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South Dakota's DOT has reversed its recent decision to ban welcome events at its Welcome Centers.
Originally intended to decrease excessive traffic at its Welcome Centers, the DOT reportedly got a lot of heat for its position and is bending to public pressure to continue to allow groups (like the CVB) welcome groups to the State.
Ahhh, the power of this blog.
Maybe. :)
There really isn't one. While video may have killed the radio star, Twitter and Facebook have not killed e-mail as an effective communication tool.
Great post from Jason Baer in which he reveals the highly unscientific (but insanely interesting) finds of a recent Twitter-based survey: “Which do you check first in the morning: Twitter, email, voicemail?”
76% check e-mail first. A stat even more interesting because the question was only posed to Twitter afficionadoes.
And more interesting still...less than 5% checked Voicemail first.
While it's not as immediate, e still rocks...and it's not a question of one or the other. It's how to manage them all.
The Travel Promotion Act, currently being debated in the U.S. Senate, would have a $425 million deficit reduction impact over the next ten years.
That according to the Congressional Budget Office. The US Travel Association thinks the impact will be even bigger: $321 million per year in new federal taxes.
Will they listen? Will they think? Will they join the rest of the world that understands that tourism promotion is economic development?
Our friend Martin Stoll has released his May analysis of Destination Marketing Organizations that maintain (in varying states of effectiveness) Twitter accounts. Over 300 North American DMOs are using the service with over 70 boasting over 1000 followers.
Martin is quick to note something that we've feared from the start...that those without a clear strategy and an understanding of what social media means to the target consumer may well be screwing it up for all of us.
Just as spammers screwed up e-mail. As business is screwing up MySpace and Facebook. And will probably do the same to Twitter.
Unless we all get much smarter about how we are using them all.
Seth Godin's Tribes is a great treatise on developing passionate followers, evangelists and fans.
One of his recent blog posts is a perfect Friday diversion. It features a video from the Sasquatch Music Festival in which one guy is dancing to his own special drummer. And then another. But, it's the third dancer that sparks a tribe.
It's Friday. You deserve to indulge yourself with this video...
If this recession ever ends, there's one thing for sure...there will be another. And, in recessionary times, unemployment goes up.
College has always been touted as a pre-requisite for better paying jobs. It's also, apparently, the path to more stable employment, regardless of pay.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (via Richard Florida's blog) estimates current unemployment at 16.4%. But, for college graduates...it's just 4.8%. Those with just a high school diploma are twice as likely to be out of work (10%).
Plus...it's just wrong to miss out on 4 more years of partying your butt off.
Not sure how I missed this...but the Miami Dolphin's stadium will be known as LandShark Stadium this coming season in a deal with Jimmy Buffett.
LandShark Lager (a tip of the hat to his party-friendly song "Fins") is Buffett's recent foray into the beer market. And now, a year later, he has stadium naming rights. Simply amazing.
But, apparently not for long. Word has it that the NFL isn't too keen on having the 2010 Super Bowl in a stadium named after guys that prowl bars looking to get laid.
Why is it that nobody seems to have a sense of humor anymore?
Thanks to Strategic Name Development for the catch.
We've suggested that the Minneapolis-St.Paul Airport is the singularly most difficult airport to access by car in the country. The reason: Signage offers two access points...the Lindburgh and the Humphrey Terminals.
Like I know which one I want.
My friend Amie Burrill (Burnsville MN CVB) hipped me to this story from the Star Tribune that says the airport recognizes the problem and plans to spend 1 million freakin' dollars to change the signs to "Terminal 1" and "Terminal 2."
Yeah...like THAT will end the confusion.
To be fair, the signs will also include the airlines that fly out of each. But, really...couldn't you save part of the $1 million by just listing the airlines on the existing signs?
Just a thought.
I gotta hand it to TSA for trying. It’s been about a year since they instituted the Expert Traveler lines at some airports. The concept: allow those of us that understand the security process to not be held up by the seemingly 80% that don’t have a clue.
Sadly, at the past three airports I’ve been through that sport these "Expert" lines (PHL, BDI and DEN)...those lines have been the absolute slowest. Whether people aren’t reading the signs or whether (as I feared when establishing Air Law 11) nobody wants to admit to being a rookie, the system does not work. At all.
Not when the family in front of me (with an infant and a pre-schooler in tow), replete with juice boxes, formula and what seemed like 14 carry-on bags, is in the Expert Line.
The only way this initially cool idea can work is for the TSA ticket/ID checkers to give the passenger a once-over and suggest the proper line. It’s not that hard to know that the family I followed should be directed to the, ummm, Families Line.
Oh, wait...that would be profiling, wouldn’t it?
Sigh.
Seen on a Twitter Profile the other day: "Proof of a new way you can make $10,000 a month and get thousands of followers GUARANTEED!
Dude, given that you only have 463 followers...I'm, err, supposed to believe you?
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