Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

Best Out-of-Office Auto-Response Ever

The Out-of-Office e-mail Auto-Response is fairly ubiquitous...and generally ignored.

Get a load of the Auto-Response from Visit Pensacola CEO Steve Hayes:

I am taking the advice of the U.S. Travel Association and taking a vacation! Vacations help our economy and make us more productive. American workers lost 658 million vacation days last year! 222 million of them are lost forever. Those days cannot be rolled over, paid out or banked for any other benefit—they are purely lost. To learn more about Project Time Off go to: http://www.projecttimeoff.com/ 

Love it!

Scratching my Head 'til it Bleeds

As the legislative machinations continue in the drive to federally reauthorize Brand USA (this country's Destination Marketing Organization) a travel industry association is lobbying to effectively kill the bill.

It's no surprise that Congress is thinking nothing of increasing the inbound fee layered onto international arrivals. It's easier than the mental exercise required to do the math that international visitor spending is one of this country's greatest exports. But, we're talking $7 here.

And, that is apparently enough to cause the Airlines For America (A4A), an industry trade group whose members includes American Airlines, United, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines to oppose the reauthorization of Brand USA. Their CEO actually said, that "air travelers are already overtaxed, and we oppose taxing them for anything other than services provided by the government.”

Ummm...isn't inspiring people to fly here an important service of the government? And, hasn't Brand USA facilitated $5.2 billion in revenue for American airlines since 2013?

I'm sorry. I simply don't understand the logic here.

Do you?

The Unintended Consequence

We've really gotten to a point in our society that we elect people that clearly don't understand how all this works. 

Take Solvang CA. Some City Council members there decided that they should put the contract for Destination Marketing up to bid (is there a city council chat room where this idiocy is getting lift...cause it's happening across the county with increasing frequency).

Ultimately, the Council in Solvang severed the contract with its CVB and its CEO, Digital Media Director and Accountant were let go last week. Then, the City clearly realized its folly and extended limited funding through this month.

When asked WTF, the Mayor said, "August is a busy month for tourism in Solvang, and keeping the Visitors Center open during that time was a priority for us all."

Ya think?

“This is also a crucial planning time for fall events,” he said. “By extending funding, we are able to support the Visitor Center ambassadors as well as two full-time staff dedicated to event planning, social media (and) website maintenance including an events calendar, film and sales.”

Yeah...ooops?

The Mayor went on to say, “Tourism is very important to the City Council. It is essential to provide helpful information to tourists and give them a reason to return to Solvang with its cherished annual events.”

As that takes funding a talented staff of Destination Marketing professionals, apparently not.

Sigh.

The Way it Should Be

A great article in Skift yesterday (and, who knew their mission was to keep the travel industry accountable?) on how IHG is pledging to not only do away with plastic straws but eliminate those mini-bottles of shampoo, conditioner and lotion in favor of bulk-size, refillable dispensers.

Best part of the story: IHG CEO Keith Barr says it's not pressure from governments that encouraged the move...the real pressure coming from guests.

“Governments collectively haven’t taken significant action in this space,” Barr told Skift. “The reality is our colleagues and our customers expect us to take a leadership position on things like waste.” 

And, ain't that the way it should be. Hell yeah.

Are Visitor Centers Still Relevant?

We hear that question a lot. Since we all carry more computing power and information on our mobile devices that the astronauts did 50 years ago on the trip to the Moon, who needs physical Visitor Centers anymore?

The answer turns out to be smart Destination Marketing Organizations. Check out the recent article written by our friend Virginia Haley of Visit Sarasota County. She reports that between January through March of 2019 (the high season in Sarasota), her Visitor Center staff saw a 46 percent increase in traffic as compared to the same months in 2018.

So, don't shutter your Visitor Center just yet...rethink it. Which is what Visit Eau Claire's Linda John did as she opened her new "Experience Center" earlier this year. You can hear Linda's story on the new DMOU podcast series, launched earlier this month.

Still relevant? And then some.

Turning the Tables

It's always dangerous to base an opinion regarding a destination news story on one source; nuance is everything.

But, the story coming out of Putnam County NY over the past few weeks is almost too weird not to believe it. I mean, you simply can't make some of this stuff up.

The Putnam County Legislature has been pressuring its CVB for more accountability over the past year. The CVB has, for whatever reason resisted. Frustrated, the County placed an ad for a new Executive Director in May, even though the CVB is an independent agency.

