Travel plan idea blog

Sherlock Holmes movie (or still literary?) tourism

Mancunian wrote about Sherlock Holmes inspired tourism over 3 years ago. With the movie coming out, I guess we'll see an increase in Sherlock Holmes tourism and England seems to be making sure of that with their marketing efforts. Here's a press release:

VisitBritain Invites The World To Enjoy An Adventure In Sherlock Holmes' Britain

Celebrating the release of "Sherlock Holmes," the new action-adventure mystery starring Robert Downey Jr. as the legendary detective, national tourism agency VisitBritain has joined forces with Warner Bros. Pictures to invite tourists to discover Sherlock Holmes' Britain - Past and Present - with a new campaign and online movie map, visitbritain.com/sherlockholmes and a free Great British Film Locations iPhone App. The campaign, showcasing locations with links to Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, comes as the new film premieres in London this week. As part of the partnership, VisitBritain will be working with the film's media and promotional partners globally to award Sherlock Holmes-themed trips to Britain that will include a stay at a luxurious Radisson Edwardian Hotel.

Guy Ritchie, the film's director, commented, "Sherlock Holmes is an iconic British character and bringing our story to life on the streets of London, Liverpool and Manchester was part of the fun of making this film. Given the 150th anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birth this year, I'm excited to unleash our version of Sherlock Holmes to audiences in the UK and around the world."

Sherlock Holmes opens in cinemas from 25th December. Sherlock Holmes was filmed on location in London, Liverpool and Manchester with scenes shot at St Paul's Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament, Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, Manchester town hall, Liverpool Docks at Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent.

Actor Robert Downey Jr added, "Sherlock Holmes has great pride in being English. London is an incredibly fascinating city and the centre of the world at the time our film takes place. Holmes knows every inch of it and feels it's his city. It was great fun filming throughout Britain."

The website features footage from the film, locations from the film and from across Britain linked to the great detective - including the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street in London. Itineraries to London, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh will help tourists enjoy a short break in Britain with a Sherlock Holmes theme.

VisitBritain's marketing director, Laurence Bresh says: "Today, VisitBritain increasingly uses the UK's world-renowned film and literary heritage - as well as music, fashion and culture - to raise awareness of the appeals of Britain and its destinations. Sherlock Holmes is known around the world as one of Britain's most iconic characters. Our partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures is a great way of helping people discover the secrets of our destinations and entice them into having a fantastic adventure here."

VisitBritain is raising awareness of the new film and Britain's popularity as a 'set-jetting' destination with limited edition Oyster card wallets, VisitBritain is raising awareness of the new film and Britain's popularity as a 'set-jetting' destination as international travel buyers arrive in London for the annual World Travel Market at ExCeL. The film's branding will also appear on limited edition Oyster card wallets distributed by VisitBritain throughout December and January from the Britain and London Visitor Centre and globally via visitbritaindirect.com. The campaign is supported by Radisson Edwardian Hotels, Visit London, Marketing Manchester and The Mersey Partnership.

What do you think of Malaysia's image?

I went to Malaysia before I really knew anything about its image so while I've written about Malaysia before this is probably the first time I realized that people may think of the country as unsafe or oppessive:

Malaysia's image abroad has taken a bashing in recent years. The crime rate is often blamed, but it has also been marred by controversies over moral policing and religious disputes.

Andy Davidson, an expatriate who has lived in Malaysia for more than 20 years, told The Straits Times that there is some paranoia in the West concerning Muslim countries.

It does not help that Malaysia keeps making international news for cases like that of Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, who was ordered to be caned for drinking beer.

The quote comes from this Malaysian article that is speculating on reasons for the decline in MM2H applicants.

Where did taxi drivers enhance or ruin your vacation experience?

This article got me thinking about taxi drivers and how they impact your vacations. The article talks about Malaysia's tourism marketing efforts in Denmark, which are made harder because taxi drivers often refuse to use the meter in Malaysia.

I encountered this problem personally both times I visited Malaysia. In KL, we had to wait a while but generally we found drivers who were willing to use the meter. Sometimes it was the 2nd or 3rd or 4th taxi we tried though. In Penang, no taxi would use the meter. It was really frustrating (though looking back I wonder why I cared so much that they wanted 10 ringgit when the meter would have said 2 - 8 ringgit was a little more than $2 at the time and I shouldn't have let the money cause so much vacation stress).

