Siesta Beach, Sarasota, Florida

On May 27, 2011, Siesta Beach was declared America’s best beach by Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, better known as Dr. Beach. Siesta Key had suddenly laid a golden egg for the tourism industry in Sarasota, Florida, that could be valued as high as $446 million.

That’s because the 2011 list was Dr. Beach’s 21st annual list of the top 10 beaches in America and is now a tradition eagerly awaited by television, print and online media.

The day the list gets released just before Memorial Day is pure bedlam, with a flood of news mentions and blog posts, not to mention a viral wave on social media.

Dr. Beach stood on the white sands of Siesta Beach and gave interviews to “Good Morning America” and “The Today Show,” and the story also earned Siesta Key a home page listing on MSN.

The end result of all the free publicity and media profiles of the beach is a 15 to 20 percent increase in annual visitation numbers.

Last year, after Coopers Beach in Southampton, New York, topped the list (Siesta Beach was No. 2 on the 2010 list), it got a 15 percent bump in traffic and a $774,000 beach-access pass revenue increase.

Sarasota CVB making use of Dr Beach listing

Based on the 2.2 million visitors who came to Siesta Beach in 2010, that would mean another 330,000 to 440,000 visitors in 2011.

Sarasota County visitors who book a stay here spend an average of $124 per day and $1,013 overall. So Sarasota is looking at between $334.3 million to $446 million in potential increased tourism revenue.

Also, it makes for some great promotional material for the destination’s tourism marketing bureau.

The Sarasota CVB not only put out a press release touting the recognition, but also is using it on the bureau’s websites home page to entice visitors to “Experience the Best Beach in the USA.”

The CVB also has been quick to take advantage of the rise in search queries for Siesta Beach with Google ads titled “Siesta Beach #1,” which ask visitors to “see why Siesta Beach was ranked as #1 beach in the US by Dr. Beach!”

Siesta Beach Google ad

Siesta Beach has enjoyed the Dr. Beach bump for two years running now, in second and first place. But it’ll never get it again, because once a beach is listed as the best beach in America, it gets taken out of contention in subsequent years. But right now, Siesta Beach is getting ready with beach pails and shovels to collect the tourist dollars.

Beach photo – Clexow; Snapshots - Sarasota CVB website & UpTake Siesta Key page

Related posts:
Q&A With Dr. Beach aka Dr. Stephen Leatherman
Dr. Beach Speaks: Coopers Beach Best of 2010

Feature 1: The TSA is threatening to ground Texas because the Lone Star State is about to pass legislation (HB 1937) that bans the TSA from “touching your junk.”

TSA Advanced imaging technology

The TSA sent a letter to Texas legislators explaining what would happen if the state passes the law. This may have been the right thing to do under the circumstances, but it’s never a good idea to pick a states’ rights fight in Texas when you’re a federal agency.

To make matters worse, this issue is no longer just about the TSA vs. Texas. The “United States for Travel Freedom Caucus,” with state legislators from nine states, is now gearing up to “stop TSA abuses.”

This is yet another example of the TSA finding itself trying to get out of a bad situation.

United States for Travel Freedom Caucus plans to stop TSA abuses- Hawaii Reporter
Blogger Bob: There is more to security than simply going through a checkpoint – Elliott.org
Think twice before frowning in the security line - Fast Company

Feature 2: The American Airlines vs. GDS fight over American’s Direct Connect took a few steps forward with interesting new developments.

First up, American was more than happy to let the cat out of the bag about the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust probe into global distribution systems practices.

Then Travelport filed its own response to American’s earlier antitrust lawsuit. The response is a motion to dismiss, alleging that American is just using the lawsuit as a bargaining chip.

American Airlines cooperating with DOJ’s antitrust GDS probe - AA.com
Travelport’s motion to dismiss filing – Travelport.com
U.S. probe into GDSs could last months - Travel Weekly
American wants to know what Sabre has planned - dallasnews.com

Here’s the rest of the week’s interesting news:

Ashton Kutcher knows his start-ups - NYT
Ashton Kutcher invests in Airbnb, joins team - Airbnb Blog

ViajaNet secures $19 million – ViajaNet (pr)
Hipmunk CEO: Entrepreneurs think it’s getting wacky, too – peHUB
How Hipmunk gained traction as the go-to flight-search site – Entrepreneur.com

Google testing flight search results in UK - SEOgadget
Social search goes global – Google Social Web

gtrot launches as the evolved social travel site – gtrot.com
Visa launches travel-themed marketing campaign with Facebook app – Visa.com

