The state's official tourism marketing corporation has signed on as sponsor of the American Advertising Federation's National Student Advertising Competition 2004.
By pledging $300,000 -- a bargain compared with the $8 million it spent on this summer's advertising campaign -- Visit Florida receives the winning team's work and is also free to use research and other ideas from the competition after the results are presented next June, Visit Florida spokesman Tom Flanigan says.
"This is perhaps the first time we'll be creating strategies to promote an experience, which is what a Florida vacation really is," says Wallace Snyder, president and CEO of AAF. In past competitions, students have worked with Toyota Motor Sales USA, Bank of America, Pizza Hut, the American Red Cross, Kodak and American Airlines.
Other cross-promotion efforts:
97 Miami boutique hotels have combined forces to tout their 6,100 or so rooms in a full-color, 128-page guidebook published by the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Charlotte, Manatee and Sarasota counties are uniting behind a promotion that places full-color, eight-page advertising supplements in newspapers in Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, N.C., and Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.
The three tourism marketing districts in Volusia County are looking at combining their efforts into one visitors guide instead of three separate brochures for the Halifax, southeast Volusia and west Volusia areas.
The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau is battling with residents about its proposal to cut almost 29% of its $1-million marketing budget in 2004. Bradenton officials could take a lesson from Atlanta, which trimmed its summer advertising campaign budget by 60% to $165,000 and was still able to "purchase" $1.5 million in airtime in Florida and other parts of the Southeast by bartering. The Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau traded packages of hotel rooms, meals and admission to local attractions in exchange for 2,500 TV spots and 5,400 radio ads.
Around the Industry
Attractions
SeaWorld Orlando opened its waterfront entertainment district with long lines and a power failure, leading the company to give annual pass-holders who attended an extra month. The park also gave $10 gift certificates to all pass-holders who showed up at the park that day, regardless of whether they attended the waterfront's opening ... Disney has unveiled a makeover at Epcot's Japan pavilion that includes a sake-tasting bar ... Universal Studios Florida has opened its Shrek 4-D film and is gearing up for next year's opening of its Revenge of the Mummy attraction, finally releasing details of the long-rumored combination of roller coaster, robotics and pyrotechnics ... Dolly Parton opened her Dixie Stampede Dinner & Show in Orlando with a personal appearance that drew national press attention and 1,200 visitors for an invitation-only luncheon. When asked why her company decided to locate the $28-million, 128,000-sq.-ft. facility in a highly competitive tourist market like Orlando, where the dinner theater employs 250 and charges $43.99 admission for adults, the country music diva said: "I ain't scared. There ain't nothing Mickey Mouse about the Dixie Stampede."
A Thinner Herd
Travel agencies nationwide are finally starting to notice an increase in their average weekly sales -- 4% over last year's dismal figures of post-Sept. 11, 2001. But that could be in part because the number of travel agencies is dropping. According to trade association Airlines Reporting Corp., there were 1,900 travel agencies in Florida as of April. A year earlier, there were 2,215.
Business Bookings
For the first time, business travelers are booking more business online than over the phone, according to GetThere.com. Corporations responding to the annual GetThere Corporate Benchmark Survey say they're securing more than 50% of their travel arrangements over the internet, saving an average of 15% on airfare and 50% on travel agency service fees.
Hotel Perks
Business travelers at some Hilton hotels can now request that a treadmill be brought to their rooms through the chain's Get Fit With Hilton In-Room Fitness Program ... Among many other changes, the new version of the Marriott Rewards frequent-stay program now gives platinum-level guests a welcome basket in their rooms. The contents depend on the price level of the hotel.
High Rankings
When Pro Player Stadium hosts the Super Bowl in February 2007, it will be the ninth time the event has taken place in south Florida, tying the record set by New Orleans. And tourism officials are already working on new ways of showcasing the area to football fans ... Orlando now ties Chicago in hosting the second-highest number of top 200 trade shows in the nation, trailing Las Vegas, according to Tradeshow Week.
Awards and Honors
Two Marriott employees in Florida are among 12 the company honored nationwide with its J. Willard Marriott Award of Excellence: Abraham Campbell, a restaurant server at Tampa Marriott Westshore, and John Weis, director of sales at Marriott Vacation Club International-Cypress Harbour in Orlando. The Renaissance Orlando Resort received an honorable mention for the Alice S. Marriott Award for Community Service.
Comings and Goings
Visit Florida's board ratified Bud Nocera as its new chief executive ... The new 120,000-sq.-ft. Sarasota Bradenton Convention Center International, owned by a local businessman, is expected to add tourism dollars and fill a gap left by other convention facilities in Sarasota and Manatee counties that are too small for some shows. Meanwhile, the Sarasota County Tourist Development Council is said to be looking into a publicly financed convention center ... A national pioneer in the hospitality industry, Florann Marie Montgomery Gailliard of Fort Lauderdale, has died of cancer. The first black woman in the U.S. to receive a doctorate in hospitality and tourism management, she was head of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Technology in Kingston, Jamaica ... The Everglades Hotel in Miami reportedly will be demolished, taking with it 77 years of history.