Obama signs the Travel Promotion Act (video)

4 03 2010

Obama signs the Travel Promotion Act, landmark legislation that establishes a multimillion-dollar, public-private partnership to promote the United States as a premier travel destination and better explain travel security policies to foreign travelers.

I think this might really be historic, but I do not really know how it is going to be perceived at the moment. Maybe not so well. Could this lead to the foundation of a US National Tourist Board?



Online travel agencies have staged a remarkable recovery in 2009

21 08 2009

stats

More at Barrons.com



DMO Ranking on Twitter by GoSeeTell Network

11 06 2009

gst-logoInteresting news from GoSeeTell Network: US/CA tourism organizations that have a presence on Twitter has grown to over 300. More than 70 destination accounts have over 1,000 followers.

For a complete list, please visit GoSeeTell.com



Another day, another travel web site

10 06 2009

voyij_2It is hard to keep the pace with all the new travel web sites out there. Here is an interesting article from NBC. So, if I forget the URLs of these travel web sites I can always come back to this post. I have too many favorites on my browser to find them when I need!

BusJunction.com
A web site that helps you to find the cheapest bus tickets (at least they claim so). Nice streamlined & simple homepage.

DealBase.com
Great for hotel deals in North America and the Caribbean

NextStop.com
A travel social networking site. It has a great way to organize content.

Raveable.com
Countless hotel reviews in the US.

Voyji.com
I love this site. It is probably the best of the ones listed here (even though I cannot compare since they have different scope). However, I really do not like the URL. I forget the spelling all the time and when I search for it on Google I cannot find it.

BestTravelDeals.com
Great site for deals. I find it very strong for travel related activities.



The NYU Hospitality Conference: Hoteliers show optimism for the future of the industry

4 06 2009
Jonathan Tisch - Conference Chair

Jonathan Tisch - Conference Chair

I recently attended the prestigious NYU Hospitality Conference, where I was invited to speak at the alumni panel “Buildings for the next generation” and discuss needs and wants of gen X & Y.

At the conference, I was somewhat surprised with the optimism shown by most hoteliers. While economists and finance people see a full recovery in 2011, they affirm that we are already seeing some good signs of recovery and banks are starting lending again.

Another point that struck me – perhaps because I deal with the luxury travel market – was that most upscale CEOs have decried rate reductions. Nowadays, most properties are discounting like crazy, cutting personnel and increasing staff productivity by cross-training their employees. Corporate clients are in a position to negotiate rates and ask for more perks. However, lowering rates does not always work to boost demand and drives revenues down.

An interesting article about this can be fount at BTNonline.com.