Just wondering where else taxis hurt the tourism industry. The bigger stories recently aren't directly related to travel: the gay couple kicked out of a NYC cab for hugging, Australia requiring an English test for taxis, courts recently ruled that Korean taxi drivers can watch TV while driving (how crazy / scary is that?), and so on.

And just for the record, I think Malaysia should simply increase the meter rate so taxi drivers can live with it. I think NYC's proposed law to ban taxi drivers from wearing earpieces while the motor is running is silly (no restriction is suggested for people who don't drive for a living). I guess drivers in Cebu have it bad with low metered fares and few customers. I generally sympathize with cabbies who work hard (who wants to drive in traffic all day?), are subject to abuse, and are not usually compensated well.

I did think that Japan and Singapore had excellent taxis (although expensive).

Laikipia Plateau in Kenya: would you go?

This article says it's such an off-the-beaten-path tourist spot that travelers sometimes see British military tests.

The region is trying to develop its tourism industry but are the mortar rounds scaring away potential tourists? Personally, if a few knowledgable people told me I'd see more wildlife in Laikipia Plateau than on a safari somewhere else, I don't think I'd care about guns possibly keeping me awake at night.

This second video indicates you should ride a horse (they also show walking and biking), not something I'm unwilling to do, but something I never have done. It's also a commercial video.

Would you go?

Marketing travel in a bad economy: travel as necessity

Here's an article on Arizona and their efforts to get tourists to spend money.

new figures that show consumer savings in May were up 1.4 percent over the same period a year earlier. More to the point, that savings rate reached a 15-year high.

But in an industry dependent on people having disposable income, that's not a good thing.

"It's the new 'normal,'" Johnson said. And that, she said, means having to find new ways to get would-be travelers to spend more and save a little bit less.

"We have to position travel as a necessity," she said. That means stressing the importance of the physical and psychological benefits of travel.

I can't say I'm surprised that we have state government agencies encouraging people not to save money. I still don't like it though. People need to save money.

Sure we also need to travel. I certainly agree that traveling is healthy. But why not try to help travelers spend less? Why do we have to spend our marketing dollars on getting people not to save?

NETC's interesting marketing tactic

Here's an interesting marketing idea. When one of your competitors goes out of business and leaves a bunch of would-be travelers out 4 grand each, offer to help out by covering all of their expenses except airfare.

That's what NETC, National Educational Travel Council is doing for customers of the failed Voyageur Educational Tours.

Spirit Airlines MILF and DD ads: right or wrong?

I just learned that Spirit Airlines' flight attendants are or were protesting ads that use the acronyms DD's [deep discounts] and "MILF" [many islands, low fare]. Many of you will know that DD can also refer to bra or breast size and MILF can be "Mom I'd Like to F*ck."

I wanted to see the ads for myself before making a judgement. A youtube search turned up this interview with Spirit's president, Ben Baldanza. Around 1:15 as the interview begins, something very funny happens. Baldanza says that Spirit is very proud to offer "low service" - he probably meant low-cost service...

I think I found the actual ad but I also found other bloggers talking about it as far back as Dec. 2007. I think Spirit used the MILF ads before and are now using them again:

So what do you think? Is Spirit doing something wrong here? Or is the ad OK and should the flight attendants stop complaining?

Flight attendants are also complaining that they have been turned into walking billboards with demeaning advertisements for light beer. Apparently they are now required to wear a bud light patch on their aprons:

What do you think about these aprons? An OK way to make money and save flight attendants' jobs? Or demeaning flight attendants and making it harder for them to stop serving alcohol to people getting drunk on the flight?

Travel TV

I just heard about "Travel TV" - a system where travel agents pay 200 GBP/month for a subscription in order to show there clients promotional films. Travel TV boasts that this is better than showing clients a brochure and I suppose that's true.

Carnival Cruise Line just became the first cruise operator to sign up with Travel TV. If I'm Carnival, I make the promotional films available on my website for free because I want everyone to see them, not just the travel agents who pay 200 GBP a month...

Never knew marketing could sound so wrong

Imagine you're a manager at a resort in the Philippines. One of your jobs is to get people to come to your resort. You're asked to do an interview with a Filipino newspaper. You say:

“As a Filipino-owned corporation, our vision is to showcase our culture, which we should be proud of because we are one of the few countries with a rich culture and heritage,” said general manager Rhyz O. Buac.

Are you kidding me? I didn't know general managers were capable of saying anything as stupid as "we are one of the few countries with a rich culture and heritage."

I don't know for sure, but that might alienate some potential tourists from foreign countries...