At some point, the CVB Board and its CEO decided to close up shop, shut down the website, close the office and returned State grant funds. And, sometime around July 1, they actually did it. Now, County Legislators are facing the rest of the summer season with no destination website and no Plan B.

Destination Marketing Organizations have often had to tread carefully with their funding partners for fear of retribution in the form of canceling a contract, regardless of the pain that shuttering a DMO would have on local businesses.

Now, government will have to weigh whether messing with a DMO could result in the same pain visited upon their constituents if the organization says, "screw it," and closes up shop. 

Crazy...

It All Starts with a Visit

It was ten years ago this month that Irving's Maura Gast unleashed the phrase "It All Starts with a Visit" during her closing address as Chair of Destinations International. If she had a Franklin for every time that phrase has been uttered over the past decade...well, let's just agree she wouldn't need to purchase a lottery ticket ever again.

It surfaced in the media again last week as Southern Delaware Tourism announced a collaborative Visitors Guide with Sussex County Economic Development. As CEO Scott Thomas said, “All the time, we see first visits turning into summer vacations that become beloved traditions families share for generations. For entrepreneurs and business executives, first visits often lead to serious, detailed inquiries about our local business climate and, from there, to new local businesses. It just makes sense to offer information of interest to both visitors and entrepreneurs in the same resource guide because the two groups often overlap."

As Tourism is the first date for Economic Development, this is an interesting partnership...and I can't wait to see how this plays out.

And, for more thought leadership from Maura, don't miss the chance to listen to her recent interview on the recently resurrected DMOU.

Family Values

Often, in this rough and tumble world of full-contact Destination Marketing, it is easy to forget what really matters: Family.

I direct you to a story posted last evening on nwi.com, the online version of the Northwest Indiana Times. It chronicles the genesis and evolution of a program initiated by South Shore CVA CEO Spero Batistatos that firmly underscores that agency's dedication to its employees and their families.

For the past 22 years, professional members staff have been able to bring their newborns to work, rather than take time off or leave the company. The image upper left is of Carolyn and Reagan, the first two kids in the program.

For those that think this is but a thinly veiled way to squeeze more work out of parents, you've never spent time with the CVA staff. It is one of the most family-like cultures I've ever experienced in 24 years of working with Destination Marketing Organizations all over this country. This program is just one of several examples of how people come first for the South Shore's DMO.

To hear more on the story, swing by the resurrected DMOU (it's now a podcast) and listen in as Spero talks about his daycare initiative, as well as the "Grass is Greener" program the CVA helped launch last year.

Good stuff.

 

We're Back

Yesterday, we announced, through our (almost) monthly Z-Newsletter (and, if you're not a subscriber...WTF?), that we are bringing DMOU back.

Destination Marketing Organization University was our answer to the reality that our peers were forgoing industry conferences in the wake of one of those now forgotten recessions. Over the next 5 years, we interviewed (via teleseminar, available as a live feed or on CD or cassette) over 150 of the best and the brightest in Destination Marketing, sharing innovative tactics and strategies.

Well, DMOU is now a podcast. And, the first 5 episodes of the resurrection are online for you to sample. We've lined up some pretty cool names to kick it off. Rick, Maura, Amir, Linda and Spero. If you're stumped, I guess you'll just hafta click on the link.

And, we're making more every month.

It's good to be back...and we're excited to share lots of cool stories with the best storytellers on the planet in the months and years to come.

Don't be bashful. Tell us what you think of the new format...and toss us suggestions of guests you'd like to hear or topics you'd like us to explore.

DMOU is back, babies.

How Do You Like Us Now?

Over the past decade, Iceland rapidly became one of those destinations that moved up on everybody's Bucket Lists. It got to the point over the past couple years that some on the island country were bemoaning the crush of visitors and encouraging the government to do something to stem visitation.

Then Wow Airlines collapsed...and inbound travel to the country for 2019 is projected to drop by 17%. Visitation was down 24% last month. Unemployment is up and the Airport is laying off 315 workers. Hotels are slashing prices. The country's total economy is now projected to drop by roughly 2% after a decade of growth.

So, to all those who clamored for the "tourist problem to go away?" How do you like us now?

It's simplistic and unsophisticated to say that tourists are the problem (we are more often the solution). The sophisticated response is to better manage the visitor economy, n'est pas?