The Corporation for Travel Promotion (CTP), the United States’ first official leisure and business tourism marketing agency, is planning to work up some huge buzz at the U.S. Travel Association’s International Pow Wow (May 21 – 25, 2011) in San Francisco.

Jim Evans

As a prelude to the Pow Wow launch, CTP announced the hiring of Jim Evans as its first CEO. Evans has decades of experience (see bio) having led companies like Best Western International and Jenny Craig, and he also was senior vice president of marketing for Hyatt Hotels.

“Attracting more international travelers to the U.S. will benefit the industry and our country by creating jobs, growing exports and spurring economic growth,” said Evans. “I am proud and excited to serve the travel industry—and our country—in carrying out this important mission.”

Jim Evans is going to be formally introduced to the industry and media at Pow Wow. CTP also is scheduled to participate in Pow Wow’s May 23 luncheon, where a public service announcement (PSA) video by President Obama promoting travel will be shown for the first time.

The video has been produced by Disney and overseen by CTP vice chairman Caroline Beteta. CTP hopes its launch and the celebrity pull of the President will make the video go viral, not to mention the potential for generating buzz among the presence of thousands of delegates at Pow Wow.

Other possible announcements the CTP board could make at Pow Wow include a name and brand to be used for marketing the United States and its business-to-consumer (B2C) website, corporationfortravelpromotion.com, which hasn’t yet been unveiled. CTP previously indicated that it might license and use the U.S. Travel Association’s “Discover America” trademark, or use “Discover USA.”

While the Pow Wow events are as good as a launch, CTP’s actual outreach to consumers doesn’t begin until October 1, 2011, when funding for marketing purposes becomes available. The funding comes via cash and in-kind contributions from the private sector, with matching funds from the ESTA fee paid by foreign visitors from Visa Waiver countries.

At the last board meeting on April 13, CTP chairman Stephen J. Cloobeck said that as of March 2011, the U.S. federal government had collected $74 million in ESTA fees. Of this amount, $54 million will be made available to the CTP to match the private cash and in-kind contributions that have been made.

By October, when they actually get their hands on the cash that’s piling up, it will have gone up to more than $100 million. So it’s safe to say that the CTP’s first year of promoting and marketing the U.S. to international visitors is off to an impressive start.

Related posts:
U.S. Corporation for Travel Promotion Launches Website
U.S. Launches Corporation for Travel Promotion
Nuts & Bolts of the Travel Promotion Act

When the news broke on Aug 7 that President Obama was considering easing travel restrictions to Cuba, it was celebrated for a few hours before New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez issued a statement that accused the travel industry of not caring about the people of Cuba.

Cuba Travel

An unnamed official told a reporter that the administration was planning to ease educational and cultural travel to Cuba.

There were no additional details as to what kind of changes there would be in the policy, or how soon it was likely to be introduced. There is no official confirmation that any changes to the Cuba travel ban are being considered.

And then Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) doused whatever little spark of hope there was with a statement that says the travel industry is only interested in opening up a new market and padding profits.

In a strongly worded statement, Sen. Menendez says that “This is not time to ease the pressure on the Castro regime — they have made no significant concessions that should be rewarded… “Promoting travel and wide-spread remittances will give the regime a much-need infusion of dollars that will only allow the Castro brothers to extend their reign of oppression and human rights violations. Furthermore, the big corporate interests behind the push to relax the embargo couldn’t care less about whether the Cuban people are free or not — they only care about padding their profits by opening up a new market. Those who lament our dependence on foreign oil because it enriches regimes in places like Iran should not have a double standard when it comes to enriching the Castro regime, simply because Cuba offers white sand beaches 90 miles from our coast.”

With Sen. Menendez clearly indicating that he won’t take it lying down, consider the Cuba Travel policy change DOA. Given the upcoming Nov elections and the current makeup of the Senate where the Democrats have 59 votes but need 60 to pass major legislation, President Obama cannot afford to go out on a limb for a non-essential policy change that can wait.

To be noted that legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate (Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act; S. 428 & H.R.874), but it likely won’t be taken up until next year. Sad part is that Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who introduced the legislation and has been a champion of the travel industry’s concerns, is not running for re-election and will not be around to push the legislation next year.

Photos: US Capitol – cliff1066; T-shirt – FutureAtlas

Related posts:-
Congress Hearing on Cuba Travel Ban
Cuba Travel Ban’d – New York Philharmonic
Orbitz Launches Open Cuba Travel Petition Website

It’s not easy being Las Vegas. Every destination has problems in a global economy – recession, fuel prices, climate change, bomb threats, etc. But Vegas somehow always manages to find its own special hot tin roof to jump on.

Las Vegas Plaza

Natural Gas:- The price of fuel and the vagaries of the commodity markets affect everyone. But what does one specific offshore exploration site near Haifa, Israel have to do with Las Vegas?

A huge natural gas find was made in the waters off Haifa by Delek Group Ltd, a company which belongs to Israeli billionaire Isaac Tshuva. Tshuva also happens to own the El-Ad Group Ltd, whose assets include the Plaza Hotel in New York.

