A curated collection of travel-related headlines range from Amazon HQ2 to record-breaking Thanksgiving travel volume and the promise of 1) better cruise food from Sir Richard; 2) better inflight Wi-Fi from AAL; and 3) better travel writing from The New York Times. Catch up on a roundup of noteworthy travel industry trends and disruption headlines.
‘Twas Only a Matter of Time
The New York Times has a new travel editor and she’s turning the tables, asking readers what they’d like to see covered and how. Reimagining travel writing in the digital age is everybody’s chance to chime in, as Amy Virshup says she’s interested in sourcing more travel content from local writers. Let’s give Amy something to smile about by replying with our great ideas. Read more here.
And Another One Bites the Dust
Lonely Planet subscribers received a notice with their magazine this month.”This is Your Final Issue,” it reads, as the monthly subscribers’ US print edition is shuttered
It’s Official
Amazon announced its HQ2 decision, selecting not one but two locations after a frenzied 14-month process led by the Seattle-based tech powerhouse. Crystal City, Virginia and Long Island City in Queens, New York will be the major corporate outposts, each supporting at least 25,000 jobs. Downtown Nashville, Tennessee gets a consolation prize with 5,000 jobs on the logistics and operations side. About 240 locations sent bids, some on the creative side, such as Tucson’s giant saguaro cactus. “For Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Montgomery County MD, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Toronto, and Washington, D.C., the year-long battle for Amazon allowed them to promote their cities and opened up new development opportunities,” says CNN. Read more here.
All Good Things Must…
Following 105 consecutive months of growth, travel to and within the US is set to level off, says U.S. Travel Association. Due mainly to the leisure sector, US travel grew by +1.6% in the 12 months to September 2018, while business-related travel appeared to plateau. The U.S. Travel Association’s international Leading Travel Index predicts that the market will not expand any further in the next six months when “a perfect storm of factors” is expected to suppress international demand. Read more here.
Turkey Trots
AAA projects that over Thanksgiving, 54.3 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home, a 4.8 percent increase—or 2.5 million additional people—over last year. The 2018 holiday weekend will see the highest Thanksgiving travel volume since 2005. INRIX, a global mobility analytics company, predicts travel times in major metros could be four times longer than normal trip times. Read more here.
- Cars: An estimated 48.5 million folks, 5 percent more than in 2017, will hit the road between Wed., Nov. 21 and Sun., Nov. 25, 2018.
- Planes: The largest growth in holiday travel is by air, at 5.4 percent, or 4.27 million travelers in the skies.
- Trains, Buses and Cruise Ships: Travel across these sectors will increase by 1.4 percent for a total of 1.48 million passengers.
Three Strikes, You’re Out
American Airlines has decided to de-install Wi-Fi provider GoGo from at least 400 of its jets. Look for Viasat inflight internet and wireless entertainment to be pre-installed on 100 new Airbus A321neo and Boeing 737 MAX aircraft as well as re-engined A321s and Boeing 737-800s. As of July 2018, American Airlines operates a fleet of 956 aircraft, the world’s largest. Read more here.
Two-Way Road
Euromonitor International predicts China will dethrone France as the world’s number one tourist destination by 2030, based on data collected by the global research company. Tourists from mainland China are also set to overtake Americans to become the biggest group of international travelers. The number of Chinese people taking trips abroad will more than double to 259 million in 2030 from the current 97.5 million. That number will far outweigh the US in second place with 159 million outbound trips and Germany with 138.6 million. Read more here.
Back to the Future
Booking.com, the flagship brand of Booking Holdings Inc. (also parent to Priceline.com, Agoda.com, Kayak.com, Cheapflights, Rentalcars.com, Momondo, and OpenTable) is pivoting to emphasize the prepaid hotel model that it basically spurned for most of its history. This means better cash flow because consumers pay when they book. Read more here.
Going, Going, Gone…Again
Fortune magazine has been sold by media conglomerate Meredith to Chatchaval Jiaravanon, a Thai businessman for $150 million cash in its second sale of 2018. Ten months ago, Meredith bought Fortune as part of a $1.8 billion deal that included legacy brands Time, Sports Illustrated, People, and Entertainment Weekly. In September, Time magazine was picked up by Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and his wife for $190 million. “While print is no longer a growth market,” says NBC, “the Association of Magazine Media reported that 27 titles now have a video audience of more than a million per month.” Read more here.
