President Obama announced plans to increase travel to the United States from Disney World's Main Street, USA.

Thursday at Disney World in Orlando, President Barack Obama announced an executive order aimed at boosting international tourism visits to the United States. The initiative is getting a positive reception from the travel industry, which has advocated for years for some of the changes the new order includes. David Scowsill, president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council, called it “a major step forward for the world’s biggest travel and tourism economy,” according to eTurboNews.

The President’s order includes plans aimed at promoting the United States as a travel destination and several moves that will make it easier for visitors to enter the country. It expands the visa waiver and Global Entry programs and calls for the creation of a task force to improve promotion efforts.

Changes will affect travelers from all over the world, but the administration called out three countries for special treatment—Taiwan, which is being added to the visa waiver program; and China and Brazil, which will see changes to their visa application processes that should lead to better access. Not a bad idea, considering that both are fast-growing and lucrative markets. The U.S. Travel Association estimates that Chinese visitors’ average spend per trip is $6,243, and Brazilians’ is $4,940.

The White House’s outline of the program can be viewed here. Below are the action steps the President called for:

• Create a joint task force between the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior to promote domestic and inbound travel. A focus will be placed on promoting national parks, wildlife refuges, cultural and historic sites, monuments and other public lands.
• Increase non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent in 2012.
• Ensure that 80 percent of non-immigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of receipt of application.
• Add Taiwan to the visa waiver program, allowing Taiwanese nationals to visit the United States for tourism or business for up to 90 days with no visa. This would be the tenth country added since 2008. The recommendation to add Taiwan is pending Department of Homeland Security approval.
• Create a Department of Commerce website for travelers from key markets that culls visa-process information and statistics from across the federal government.
• Launch pilot program and rule change for visa processing in China and Brazil, with the goal of streamlining the non-immigrant visa process for certain applicants. Changes will include waiving interviews for very low-risk applicants, such as those replying for renewals and younger or older first-time applicants from Brazil.
• Expand the Global Entry Program to four more airports—Charlotte, Denver, Minneapolis and Phoenix. The Global Entry Program, created in 2008, expedites pre-approved, low-risk travelers from abroad. The administration estimates that this expansion will make the program active at airports that service 97 percent of arrivals to the United States.
• Appoint 32 private-sector executives to the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. The full list can be viewed on the Department of Commerce website. Companies represented include Sabre Holdings, JetBlue Airways, Mall of America and Marriott International.

Photo: Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert; Whitehouse.gov

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Four days after the cruiseliner Costa Concordia ran aground and capsized off the coast of an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea, authorities are still searching the wreckage and have yet to arrive at a final casualty count. As of Monday night, 29 people were still missing and at least six were dead.

The Costa Concordia, docked during one of its early years at sea.

The details of how the accident occurred and how the evacuation was handled by crew are also still being investigated. And the impact on the cruise industry and on Carnival Corporation, which owns Costa Cruises, is also undetermined. Carnival says that its insurance deductible on damage to the ship will cost $30 million, and its personal injury liability insurance carries a $10 million deductible. The company estimates that the loss of use of the Concordia for at least several months will set Carnival back $85 million to $95 million.

Many early reports in U.S. media painted a picture of an emergency poorly managed by the vessel’s staff. For example, take this line from a CNN story: “Some crew members helped passengers and then jumped overboard, passengers said; remaining crew members seemed helpless to handle the melee.” In public statements, Costa has commended the reaction of its crew, but has harsher criticism for the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, who it blames for deviating from the prescribed course and causing the accident.

Unfortunately for cruise operators and travel agents, the accident occurred early during “wave season,” the peak cruise-booking period, which runs from January through March. This has ratcheted up speculation that the tragedy could cause a softening in the cruise market this year. And TravelAgentCentral.com points out that April will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, which will also put cruising in the news for negative reasons.

As for the possible effect on the industry, here are some thoughts from experts:

“It’s hard to see the industry not experiencing at least a small short-term slowdown from this,” Florida-based Simon Duvall of SimonCruises.com tells USA Today. “The images and stories coming out of Italy are shocking even to those of us who love cruising and consider it safe, so to a first-timer or someone who is nervous about it, [this] very well might be a deal breaker.” — USA Today

Some investors may switch holdings into Royal Caribbean after the Concordia incident, according to Tim Ramskill, an analyst at Credit Suisse in London. “If the industry already didn’t face enough challenges—fuel price volatility, capacity absorption and weakness in the European economy—this unfortunate event will reverberate on the group,” he said. — Bloomberg BusinessWeek

[Brian] Robertson, [certified travel consultant and owner, Robertson International Travel Consultants], said the accident will not negatively impact his ability to sell cruises either short-term or long-term, or to change the way his agency sells: “People have a very short memory when it comes to this type of accident,” he believes. — TravelAgentCentral.com

As the story of the tragedy of the Costa Concordia continues to unravel, one good source of information is Cruise News Daily’s Cruiseblogger, which is adding updates to one continuously updated post, Costa Concordia Evacuated.

Photo: Aah-Yeah (flickr, CC2.0)

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According to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, 61 percent of respondents say they plan to spend more on travel and vacations this year than in 2011.