The manager also says that hiring Filipinos is not common among resorts in Cebu. I've only been to one - Plantation Bay - but they also hired Filipinos as far as I could tell. I did see one Korean at reception - makes sense since they said that about 50% of their guests were Koreans.

Anyway, the resort sounds interesting since it is designed to showcase Filipino culture and I'm perfectly willing to admit that I didn't learn a whole lot about Filipino culture when I was in Cebu (although I hear my experience at the transvestite bar is not so unusual). But I'm also fairly certain that I don't want to visit this resort since the manager seems to have little respect for other cultures and seems to be a liar.

Hurricanes = tourism marketing challenge

A new challenge faces tourism promoters. This article says it well: "After three years, vacationers finally seem to have forgotten about Florida's hurricane woes. Tourism promoters hope Fay won't jog their memories."

This sounds to me like people who sell travel don't want to talk about hurricanes. You'd better do your own research, possibly starting with the average hurricane tracks I blogged about a few days ago.

Today is my anniversary so I won't be spending any more time with my computer...

Antigua faces a marketing crisis

Here's an article on how Antigua is trying to deal with the effects a double murder has had on its image as a tourist destination.

Caroline Mullany and her husband Ben were shot in their chalet on the last night of their honeymoon on July 27. Now we're beginning to see cancellations and that probably means some people who would've booked trips to Antigua are looking elsewhere.

I don't know what they can do, but I guess their marketing people have a chance to really earn their money now. If you're interested in marketing, you may want to keep an eye out for new Antigua ads and see how they address this issue. Possibilities include trying extra hard to convince tourists they'll be safe and not mentioning Antigua as a honeymoon destination since honeymooners were recently killed.

It kind of reminds me of how some people reacted when Aruba had its problem a couple of years ago. If you read the comments on this old blog entry about Aruba you see some guy wanted to put me out of business (not that paying $200 a month for hosting a free travel blog makes me a business at all). Anyway, I'm not sure what Aruba did to 'fix' its image or even how well it worked. But I suppose Antigua's marketing people could do a case study and try to learn something that might help them.

Museums in Cleveland, Marriott's Playful Getaway, trains from Bangkok to London

My flight from New York to Seoul is over. I accidentally packed my special socks in my checked bag, so I wasn't wearing them. I think I really noticed that not having them on meant my feet got more swollen and hurt more. Next time I'll definitely be wearing those socks and I'm going to suggest them to my wife too.

This article says that the cost of gas and the economy are limiting Ohioans' vacation plans so it recommends a few museums in Ohio that are relatively inexpensive to reach (if you live in Ohio). They mention The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Botanical Garden, Western Reserve Historical Society, Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum, the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Art, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, The Works (hand-on woodworking, glassblowing, etc.), The Butler Institute of American Art, The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, National Aviation Hall of Fame, and the National Ceramic Museum and Heritage Center.

Reminds me of this old blog entry and this one.

Speaking of gas prices, hotels are working them into their marketing. Here is an article on how some Marriott hotels in California are playing that angle. It's similar to the gas credit rebates I mentioned some time ago.

And how is this for an interesting TV travel show? 2 guys get from Bangkok to London entirely by train. I can't even list the path they took here, but it took months of planning and they seem to have gon through about 20 countries. They saw authorities smuggling stuff on a train in Ukraine, they lost a passport, etc.

The craziest part may be that they tried to do it all while spending as little time in hotels as possible. Now that is hardcore.

The Irish tourism industry and online marketing

This article may only be interesting to a few, but I found it pretty interesting. It describes how many smaller Irish companies in the tourism business are not doing enough web marketing:

"If you look at where people get their information from, about 30pc is coming through the internet, whereas if you look at spend in the tourism sector, only 1pc is digital," says Conor Daly, founder and managing director of Travel Logic, an e-marketing and website development firm for B&Bs and smaller players in the hospitality sector.

I'm not sure that you see many B&Bs spending big money to advertise anywhere though. Each one will have a website, but that site won't be marketed any better than my blog is in most cases.

Apparently the Ireland tourism brand as a whole faces the same issue:

The tourists definitely want to come here for our surfing, water sports, course fishing, golf, hillwalking etc and their primary search tool is the internet, yet Ireland has not fully grasped the potential of the internet to get the tourists here.

But what is the internet's potential? We already know that banner ads don't work. The two most popular options seem to be...

