Convention & Motorcoach Servicing Trends for 2005
- Baltimore's long-delayed visitor center has gone undercover -- now cloaked in a floor-to-ceiling drape designed to heighten local excitement in the days leading up to its May 7th opening. Tourism officials are counting on the new 8,000-square-foot glass structure, being built at cost of $4.5 million, to boost the number of Baltimore tourists, estimated at about 12 million a year, and to extend their stays. Visitors will be able to buy attraction tickets, make hotel reservations and study restaurant menus in one stop. Tourism officials have worked for eight years to get the visitors center completed. (Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News; Baltimore Sun, 3/26/04)
- The American Bus Association will press for increased funding of motorcoach security, higher grants for retrofitting buses for wheelchair travelers and passage of the highway bill. (A TRAVEL ADVANCE Special Report, 1/10/05)
- A soon-to-be-released report -- "The Impact of Motorcoaches on Society" -- finds that buses more extensively serve rural locations, and are more likely to serve elderly, female and minority populations. The motorcoach industry serves 89% of rural areas--70% more than airlines and 42% more than rail, according to the report. (Special to TA, 2/8/05)
- Meet the newest business travel accessory: Mom and Dad. As air fares get cheaper and the number of retirees grow, some parents are now tagging along with their road-warrior children. In Atlanta, the Four Seasons says it has seen a 10% increase over the past year in elderly people accompanying their children on business trips. The Renaissance Chicago O'Hare Hotel plans to launch a "Bring Your Parents on Your Business Trip" offer next month, including a second room at half price. (Page W1, The Wall Street Journal, 1/21/05)
- It used to be that spas shunned children. But these days, a handful of spas are going to great lengths to become baby- and new-mother friendly, adding amenities like expensive strollers and organic baby shampoos, as well as services ranging from postnatal massages to child care. (Page D1, The New York Times, 1/21/05)
- FOLLOW THE TOUR GLIDE. We still don't see throngs of commuters Seqwaying to work, but flocks of gliding tourists riding the self-balancing, electric-powered "human transporter" may become a common sight, says Newsweek. Guided Seqway tours have become big business for both Segway distributors and traditional tour companies. In the last few months, Segway tour groups, which charge $50 to $85 per person, have announced new tours in Austin, Texas; Phoenix, Ariz.; Steyr, Austria, and Lille, France. With eco-travel all the rage, Segways are a hip and environmentally-friendly alternative to the tour bus, says Newsweek. (Newsweek.com, 2/7/05)
- Americans have always had a reputation for linguistic laziness, and since much of the business world is willing to conduct business in English, their deficiency tends not to hold them back. But now an increasing number of Americans realize that going the extra step to hone skills in a foreign language can provide a professional edge or grease the wheels of deal-making. (Page C7, The New York Times, 2/1/05)
- Boone, NC – January 2005: Recognizing – from hundreds of reader inquiries and targeted web site surveys – that many visitors want more information on moving/relocation, schools, jobs, income, population and government entities in/around the High Country, BooneNC.com has evolved into a “one-stop” information portal for a multitude of these requests. Travel and destination information remains as the most sought-after topic. (2/4/05)
- One of the hottest trends among luxury resorts has been to develop some kind of ownership program, offering high-end "fractionals" (fancy time-shares), condominiums or even houses. Among the resorts in Florida alone that have condo projects in the works are Cheeca Lodge & Spa in the Florida Keys, Miami Beach's Fontainebleau Hilton, the Venetian Grand Resort in Orlando and Fort Meyers Beach's Pink Shell Beach Resort. The phenomenon has spread to other locales, including Las Vegas and Chicago. Even the 200-year-old Greenbrier, in West Virginia is getting into the ownership game. (Page D1, The New York Times, 1/28/05)
- THE FOCUS of the New York Times Sunday "Travel" section was on family vacations. In one feature, the paper reported that the travel industry has discovered that extended families are a hot new market. Resorts, hotels and tour operators are courting them in ways that go far beyond "children stay free," with everything from baby-sitting and family yoga to reconfigured suites, free family portraits and personal concierges to plan events for large groups. Zagat, for example, is offering a new guide to family travel, with parent ratings and reviews on resorts (TA, 5/26/04). (Sect. 5, Page 8, The New York Times)
- Rising hotel occupancies and room rates are pushing most hotel stocks to their highest levels since before 9/11. "Right now the recovery is very strong," said J.W. "Bill" Marriott, chairman of Marriott International. "Business travel is up, leisure travel is up, international arrivals are up." "The urban markets are on fire," said Mike Barnello, chief operating officer of LaSalle Hotel Properties in Bethesda, Md., a real estate investment trust. (Page E1, The Washington Post, 6/7/04)
- OFFICIALS SAY 5-DAY FORECASTS HURT TOURISM. After only a one-year tryout, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is rethinking its use of five-day tropical forecasts. The move comes after the tourism industry complained that travelers were canceling their plans unnecessarily because of the long-range forecast and its wider impact. Tourism officials want NOAA to go back to a three-day storm track because of the greater margin of error with the five-day forecast. They say the three-day forecast still gives communities enough time to respond to the threat of a storm. (Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News; Hotel-Online.com, 1/26/05)
