Travel Industry Lobbying Efforts: Following up President Barack Obama’s Jan. 19 announcement to boost U.S. tourism and recognition of the travel industry’s contribution to the economy, the U.S. Travel Association last week unveiled “Vote Travel,” a new yearlong campaign to raise its profile with travelers and among policymakers in Washington, D.C.

“The world is experiencing a travel boom and the United States needs to be part of it,” said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. “The impact of the $1.8 trillion U.S. travel industry is significant and growing, which is why we are galvanizing support and asking all Americans to ‘Vote Travel’ this election season.”

The Vote Travel campaign intentionally coincides with 2012 being an election year and provides an added opportunity for the organization to garner support for travel policy initiatives. Campaign goals include:

• Building support for travel industry policy and advocacy priorities among policymakers and the general electorate;
• Generating media attention surrounding the travel industry’s impact on the U.S. economy, as well as state and local economies, including specific congressional districts;
• Strengthening the travel industry’s visibility and relevance in Washington;
• Showcasing the critical importance of meetings and conventions with events during the Democratic and Republican conventions to target both convention attendees, as well as media;
• Deepening relationships with travel industry partners by helping them tell the story of the travel industry’s importance to the U.S. economy; and
• Building additional grassroots support for U.S. Travel and the Power of Travel Coalition through social media platforms.

“Travel supports more than 14 million jobs in local communities and states across the nation,” said Dow. “By casting a vote for travel, our industry can increase jobs, help our economy recover and get America moving.”

Hotel Room Discounts: Room 77 has kicked off 2012 by offering travelers 10 percent off any hotel booking, any time, even off already-discounted rates, for bookings made on its site between now and Feb. 22, 2012. There are no blackout dates and there is no limit to the number of times the discount may be applied. To receive the additional 10 percent off, enter NEWROOM77 when booking.

For users with existing reservations—even if the hotel was booked elsewhere—Room 77 is offering a chance to test out its Room Concierge service, which helps travelers get the room that best matches their preferences. For those with an upcoming reservation at a three-star and above hotel, simply email your itinerary to concierge@room77.com with VIP CONCIERGE in subject line.

Additional travel news of interest:

OTAs Settle Suit by Palm Beach County – Palm Beach Post
Peek Raises Money for Planning Tourism Activities – The New York Times Bits Blog
Yoga Room Now Open at SFO Airport – San Mateo County Times
Kayak Redesign: How and Why They Did It – Tnooz
Mexico Tourism Up – Bloomberg, Travel Weekly
Travel Hiring Is on the Rise – The New York Times

Photo: U.S. Travel Association/Vote Travel

Related posts:
President Obama’s Plan to Boost U.S. Tourism
Room 77 Adds Booking, Room Concierge Services
OTAs to Settle with Florida Counties Over Hotel Taxes
Mexico Tourism in Need of Good News, Pushes Mayan 2012 Promotion

If it’s after Thanksgiving, then it’s time for the annual travel bloggers’ fundraiser Passports with Purpose, which kicked off today for its fourth year.

The goal for 2011 is to raise $80,000 during the next few weeks for construction and initial support of two libraries in Zambia through Room to Read, a nonprofit organization focused on literacy and gender equality in education. As Pam Mandel, one of the co-founders of Passports with Purpose, said, “We love reading. We love writing. We love libraries. We can totally get behind Room to Read.”

More than 100 travel bloggers from around the world are participating with donated prizes such as hotel stays, tours, travel gear, services, electronics and gift cards, each valued between $100 and $5,000.

For each $10 tax-deductible donation on the Passports with Purpose site, a person can enter to win a prize of their choice. Donations for multiple prizes and multiple $10 increments are acceptable, as are direct donations without entering for a prize. Bidding ends on Dec. 16, 2011, with a winner for each prize randomly selected on Dec. 23. All proceeds go directly to Room to Read.

Examples of some of the prizes include:

• Two-night stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, from No Vacation Required
• Three-night Marquis Los Cabos stay with one dinner for two, a bottle of Marquis wine and private shopping tour of Luxury Avenue with $1,000 peso gift card, from What a Trip (a blog by Uptake’s Lodging Blog editor Nancy D. Brown)
• 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points good for five nights at any Hyatt worldwide, from Loyalty Travel “Celebrity Chef Gourmet Cooking Experience” for two at the Freestyle Escape Outdoor Kitchen in Queensland, Australia, from Roaming Tales
• Kindle Fire, from Vacation Gals
• 15-day 1st class adult Eurail Global Flexi Pass, from BootsnAll

The travel bloggers will use their websites and social media outlets to promote the charity auction. The groundwork for establishing the two libraries already has begun. The libraries will be located next to the Masulwe Basic School and Chilileka Basic School. Hundreds of children will soon have access to a dedicated library staffed by a trained librarian and filled with colorful, age-appropriate books in their own language. Through Room to Read’s Challenge Grant model, the communities are co-investing by contributing to the libraries through volunteer labor and donated materials, resulting in the library’s long-term sustainability.