The online survey was conducted by Echo Research from Dec. 27 to 30, 2011, with results culled from a random sample of 2,000 U.S. adults. In addition to overall results, responses were divided into two sub-groups: Affluent—defined as having a minimum annual household income of $100,000 (562 respondents), and Young Professionals—defined as being younger than 30 year of age, with a college degree and a minimum household income of $50,000 (532 respondents).

Overall respondents deemed travel and vacations their No. 2 category (22 percent) for desired spending in 2012, behind home improvements (23 percent). Just 16 percent chose travel in 2011. Travel was No. 1 within the affluent and young professionals sub-groups, however, up 11 points to 32 percent and eight points to 46 percent, respectively.

Where are people getting the money for their increased travel? While the economic outlook remains uncertain, 35 percent of Americans say they are optimistic about their finances in the year ahead, with savings projected to be nearly three times what they were in 2011—$7,633 vs. $2,632.

Reward points are an important source of travel funds too—54 percent of consumers with leisure travel plans say they will redeem credit card reward points to help pay for travel, with 33 percent doing so for hotels and 31 percent for flights. Between genders, 59 percent of men say they will use points compared to 50 percent of women.

Forty percent of all travelers already have planned their first trip of 2012, with 17 percent having booked. For affluents, 22 percent have booked while 36 percent have completed planning. For young professionals, 17 percent have booked, 53 percent have planned.

Additional leisure-travel findings:

• 50 percent of all Americans plan to travel within the 50 states,
• 22 percent will venture abroad,
• 26 percent of men plan to travel overseas compared to 18 percent of women,
• 41 percent will choose a beach vacation,
• 20 percent will take a cruise, and
• 77 percent will fly to their destination, with 48 percent saying they’ll fly more in 2012 than they did in 2011.

If budget were no issue, 34 percent of overall Americans would choose North America as their destination, while just 26 percent of affluents and young professionals would. One in four overall prefer Europe (25 percent), while 37 percent and 38 percent of affluents and young professionals, respectively, do. Third most popular choice for both overall respondents and the affluent sub-group is Australia (12 percent), while 16 percent of young professionals would take off for Asia and the Pacific.

“The survey suggests good news for the travel industry,” says Claire Bennett, senior vice president and general manager of American Express Travel. “Consumers are planning to invest more in travel and nearly a quarter are setting aside a separate travel budget to help them meet their 2012 travel goals.”

Photo: American Express

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Stephen J. Cloobeck, CEO of Diamond Resorts International, aims to become one of the world’s great hoteliers, saying at a media event in New York City this week that he wants to join the ranks alongside Hilton, Marriott and other hospitality innovators.

He gets a chance to prove his worth this Sunday, or at least expand his audience, when he and his company are featured on the season-three premier of the CBS television show “Undercover Boss.” The reality series previously has featured two other hospitality bosses, from Choice Hotels and Great Wolf Lodge.

Founded in 2006, the Las Vegas-based Diamond Resorts is a growing time-share company, with more than 200 resorts in 28 countries. The management team focuses on taking over struggling vacation-ownership properties, sprucing them up and turning them around. Cloobeck, who also is chairman of Brand USA (formerly the Corporation for Travel Promotion), a public-private partnership that promotes the United States as a destination to international travelers, says Diamond Resorts is unlike most traditional vacation-ownership companies in that it operates like an FIT business, uses a points system, and guests can stay any length of time, from one night to multiple months.

This “Undercover Boss” episode shows Cloobeck as new hire “Jack Fisher,” whose ruse is that he is being filmed for another reality show about hating his job and starting over in a new career. His supposed previous job was as a morgue attendant for 20 years. In a disguise that features an obvious wig and make up that took an hour each day to apply, “Fisher” gets trained at a call center in Miami and works in maintenance and at the front desk at three different U.S. properties, in Sedona and Scottsdale, Arizona, and Williamsburg, Virginia.

In keeping with the formula of the show, the segments address some work issues specific to the company, but understood beyond the business’ industry—in this case, problems with call center workers, maintaining brand consistency among properties and how to handle overbookings. There are a few “tense” moments—including a fire and Cloobeck having to stand next to a poster of his undisguised self, a couple heartbreaking ones, and, at the end, pretty amazing gifts to the participating employees.

One of the complaints about “Undercover Boss” is that it rarely shows realistic work situations (which, frankly, can be said about most workplace-based reality TV programs). Another is that it’s primarily a public relations vehicle for the companies that participate. Indeed, there were no mentions in the episode of some problems Diamond Resorts apparently is having with some properties, as referenced in user comments on the show’s website.

Still, the main purpose behind participating in such a show should be to learn how to improve a company’s operations. So what were the major takeaways from the experience for Cloobeck and his management team?

“The biggest lesson learned was how important training is, especially when you have such a large staff with a broad range of education and experience,” says Cloobeck, adding that since filming ended a few months ago, he created a corporate-wide training program to address those needs.

Management also has addressed staffing schedules, technology upgrades, and equipment and supply needs.

Cloobeck, a former bodybuilder who made his fortune as a shopping mall developer, also learned that in addition to focusing on guest needs, you also need to take care of talented and dedicated employees, especially as they may be experiencing family and financial difficulties in their personal lives.

To honor that lesson, Cloobeck launched a charitable emergency fund about two weeks ago, from which needy employees can apply for assistance. “I give away anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 each year to charities and organizations around the world and realized that there were people I could help right in front of me, in my company.”

Photo: Diamond Resorts

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