that many people have
mastered the
"coast mode" to perfection. Others have
fallen prey to the plethora
of negative influences
tugging at them from all directions. Still others
have perfected the art of whining at
anything and everything that isn't nailed
down. Let me
kick off my first column of the year with a rather terse
directive - ENOUGH ALREADY. Start
Today By Developing Six Ways to Cooldom >> Industry's Largest
Gaming Directory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our annual Gaming
Directory is published each
May as a special supplement to the 27,000 readers
of Leisure Group Travel and TRAVEL Tips, with a bonus
distribution at
major industry trade shows and
conferences. If you're a casino, or
destination with gaming
nearby, and want more group business (who
doesn't
these days!), you need to reserve your position
in this directory NOW. Placement
ads start at $705 for
a 1/6 page black & white, full-page four color
insertions
only $3,660. Your ad includes a Premier Listing with
keyword
search on www.leisuretraveldirectory.com,
where over 7,000 group travel planners
visit each
month to find group-friendly suppliers. E-mail
us for more information Click
to see our 2004 editorial calendar
Request
your customized advertising planner today! >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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