Twitter shares soared more than 26% on Monday with the news that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has bought 9.2% (73.5 million share purchase worth $2.9 billion) of the social media company, making him the company’s largest shareholder. Observers were puzzled about Musk’s strategy; Max Chafkin at Bloomberg Technology reported that he’s “…interviewed Musk many times over the past 15 years and can attest that he means this sincerely, even if he also can be impetuous, vindictive, hotheaded and goofy. Since the news broke, the closest he came to offering an explanation was a tweet later Monday morning that read: ‘Oh hi lol.'”
By Tuesday morning, there were reports that Musk is joining the Twitter board, promising change whilst being blocked from buying majority share. Most of all, we LOVE this tweet and emphatically say “yse.”
Truly Good
Did you have a campaign that worked in the past? Consider dusting it off and levering its power by using it again.
Although “Malaysia Truly Asia” was launched worldwide in 1999, it is back with a bang as the country reopened borders last weekend. Malaysia has 30 global offices and six marketing representatives abroad.
Pure Winners
Remember, “Virginia is for Lovers” dates to 1969 and “I Love New York” was introduced in 1975. More recently, “Pure Michigan” came along in 2008.
Japan on Sale
Everyone thinks Japan is expensive…and it was. Now that the Japanese yen is very weak, we might expect that the destination will dream up a post-Covid campaign relating to prices. In a recent article in Nikkei Asia, a Tokyo-based financial analyst suggests the “mother of all tourism booms” may be coming when Japan opens its borders. Peter Tasker says the yen “has halved in value against the dollar since 1995, taking it back to levels not seen since the early 1970s.”
CALIFORNIA — The national historic landmark nicknamed “America’s Castle” reopens on May 11 after being closed for more than two years. Atop a hill overlooking the Pacific, Hearst Castle experienced “unsustainable” visitor traffic climbing toward one million per year that peaked pre-Covid when the Neptune Pool refurbishment was completed and the road from Big Sur was restored after a mudslide. Now? Watch this space.
AIRLINES — JetBlue Airways has offered to buy Spirit Airlines for about $3.6 billion and break up a plan for Spirit to merge with rival budget carrier Frontier Airlines.
ALBUQUERQUE — A hard-earned victory by Visit Albuquerque, which successfully formed the first such district in the state of New Mexico.
ARIZONA — Last Friday, Governor Ducey signed a bill continuing Arizona Office of Tourism as the state’s DMO for an additional eight years.
CRUISES — The CDC removed its “Cruise Ship Travel Health Notice” after more than two years of high level warnings. Just three months ago at the height of the Omicron variant, the warning was Level 4: high risk. Meantime, with 22 of its 23 ships back in business, Carnival Cruise Line said the one-week period from March 28 to April 3 was its busiest booking week in the company’s history, showing a double-digit increase from the previous record seven-day booking total.
CANADA — It’s official: As of last Friday, fully vaccinated passengers no longer need to provide a negative COVID test to enter Canada by land, sea or air.
FLORIDA — Visit Florida is raising rates for marketing partners for the first time in 15 years, with the changes moving forward in April and expected to remain in place for at least a few years. Partnership fees currently bring in about $1.2 million a year; the new structure is projected to raise that to about $1.75 million. Visit Florida is set to receive $50 million as part of the state budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
MISSISSIPPI — In 2021, a new state flag was revealed. Last week, lawmakers passed a bill that removes “Go, Mississippi” as the official state song. However, there was no agreement on just one new official state song, so now there’s a committee considering having three songs at once. Sounds good…
WEST COAST — No joke…On April first, Alaska Airlines canceled 120 flights affecting 15,000-plus passengers, mostly in cities on the West Coast. Off-duty pilots picketed in several major cities over an impasse in nearly three years of contract negotiations, and the airline said more cancellations were possible through the weekend.
DOWNTOWN, USA — Who’s at their desk? The pandemic has changed the face of downtown in US cities, some predict permanently. There’s plenty of recent research and surveys, such as this one from Robert Half, revolving around office workers’ and employers’ preferences for hybrid, remote, flexible, and WFH preferences.
NEW YORK CITY — The new Halal Travel Guide is out. It contains halal dining recommendations, prayer places, Muslim-friendly hotels, plus tips and advice from Muslim travel experts.
Now the first U.S. city to publish an official guide for Muslim visitors, this project by NYC & Company is in partnership with Crescent Rating and Halal Trip.
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