Passports with Purpose was started in 2008 by Mandel along with Debbie Dubrow, Michelle Duffy and Beth Whitman, the bloggers behind Nerd’s Eye View, Delicious Baby, WanderMom, and Wanderlust and Lipstick, respectively, in order to leverage the online travel-writing community to raise money and do long-lasting good for people and places around the world.

Each year the group chooses a partner organization, and so far, each year the initial goal set for the fundraiser has been surpassed. In prior years, Passports with Purpose donations have benefited Heifer International and helped build the Passports School with American Assistance for Cambodia and a village in Tamil Nadu, India, for 25 Dalit families with Land for Tillers’ Freedom.

Additional partners for Passports with Purpose 2011 include platinum sponsor Round the World with Us, a family of travelers committed to raising awareness of global issues and helping people better understand other cultures; silver sponsor Travellerspoint, a large travel community that claims to have members representing every country in the world; and bronze sponsor HomeAway, the large online marketplace for vacation rentals.

For more information or to donate, visit www.passportswithpurpose.org.

Photo: Passports with Purpose

Related post:
Passports with Purpose Win Trip to Canada, Mexico and Beyond

Tired of the same old ho hum places promoted time after time? Wanderfly.com has unearthed 25 destinations so far off the grid that you’ll hardly believe these places could even exist. But don’t delay—these newly discovered gems are being promoted on the travel recommendation site only for today.

Click on the “New Discoveries!” trip-theme button on the Wanderfly.com homepage, and soon you’ll be viewing such incredibly inspiring destinations as:

Kitty City, China—a town in Western Sichuan full of cute little kittens. Everywhere you look: kittens.

ObeCity, U.S.A.—a huge swath of land that is home to huge amounts of huge people eating huge meals at huge buffets.

Marés Gorduroso, Brazil—where travelers can contribute to the destruction of its rainforests at this new unsustainable tourism resort.

Islands in the Stream, Dubai—a man-made archipelago in the shape of Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.

Charlie Sheen’s Brain, California—where visitors can experience the wild unpredictability of living in luxury one moment, then being thrown into an uncontrollable rage the next.

ADX Florence Correctional Facility, Colorado—an all-inclusive resort where visitors can get away from all human contact and the worries (and addictions) of the outside world.

As with all its destinations, Wanderfly.com also includes recommended attractions, such as for Kitty City: Chairman Meow Mausoleum, Pussy Park and Enemy of the State Museum: Bob Barker.

Wanderfly.com had help from Whim Quarterly (writers from The Daily Show, David Letterman’s The Late Show and The Onion) coming up with this April Fool’s Day prank.

Of course, it’s not the only travel company with an April 1 joke this year: JetBlue announced its taking away its free snacks, DirectTV, no-fee for first checked bag of checked luggage and nonstop flights; Virgin Atlantic is touting the news that Richard Branson has purchased the former planet of Pluto and is reinstating it as an official planet; and, most impressive of all—Southwest Airlines has unlocked the secrets to time travel!

RyanAir, ever the prankster, announced it was launching child-free flights come October. While this has been confirmed as another one of the company’s April Fool’s jokes, there are enough fliers potentially interested in such an offer that the possibility that it wasn’t a joke was much debated the past two days.

Hey, it’s Friday. There are worse ways to start to the weekend. What have been your favorite travel industry pranks?

Unrelated posts:
Animal Social Networks and Destination Marketing
How Will Rising Gas Prices Affect Travel Trends

Will airports be less crowded this summer?

It was just a couple months ago that the travel industry was celebrating the beginning of the end of the recession. Hotels reported rising occupancy rates and predicted they’d soon be able to raise their prices, heading toward pre-recession levels. Even companies that catered to the leisure traveler were finally seeing the signs of growth that their counterparts in the business travel sector had enjoyed last year.

Travel, it seemed, was on the rebound.

But now, oil is more than $100 a barrel, and gas prices are climbing in response. Will that hinder the travel industry’s comeback in 2011?

Although airlines have been steadily raising rates this year and recently upped their baggage fees again, many experts predict that the industry’s most valuable client—the business traveler—will still take to the skies in 2011.

The Global Business Travel Association predicts that business travel will remain steady even if oil prices pass $125 per barrel. The availability of hotel discounts once travelers arrive at their destination is thought to play a role in continued business travel despite the increased cost of airfare.

Leisure travel, however, may see a shift.

Instead of buying an airplane ticket, consumers who have foregone travel during the recession may opt to take their vacations within driving distance. Although rising gas prices will impact the cost of a road trip, a destination within driving distance is still likely to be less expensive to reach than one that requires  a cross-country plane ride.

The good news for hotels and other companies in the hospitality industry is that people want to travel now that their incomes are recovering, they just might not be willing to travel as far as they would before oil and gas prices started climbing.

Photo by Britt Reints