The Alaska Travel Industry Association is running a cable TV marketing campaign with four ads that are airing on the TLC reality show Sarah Palin’s Alaska, Discovery’s Deadliest Catch along with other shows on tv.

Alaska Beyond Your Dreams - Tourism Ad

Two of the ads have already been aired, and the third one, based on Alaska Tourism’s tagline of ‘Beyond Your Dreams, Within Your Reach” is about to air.

The ads show people photographing glaciers, wide angle shots of cruise ships, visitors watching grizzlies salmon fishing, and so on. The fourth ad is still under production. The ATIA apparently paid $600,000 for producing the ads.

Considering that former Gov. Sarah Palin was doing some of the same things in her show, it’s a good bet that the tv audience for her show will connect with the ads and generate a good response rate. Besides, the demographics for the show’s audience and Alaska’s standard visitor profile matches to a great degree.

According to the ATIA 2010 Travel Intentions study of inquiries that convert to actual visits, 67% of Alaska visitors are married, with an average age of 64 or thereabouts and an average income of around $70,000. According to Nielsen research, the median age of the TLC audience for Sarah Palin’s Alaska is 57.

Alaska Tourism is able to spend so much on the ads because Gov. Sean Parnell upped the TV ad budget from $1.2m to $6.1m for the current fiscal year. For FY2010, Alaska Tourism tv commercials were seen or heard 836 million times, and magazine ads were seen by 44.5 million subscribers. The state sent over 3.1 million direct mail packages with a message from Gov. Sean Parnell.

As a result, consumer visits to TravelAlaska.com increased by 15%, and Alaska travel stories were published in 377 publications with a combined circulation of 66 million. 20 million US consumers are now categorized as highly likely to visit Alaska in the next 5-7 years.

ATIA President Ron Peck tells Bloomberg that visitor numbers improved in 2010 and are expected to go up some more in 2011, so he hopes the state continues with the same level of enhanced funding in the future.

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Why Alaska Tourism Needs to Embrace Sarah Palin

Watching “The Ball” drop in New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve has become a television tradition for hundreds of millions of people around the world since its initial airing in 1956 and for visitors to One Times Square since 1907, the first year the famous sphere made its 11:59 p.m. descent.

New Year's Eve in Times Square

Each year about one million people flock to the center of Manhattan for the big event—which drops one ton of confetti on revelers—with even more travelers coming to New York City for other parties and festivities. This year NYC and Company, the city’s tourism and marketing arm, estimates 5 million visitors to the Big Apple in December, with the 31st being a night that always makes hoteliers quite happy.

“We can expect citywide hotel occupancies above 90 percent, with an estimated 82,000 or so room nights sold,” says Christopher C. Heywood, vice president, travel and tourism public relations, for NYC and Company.

The organization doesn’t track hotel revenues, but with an average daily rate of $270, and many of the top desired hotels commanding rates of $300 and more, it’s an important weekend for New York City tourism.

The standard multiplier of the economic impact of visitor spending in New York City is 50 cents for every dollar spent by a visitor, says Heywood. Add in restaurant meals, tickets for attractions, entertainment, transportation, and it’s easy to see why the city goes all out to make it special night for tourists.

For those who prefer to watch live, but from a warmer locale (this writer stood outside in the frigid cold her first New Year’s Eve in New York and vowed never to do it again), Times Square Alliance, which produces the annual event, recommends the following hotels and restaurants for having the best view of the ball drop:

Renaissance New York
DoubleTree Guest Suites
Marriott Marquis
TGI Fridays
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company
Sbarro Pizza
Olive Garden
R Lounge at Two Times Square

With New Year’s Eve taking place at the beginning of a weekend this year, businesses are hoping that visitors will stay an extra day until Sunday, instead of jetting home on January 1. It seems the weather is cooperating to make it an enticing stay: Temperatures are expected to be in the low 40s all weekend.

After last weekend’s snow dump, stranding travelers for days, that’s a great way to end 2010.

Photo courtesy: Times Square Alliance/Countdown Entertainment LLC

Mobile apps are only going to grow.