1. Paid search results like the ads you see after doing a Yahoo or Google search

2. Trying to manipulate the search engines into putting a site on top without paying them directly for the ads.

3. Referrals, where website A links to website B and if someone makes a purchase on B after following that link from A, then A gets a commission. There are no referral links on this blog. As far as I know they are more for bigger sites - Amazon and Ebay get lots of customers from referral links and I hear it's possible for a webmaster to make some money by referring customers to Amazon and Ebay through "affiliate" links. I doubt you could make the same money linking to a small B&B that you make linking to Ebay so this is probably not going to be a huge boost for smaller travel companies.

I've actually tried the first two - this was back in 2003 when I made my first website. 5 years later I've given up - there's too much work because of all the competition and I don't sell anything or work online for a living. I don't really see many B&B owners having the time or know-how to market their sites online. That leaves them with the somewhat risky option of paying a consultant or web marketing agency - risky because you pay money and there's no guarantee of a good return on investment.

The Irish tourism industry as a whole, backed with government funding, should have no trouble. Official government sites tend to get very high search engine rankings without spending money if they go for option #2 above. If they go for paid search results, the government should be able to scrape up some money for the ads and someone competent to run the ad campaign.

In the end, most B&Bs and other small travel businesses are probbaly better off working on their product, encouraging visitors to recommend the place to their friends. Also, permission marketing, encouraging customers to come back.

Ohio's Too Much Fun for Just One Day

Ohio's ad campaign for attracting tourism money will apparently include a cable TV ad featuring "Living for the weekend" by the O'Jays. I've never heard of the band or the song but the title does fit the ad campaign's motto that "Ohio's Too Much Fun for Just One Day."

Advertising for airlines

I was doing some research online about sexism in advertising and I came across an advertising blog with an entire category dedicated to airline ads.

From the Ryanair charity calendar (with pictures of flight attendants wearing less than their uniforms) to advertising in airport security bins there is some fairly interesting stuff for those of you interested in advertisements.

This reminds me of two previous blog entries - here I seem to have lost my image of advertising inside planes. Maybe I can recover it. And of course some airlines are famous for hiring only the most attractive female flight attendants.

What do you think about New Mexico's new ad campaign?

Some people are calling New Mexico's new tourism ad campaign creative and bold, but there are also a lot of critics out there. The ads have won an Adrian Award.

However, winning awards is not the same as increasing brand awareness and bringing in tourism dollars:

Dale Lockett, president of the state's largest convention and visitors bureau in Albuquerque, addressed the issue in a speech at a statewide conference in October.

Lockett told the creators of the ads, Santa Monica, Calif.-based M&C Saatchi, that their handiwork, while innovative, appeals to the wrong audience. Why, Lockett wondered, was the state targeting its centerpiece ad campaign to a younger crowd when baby boomers have time and money to travel?

Take a look at the photos and let us know what you think:

Magazine ad
Scene from a video ad

Lake Tahoe changing, evolving away from its niche

This article is pretty interesting because it relates to one of my favorite books, Seth Godin's marketing book, Purple Cow. His idea is that new products have to serve a specific niche (and do it very well) to have a chance. Then if you succeed you need to exploit your "purple cow" (your unique product that people like enough to recommend to friends) for all it's worth.

It seems like that's what's happening in Lake Tahoe (which I've mentioned only briefly in past posts) and other areas. Tahoe was very successful in its niche so now the best way to profit is to use that popularity to make as much money as possible by attracting people from outside its old niche:

Massive redevelopment and an influx of wealth in recent years have all but wiped out the old kitschy charm of Tahoe's southern shore. As the transformation proceeds, the area is trying to become all things to all people: an upscale resort town as well as a draw for the younger set looking for all-night clubs and tequila shots.

It's a similar formula playing out in vacation spots across the country, from Atlantic City, N.J., to Aspen, Colo.

Speaking of change, although this one is not permanent, how about the Spa Experience in Grand Central Terminal, NYC? The Spa Experience will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 1 and Nov. 3. Who would've thought that commuters would have time for a spa treatment? Of course it may be perfect - I know there have been a few times when I left work feeling like I needed a massage or something.

Tourism marketing in Tanzania and Brazil

I've always been interested in how countries market their tourism opportunities so i found this article on Tanzania and brazil pretty interesting. One line from the new Tanzania commercial is "Tanzania: Land of Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and the Serengeti."

Brazil is focusing on "golf attractions, beaches and natural wonders."

Philadelphia's marketing to get more sophisticated

I blogged a while back on the Philadelpha advertising slogan: Get your history straight and your nights gay in Philadelphia.