You’re Hired
Floating a new solution to its homeless problem, San Francisco Travel is among the partners proposing to hire the homeless into paths to jobs in retail, hospitality, and tourism. CleanSafe365 is a new broad-based coalition of nonprofits, merchant groups, business districts, civic organizations, and property owners to advocate, ideate, and hold the city’s new African American female mayor and her administration accountable for the pledge to prioritize homeless solutions. Read more here.
Dancing on the Tables
Virgin Voyages is set to disrupt the ubiquitous cruise ship all-you-can-eat buffet. “Scarlet Lady,” launching in 2020 from Miami to the Caribbean, will have 20 all-inclusive restaurants for its 2,770 guests. “No buffet, no main dining room, no forced formal wear, no assigned seating, no assigned dining times,” says Virgin. Sir Richard adds, “We love to create quality products that are fun, fun, fun—and we’re planning to create tables onboard that are strong enough to dance on.” Read more here.
Beyond our Borders
Mexico could be the world’s third nation to legalize pot for recreational purposes, following Canada and Uruguay. Paving the way for legalization, that country’s Supreme Court has deemed marijuana prohibition as unconstitutional. Back in the USA, nine states have legalized the drug for recreational uses, but it is still illegal under federal law. Confusion reigns, for example: At LAX, airport police permit travelers with less than an ounce of weed but the TSA will present a major problem if they find the controlled substance. Read more here.
Shop ‘Til You Drop
Guam CVB gets digitally savvy about shopping, announcing key improvements to its mobile app while banishing paper shopping coupons. The island’s tourist bureau also introduced as eight new social media ambassadors with a fan base of 12 million-plus to highlight the destination’s tax-free shopping experiences. Read more here.
Lonely Planet, now in its 45th year, has published its annual worldwide 2019 lists of top cities, top regions, top destinations, top values.
Greenspring Media announced partnerships with Visit Rochester and AAA Minneapolis, to produce their travel and tourism publications: Experience Rochester reaches more than 500,000 visitors annually, and Live | Play | AAA Magazine, a bi-monthly membership magazine, serves more than 207,000 members in the Twin Cities.
Hello, Destination Bedford. The Virginia county in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains is going through a branding process. Last year, the county hired Mikula-Harris, a branding firm specialized in the travel and tourism industry. In 2019, Smith Mountain Lake, Peaks of Otter, the National D-Day Memorial, Bedford Wine Trail, and Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest will be featured in ads and a new website will be launched.
London World Travel Market is on from Nov. 6-8, 2018. We’ll be watching for the result of “
New England fall photographer, 
Visit Loveland won the 2018 Colorado Governor’s Tourism Award for its “Sharing the Love of Valentine Season” marketing program. The campaign focused on strategic partnerships, marketing, PR and social media efforts and a touring Valentina mascot resulting in public relations value of more than $1.4 million.
In Texas, the City of Denison is recruiting a Director of Marketing and Tourism.
NYC & Company is recruiting a Marketing Manager.
The Colorado Tourism Office is hiring a Deputy Director for U.S. Marketing.
Universal Orlando has openings for Senior Manager, Marketing – Brand Communications and a Director – Digital Strategy.
U.S. Travel Association in Washington, D.C. is searching for a VP/Senior VP for Strategic Partnerships; a Senior Director/VP for Industry Relations; as well as a Senior Director, Government Relations. There are additional openings for Manager, Video Production and Manager, Media Relations.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce seeks a Director of Marketing.
Destination DC, the official destination marketing organization for 
Instagram has a new CEO, promoting the former VP of product, Adam Mosseri. One week after Instagram’s co-founders announced they were leaving the company, Facebook has named the 10-year veteran executive who’s taking over the reins of the popular photo-sharing app.
After 15 years, European carrier Primera Air abruptly ceased operations on Monday, stranding passengers around on both sides of the pond. Last year, the airline announced plans for ultra-low fares from U.K. airports Stansted and Birmingham airports to New York, Boston, Washington, and Toronto. Primera said that a lack of demand, delayed orders from Airbus, and a dearth of long-term financing forced the closure.