Before the recession came along, Tshuva had plans to build an $8 billion Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas with 3500 rooms. They paid $1.25 billion for the New Frontier Hotel and razed it to make way for the Las Vegas Plaza. Then the real estate market tanked and the project was put on hold. 

But the Haifa gas find has helped Tshuva’s companies regain their clout, and Las Vegas now finds itself having to deal with another ‘too big to fail’ mega-project – in addition to the $8.9 billion CityCenter, the $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan opening in Dec 2010, and the $3 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas likely to be finished next year. 

Nevada nuclear test site

Nuclear Threat:- Yucca Mountain is a real threat, but Las Vegas also has to deal with tourism fallout from fake threats cooked up by federal agencies.

FEMA had plans to simulate a nuclear explosion in Las Vegas in May 2010 to test emergency preparedness. 10,000 local, state, and federal agents were expected to take part in the drill.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority pleaded with FEMA to cancel the drill, but the fake mushroom cloud hanging over Vegas tourism lifted only after Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) stepped in and sent a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.

In the letter, he argued that “economic recovery efforts would be stymied, or reversed entirely, by artificially creating anxiety surrounding tourism and investment in Las Vegas.” FEMA cancelled the drill.

In June 2006, the Nevada test site 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas was selected for testing a real nuclear-bunker busting bomb. The test – called Divine Strake, was also cancelled after protests. Safe to say that Sin City should expect more such fake and/or ‘friendly’ mushroom clouds in the near future.

Lake Mead

Climate Change:- Everyone’s worried about climate change, but no one’s put us on a clock ticking down to the end of the world. Not true for Vegas.

A study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has revealed that Lake Mead, which supplies 90% of Sin City’s drinking water, has a 50% chance of going dry by 2021.

So Vegas – with the neon and bright lights, has been leading the world’s big cities in turning off the lights for Earth Hour and installing occupancy sensors in hotel rooms which turn off the lights when no one’s there. 

The city with the Bellagio Fountains and the Venetian canal is now ripping up lawns and replacing them with astro-turfs, and most new hotel/casino projects are now LEED compliant – including the Palazzo and City Center.

President Obama & Vegas

Obama Effect:- The recession hit pretty much everyone, but Vegas has had a bulls-eye painted on its forehead by President Obama.

We’ve covered this extensively – the AIG effect, the Vegas blacklist by federal agencies, and the President urging CEOs not to use corporate jets to fly down to Las Vegas.

Earlier this year the economy was on the mend, but the President was faced with growing concern over federal deficits, so he let loose one more zinger asking people not to spend their money on Vegas.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman complained that the President had a “psychological hang-up” with Las Vegas. Meaning that everytime he faces a prickly financial situation, Obama blames it on Vegas. Based on this record and future forecasts, Vegas should fully expect to get trashed again.

Just when Sin City was beginning to forget what AIG Effect means, President Obama has restarted the whole debate by saying that people trying to save shouldn’t be spending money in Vegas.

President Obama & Fabulous Las Vegas Sign

On Feb 2, 2010, President Obama delivered a speech at a townhall in Nashua, New Hampshire. In the speech, he says that “When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices.”

Here’s the full transcript of the speech. This is the second time that President Obama has piled on Vegas. Exactly one year ago, on Feb 9, 2009, at a townhall meeting in Elkhart, Indiana, President Obama said “You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.”

That statement last year was made due to concern over public anger at federal bail outs for companies who were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on meetings and events. It was widely seen as a move to deflect public anger over the bailouts from the government and focus it on the corporates.

This time around, President Obama is trying to tamp down worries about federal deficits. He made the statement about ‘blowing a bunch of cash in Vegas’ in the context of wasteful government spending, which he says needs to be prioritized. This could be translated by federal agencies as a sign that they shouldn’t be considering Vegas for meetings and conferences.

There has already been a big kerfuffle over a federal blacklist for Vegas and other resort cities, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has even introduced the Protecting Resort Cities from Discrimination Act (S. 1530 & H.R. 3732) to make it go away.

The President’s new remarks open up the entire debate all over again.

Reaction from Vegas officials and Nevada lawmakers:-

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) – Issued statement titled “Reid to Obama – Lay off Las Vegas.” Also called White House and told them that “the president needs to lay off Las Vegas and stop making it the poster child for where people shouldn’t be spending their money.”

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman – Called Press Conference and said “I’ll do everything I can to give him the boot.”

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) – Issued statement saying “Enough is enough! President Obama needs to stop picking on Las Vegas and he needs to let Americans decide for themselves how and where to spend their hard-earned vacation dollars.”

In response to the criticism, President Obama sent a conciliatory note to Sen. Harry Reid. In the letter, he says that “I hope you know that during my Town Hall today, I wasn’t saying anything negative about Las Vegas. I was making the simple point that families use vacation dollars, not college tuition money, to have fun.  There is no place better to have fun than Vegas, one of our country’s great destinations.  I have always enjoyed my visits, look forward to visiting in a few weeks, and hope folks will visit in record numbers this year.”