I thought it was clever so this article made me feel a little bad when they said that the city of brotherly love is getting more sophisticated than the old slogan. I suppose I don't try to sell myself as sophisticated much anymore anyway.

One interesting number from the article is that the ads worked for Philadelphia:

Philadelphia saw a $153 return for every dollar spent on its marketing campaign, according to a 2005 gay tourism survey. But now, more than 75 cities around the world have gay tourism campaigns, as do travel companies like Orbitz, Travelocity, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

Disney tours worldwide (Adventures by Disney)

Adventures by Disney is a 2-year-old part of Walt Disney Co. Disney is using its brand name to sell travel to more than its theme parks and cruises. They have vacation packages throughout the world and will add eight more locations next year.

That means they will have trips to China, Australia, several destinations in America, Costa Rica, Peru, and a number of destinations in Europe.

I've never tried an Adventure by Disney vacation, and while I suspect they deliver what they promise...

Embark on an Adventures by Disney guided vacation and immerse yourself in the magic of expertly planned, hassle-free vacation experiences around the world - brimming with surprises for the entire family.

I suspect you end up paying too much for the Disney name. For example, a 13-day, 12-night China vacation will cost from $3,599 to $5,399 a person, not including air fare.

Now China can be a tough country to travel around on your own, but it can also be very inexpensive. Somehow I doubt that $5,000 (without airfare) is much of a value.

Of course, I respect Disney's marketing strategy - they would be stupid to offer cheap (less profitable) vacations because when you think of Disney you're not supposed to think of cheap...

Anyway, Disney travel VOD is another blog entry on Disney marketing. And if you do a search for Disney on this blog, you'll find lots of stuff.

New marketing technique at Disney includes travel VOD

I thought that this article on Disney's new travel-focused, video-on-demand programming was timely considering our recent discussion of travel TV shows.

According to the article, "Disney's channel, called Travel on Demand, will be available to 9 million Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp. digital customers starting later this month." When watchers see something inspiring, they can press a button on their remotes to prompt a call from a Disney travel agent.

I like this kind of innovative advertising and it makes perfect sense for both Disney and the cable companies. Disney creates the content and pays the cable companies to show it - cable companies make money. Disney gets access to people who are asking for more information on their products - the most likely customers. And since these people watching Disney's "Travel on Demand" are giving their attention willingly they pay only for the people who hear their message.

Hyatt Resort reality TV show: The Ultimate Adventure Challenge

Hyatt Resort's The Ultimate Adventure Challenge has a lame name but is a brilliant marketing idea.

Families with at least one child between 9 and 12 can try to participate by uploading 90 second videos (of the entire family) on the official site. The first 1,000 entrants by May 30 will be eligible to compete. Hyatt Hotels Corp. says family video entries should "convey their passion for adventure and exploration while noting why their family should be selected for the competition."

Eventually, 5 families will participate in this reality show by staying in a Hyatt property (and getting filmed a lot). Then people who watch the "webisodes" vote for who should win the free 50 night stay in a Hyatt resort.

They also explain the theory behind the idea: "The idea came about because we know a lot of travelers are online researching, and our research indicated they wanted even more content online that's both entertaining and also informative; this also lets us go beyond traditional media."

I think it's brilliant. Hyatt will get a ton of publicity from this. They already had good brand awareness, but now people, lots of people, are talking about Hyatt. That has to be good for business, especially when they start talking about the webisodes - all the fun activities people can do on vacation while staying at a Hyatt.

Torism Marketing in England can provide a model for South Korea

Here's an article that praises the way England has increased tourism through promoting Harry Potter and similar invented tourist attractions:

The British people knew they couldn't draw significant numbers of tourists with their featureless attractions. In recent days, Britain turned a robbery in which 50 million pounds (W90 billion) was stolen into a popular tourist destination. The program includes a guided tour of the crime scenes, including a vault from which the money was taken, a storehouse where a custodian was held hostage, and the safehouse where the suspects were caught.

In places where there was nothing to sell, people created something new. A disused mine in the southwestern region of Cornwall has been turned into a giant botanical experiment called the Eden Project. Like some kind of primeval garden, it's more than just a botanical zone. In spring, the Project hosts "Blue Mania," a hands-on event in which tourists help plant one million flower bulbs. Since its opening in March 2001, more than nine million tourists have visited Project Eden, helping it rank fifth among Britain's tourist attractions. About 500 full-time employees of the park have been recruited from the nearby area, 75 percent of whom were jobless before the Project was founded.