Foursquare: Is your business worth bragging about? Wilhelmus.ca
One week on Foursquare: Where people go and what they do – WSJ

Jet Tracker database: Where private jet owners go - WSJ
Social flights brings private jet travel to the masses – Mashable

Kayak hires first-ever CFO ahead of pending IPO – AllThingsD
Spirit Airlines Inc. (NASDAQ: SAVE) completes IPO, opens 5.4 percent down – WSJ

Disney cuts taxes by selling tickets to itself - OrlandoSentinel
Brandjacking costs hotels $2.2 billion per year - MarkMonitor via HNN

Grounded British test plane highlights ash data gaps - Reuters
IATA slams Europe’s response to Grimsvotn – IATA.org
Ash flight rules to be overhauled - Telegraph

Photo – TSA.gov

Related posts:
TravelTechnology Weekly #25 – May 20, 2011
TravelTechnology Weekly #24 – May 13, 2011
TravelTechnology Weekly #23 – May 6, 2011

Just in time for Memorial Day and the start of the summer vacation season, the Center for Sustainable Tourism has unveiled its U.S. Visitor Care Code, a 10-step guide for how to travel more sustainably and with less impact on the environment.

For those willing to take the Pledge to Travel Green, the 10 “ways to care” are:

1. Learn about your destination
2. Don’t leave your good habits at home
3. Be a fuel-efficient traveler
4. Make informed decisions
5. Be a good guest
6. Support locals
7. Dispose of your waste properly
8. Protect your natural surroundings
9. Make your travel zero emissions
10. Bring your experiences home

Annually, more than 1.5 billion leisure “person trips” are made in the United States, according to the Center, and even small changes in behavior can make a big difference in tourism’s impact on communities.

Running along the side of the Care Code page are nifty green suggestions related to reusable grocery bags, saving energy, sustainable seafood and recycling.

The U.S. Visitor Care Code has been developed and is managed by the Center for Sustainable Tourism, located at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

Sounds like a great way to live overall, not just when traveling.

Image: Center for Sustainable Tourism

Related posts:
Directory of Sustainable Green Travel Companies Green.travel Launches
2010 Consumer Trends – YPartnership/Harrison Group Survey

With a record 51.455 million visitors in 2010, Orlando, Florida, beat New York City fair and square in the race to become the first U.S. destination to breach the 50 million visitor barrier. Orlando’s 2010 tally was a huge 10.5 percent improvement over its 2009 total of 46.6 million visitors.

Visit Orlando - 50 million visitors

The announcement was made simultaneously at separate events by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer in Orlando and Visit Orlando President and CEO Gary Sain in San Francisco. Sain credits Visit Orlando’s marketing campaigns for the huge bounce.

“Visit Orlando launched aggressive global marketing campaigns showcasing that Orlando offers visitors something they can’t get anywhere else—world famous attractions, value for their money and an experience they will never forget,” said Gary Sain, speaking at the International Pow Wow conference in San Francisco. “The fact that Orlando bounced back in 2010 with the most visitation in not only Orlando’s history, but the most of any U.S. destination, shows our aggressive leisure and meetings strategies worked, and our message resonated with travelers.”

George Fertitta, chief executive of NYC & Company, the official marketing organization for New York, was also at Pow Wow, for the launch of “Get More NYC: Lower Manhattan”—a global campaign to promote Lower Manhattan to visitors and travel media.

This campaign is a prelude to the Sept. 12, 2011 opening of the 9/11 Memorial, which is expected to provide a huge boost to New York tourism as millions of people visit Ground Zero.

Fertitta pointed out that Orlando includes outlying counties in its total and that New York’s international base is much bigger than what Orlando has. Orlando is indeed relatively more dependent on domestic visitors as compared to destinations like New York.

Orlando visitation chart; Source: D.K. Shifflet

Of the 51.455 million visitors who came to Orlando last year, domestic visitors accounted for 47.8 million, or 93 percent of the total. In comparison, New York City welcomed 48.7 visitors in 2010, with 9.7 million, or  20 percent, coming from foreign countries. New York is on track to breach the 50 million barrier in 2012.

Be that as it may, the fact remains that Orlando is officially the first U.S. destination to reach 50 million visitors. That’s a big deal and cause enough for Orlando’s travel industry to enjoy its own marketing campaign tagline: “Orlando Makes Me Smile.”

Photo credit: DavidAllenStudio.com (courtesy Visit Orlando)

Related posts:
New York City Breaks Tourism Record With 48.7 Million Visitors
Visit Orlando – new name, new marketing campaign
Disney’s Economic Impact on Florida