With the growing popularity of mobile platforms, such as the iPhone, iPad, Droid, and others, it’s only expected that consumers are likely to see a growing number of applications. With travel showing signs of increase in 2010, the travel industry has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of mobile apps. While most airlines have typically been slow on the uptake with technology, some airlines are getting in on the mobile boom by developing their own apps. SWISS, Southwest, and American Airlines are among a few airlines who have created their own mobile apps for travelers.

Most travel apps that have had some type of air travel element have been general travel planning applications, such as KAYAK or TripIt. 2010 has been the first time airlines, themselves, have gotten serious about developing apps. Airlines obviously recognize the importance of new media, as 2010 was the year when most of them really got involved on the social media front. With an increase in travel and growing popularity of mobile devices, you can expect there to be many airlines who follow suit.

It’s not surprising that Southwest Airlines was one of the first airlines to develop their own iPhone app. Southwest was an early adopter of social media, as they’ve used it effectively the last couple of years to promote travel deals, respond to inquiries, and handle complaints. The app comes well-reviewed, with features that include fare alerts and flight status. It also allows users to book and check-in to their flights.

The latest is SWISS’ app for the iPhone and iPod. Similar to other airline apps, the tool can be most effectively used by frequent travelers on SWISS. The app includes pertinent travel information, such as baggage allowances, airline amenities, flight information, and weather updates. Other cool features I liked were the locations and details of SWISS lounges, access to their Twitter feed for up-to-the-minute information and alerts, and mobile boarding pass. Another important note is that it supports several languages, including English, French, German, and Italian.

I expect many of these airline apps to be most useful for frequent travelers of those airlines who can use it to better manage their account and trips. While I like some of the features of these apps, it would be nice to see airlines do more with apps than just featuring general information that most travelers can get from the mobile versions of their websites.

Photo courtesy of Purplelime.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority has published the second part of its multi-year study of the UK Business Air Travel Market. The first part was published in May 2009.

Flying on Business

The new 185 page report examines the effects of the recession, how companies are managing business travel, evolution in the role of travel management companies, how airlines compete for business passengers, and also lists future trends for UK business air travel.

Highlights from the report:-

- International business air travel to/from the UK fell by 4.6% in 2008 and 22.2% in 2009. The biggest drops were for UK-EU business air travel (25%), and UK-North America (20%). Iceland’s volcanic eruption caused the 2010 first half figures to drop 28% compared to the same period in 2008.

- Proportion of business passengers travelling in premium cabins continues to decline, in both long haul and short haul markets. The decline in business passengers using short haul premium cabins reduced from 41% in 1996 to just 5% in 2009 on routes from London.

- Demand for Business Class on short haul trips will never recover and airlines have accepted that this is a permanent structural change.

- No-frills airlines have made significant inroads into the business market. EasyJet has around a quarter of the London–Amsterdam business market and Ryanair more than a third of London–Dublin. Short haul airlines have “unbundled” their product, allowing them to offer the lowest possible fare while charging for ancillary items such as meals and hold baggage.

- Communication technology (videoconferencing) facilitates a greater pace of globalisation, which in turn increases demand for business air travel. Also, new developments in hand-held mobile devices, social media networking and connectivity to communications networks may enhance flexibility for, and productivity of, business travellers.

- Environmental concerns will not hold back business travel. Companies are likely to focus mainly on mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions related to travel through activities such as offsetting, and through increased pressure on airlines to reduce such emissions.

In a statement, the CAA’s Group Director of Economic Regulation, Harry Bush, said that ”The recession significantly reduced the amount of UK business air travel, but also changed its nature. It accentuated the trend away from short haul business class to economy and no frills. Businesses economised across the board. As growth returns, business travel will revive, but it is an open question how far some of the economies made in the recession will permanently affect the way companies allow their employees to travel.”

Full report – Flying on Business (A study of the UK Business Air Travel Market) – Download (pdf)

For those interested in a quick read, the page numbers containing summaries of each chapter are listed below.

Page 015 – Chapter 1. Introduction
Page 019 – Chapter 2. Impact of the recent recession on UK business air travel
Page 041 – Chapter 3. Demand drivers for business air travel
Pgae 065 – Chapter 4. Managing business travel
Page 093 – Chapter 5. Travel management companies
Page 107 – Chapter 6. Airline competition for business passengers
Page 161 – Chapter 7. Future trends in UK business air travel