The article goes on to mention some formerly popular attractions in Korea that I've never heard of, probably because they aren't marketed very well. The idea is that promoting Korean tourism more effectively could help reduce the 7 billion dollar travel defecit South Korea saw in 2006.

America's tourism marketing: A Blueprint to Discover America

America's tourism industry is in decline: "Overseas travel to the U.S. is down 17 percent since 2001, with business travel alone down 10 percent from 2004 to 2005, according to TIA."

"Among the major reasons why travelers are not coming to the U.S.: concerns about the U.S. visa process and perception of poor treatment at the point of entry."

The idea is to streamline the visa process, modernize ports of entry, and change negative perceptions about America. In my experience the first one is the big one. In downtown Seoul, people line up hours before the US embassy opens trying to get a visa. They wait on line all day and sometimes get a visa. I have friends who were refused.

Sometimes, there's no good reason for the refusal. For example after my wife and I got married we applied for a tourist visa for my Korean wife so she could meet my grandfathers who were too old to travel to Korea for the wedding. The guy in the US embassy in Rome was rude and stupid (a few days earlier he had told me that I couldn't get my passport extended but luckily his boss walked by and corrected his error). They denied my wife a tourist visa.

Anyway, for many people, getting a US visa is more trouble than its worth. You spend lots of time and money and you may come away empty handed for no good reason.

The second one seems OK to me flying into JFK regularly. I never see long lines for immigration and the guys in the booths seem friendly enough. When we go into the little office to have my wife's greencard checked out, it's often another story but most travelers never see those people. The third one seems easy enough. It's not going to be hard to convince people they want to visit New York, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Boston, Chicago, etc.

Here's the article on the new tourism marketing plan.

Marketing West Virginia Tourism with We Are Marshall

We Are Marshall, starring Matthew McConaughey, opens nationally Dec. 22. The movie is about how Marshall University recovered from a Nov. 14, 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people (including most of Marshall's football team).

Since Marshall University is in Huntington, West Virginia, some of the filming was done there. When the DVD comes out, it will feature West Virginia as a tourist attraction. So if you look at the special features section, you get West Virginia tourism, bloopers, and interviews with actors. Warner Brothers received state financing ($300,000 worth) while filming in Huntington.

This is an interesting tactic for promoting tourism. I went camping in West Virginia 8 or 9 years ago, but I don't know too much about vacation places there. If you know something or have some thoughts on this marketing idea, please leave a comment.

Honeymoon, conceptionmoon, babymoon, recoverymoon, petmoon, anniversarymoon, familymoon, divorcemoon

That's the vacationmoon order and here's an article that discusses the cultural implication of all these moons. It's quite interesting:

"To be honest, some of it is tied to marketing by the travel industry, but it's also a reflection of how consumers are now looking at their life stages," says Howard Green, co-founder of MoonRings Inc., a Chicago-based travel firm that specializes in honeymoons and other "moons." The travel industry is leveraging people's emotional connections to the turning points in their lives, he says, "and creating products to help them celebrate those events."

The article doesn't go into too much more detail about culture, but they do give some examples. It's worth a read.

Slovak Tourist Authority unhappy about Hostel and now Hostel 2

Apparently Eli Roth has created a very disturbing horror movie. Horror movie buffs love Hostel, but the Slovak Tourist Authority hates it. The movie is about tourists being tortured in Bratislava:

Eli Roth, the writer and director of last year's in-your-face horror hit Hostel, got himself a pile of hate mail from Slovakia after shooting the film in these parts. This time around, someone just may try to run him over.

I probably won't watch this movie but they say it is far more violent than "soft" American horror movies.

Tourism marketing: Two nation vacations in Maine and New Brunswick, Zimbabwe

Why not hit Maine in the US and New Brunswick in Canada on a vacation? New Brunswick and Maine tourism officials are working on promoting this "two nation vacation".

Zimbabwe also needs to work on its marketing, and hopes to learn a thing or two from Indonesia. Zimbabwe thinks of itself as "Africa's Paradise" and has "vast tracts of land under wildlife, which is the backbone of the lucrative tourism products." Apparently that means you can hike, canoe, or see elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah, rhinoceros and buffalo on safari.

Grenada's tourism minister is also hard at work:

"We are going to sign another contract with Excel Airways, starting service from November 1 and continuing on a weekly basis. We’ve also signed an agreement with Condor out of Germany, and we are signing contracts with British Airways and Virgin for continued service up to 2008."

So we can get there, but I still don't know what to do in Grenada.