Aloha, robot. The guest speaker at Monday’s opening luncheon at the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s Global Tourism Summit was Sophia The Robot. Sophia is a vessel for AI research and development and a much-sought-after media personality. Sophia is Hanson Robotics’ most advanced human-like robot, created by combining breakthrough innovations in robotics, AI, and artistry. She’s got expressiveness, aesthetics and interactivity, simulates a full range of facial expressions, tracks and recognizes faces, and holds natural conversations.
In a reorganization, CEO Julie Calvert, Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau, has created a new role of vice president, communications & strategic development, while eliminating two positions: COO and VP-sales and services. A position for EVP-sales has also been created, with nationwide searches being handled by SearchWide Global.
In North Carolina, the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Tourism Development Authority announced that Corrina Ferguson has been hired as the new executive director of the Elizabeth City Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Ferguson, currently director of the Williamsburg Area Destination Marketing Committee and formerly with VisitNewEngland.com, will start her new job at the CVB on Oct. 29.
Colorado Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau is now Visit Colorado Springs and sporting an updated logo as well. “The decision amplifies the organization’s mission to bring more visitors to Colorado Springs at Pikes Peak and helps communicate the purpose of Colorado Springs — Olympic City USA’s destination marketing organization,” said Visit Colorado Springs President and CEO Doug Price.
Jake Steinman, 
William Pate, President and CEO of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau will serve as the 2018-2019 chair of Destinations International‘s board of directors. Other board officers include Craig Davis, VisitPittsburgh (chair-elect); Butch Spyridon, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. (secretary-treasurer); and Tammy Blount-Canavan, Monterey County CVB, (immediate past chair).
Jason Fulvi, CDME, the new president and CEO of Visit KC, will chair the Destinations International Foundation board of trustees for the same period. Others serving are John Groh, Rockford Area CVB (chair-elect); John Lambeth, Civitas Advisors, (secretary-treasurer); Stephanie Pace Brown, Explore Asheville immediate past chair); and John Percy, Destination Niagara USA (at-large officer).
Sheelagh Wylie has left the inbound side of the U.S. tourism business—and her job as vice president, business development and head of trade sales, Midway Attractions, North America, Merlin Entertainments—to join Visit Britain as chief marketing officer, Americas. She is based in New York. For the past 15 years Wylie had been with Merlin which includes Madame Tussauds among its 127 attractions, 19 hotels, and 7 holiday villages in 27 countries.
Fritz Smith has been named as the new executive director of the Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitors Bureau. Smith has worked in Pennsylvania government as director of tourism operations and as deputy secretary for tourism, film, and economic development. He also has served as vice president of tourism for the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau and most recently was vice president of research and hotel initiatives for Visit Philadelphia.
Julie Calvert was named president and CEO of the Cincinnati CVB following a five-month executive search. Calvert had previously served as VP – Communications and Strategic Development for the bureau in 2011-2016. Dan Lincoln, who led the bureau for 11 years, stepped down at the end of 2017, citing health reasons.
Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau has rebranded as Memphis Tourism. including a new logo. The update follows months of data-driven research, stakeholder interviews, and audience testing by destination analysts in surveys with 800 potential visitors. President and CEO Kevin Kane, a 27-year veteran, and CMO Regena Bearden, a 30-year veteran, launched the new look for the “Home of Blues, Soul, and Rock ‘n’ Roll” in June.
Cheryl Y. Kilday, CDME, will leave in mid-October after eight years as president and CEO of Visit Spokane (WA) to become CEO of North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce. A nationwide search for Visit Spokane expected to last 10-12 weeks is planned, while the interim role will be filled by TJ Hake, VP of Strategic Development and Operations.
Marshall, Texas has named Mallori James as the new leader of Marshall (TX) Convention and Visitors Bureau as the new Tourism and Marketing Manager. The position is responsible for the leadership of the DMO, implementing a robust and creative marketing strategy to attract tourists, and enhancing nature, culture, and arts opportunities for city visitors and residents.
Salesforce billionaire CEO Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne “sent shock waves from New York to San Francisco” with their purchase of the 95-year-old Time Magazine, one of the world’s most iconic magazine titles, reports Business Insider. Observers are left musing; will they go all-video with the $190 million purchase?
