• The current status of The Power of Travel Coalition.
•Why cities participate to support travel during U.S. Travel Rally Day.
Each year the U.S. Travel Rally Day is held to bring awareness of the impact travel has on local workers, businesses and economies. In May, staged events are held in cities nationwide, which is recognized as National Travel and Tourism Week.The main message of the week is, travel matters to the nation and to local communities. By uniting travel workers and supporters, the message is made public to media, elected officials and the residents.
•Why cities participate to support travel during U.S. Travel Rally Day.
Each year the U.S. Travel Rally Day is held to bring awareness of the impact travel has on local workers, businesses and economies. In May, staged events are held in cities nationwide, which is recognized as National Travel and Tourism Week.The main message of the week is, travel matters to the nation and to local communities. By uniting travel workers and supporters, the message is made public to media, elected officials and the residents.
The U.S. Travel Association
While The U.S. Travel Rally Day has a huge impact on travel, the day stems from a much larger campaign. This campaign was launched by the U.S. Travel Association last May and strives to build a grassroots army of one million travel employees.
According to Candice Knezevic, Director of Grassroots and Industry Relations at the U.S. Travel Assocation, the 2009 meetings crisis was a wake up call for the travel industry, “By launching the campaign, we wanted to be prepared to step up when the travel industry is negatively attacked or when there is harmful legislation threatening travel. In addition, we want more people to be educated on travel and for travel consumers and policymakers to recognize travel for the economic powerhouse that it is.
Travel brings in billions of dollars for our economy and supports ten million jobs nationwide. A strong travel economy means stronger local economies and more jobs.”
Approximately 350,000 individuals have signed up for the campaign and the The Power of Travel Coalition has a separate goal to enlist at least 50,000 meeting professionals.
Knezevic said that this year, more planning and preparing will be done for the National Travel and Tourism Week, including the U.S. Travel Rally Day. Knezevic said she hopes to have more people involved and to make more resources available.
The U.S. Travel Association will continually send out information building up to the National Travel and Tourism Week. The organization has already sent out a mini-toolkit video featuring President and CEO Roger Dow and plans to send out multiple webinars with focuses on the power of travel and grassroots advocacy.
The theme this year is, “Why Travel Matters” and especially during the U.S. Travel Rally Day, the organization hopes to make a case to local communities of why travel is important.
ITAGroup, Inc.
Tanya Feldman is with ITAGroup, Inc. who participated in the U.S. Travel Rally Day last year. She said their company thinks participating in the event is important for several reasons, “There is so much impact to our economy by travel that not everyone recognizes. We looked at it from two different perspectives. By participating in the rally, it draws attention to how many people are involved in the travel industry and shows what a positive impact this has on our economy. Also, it shows support for our local businesses that are related to travel. We want to present a united front.” Feldman said last year, they held an internal rally at their offices. All of the employees at ITAGroup, Inc. were asked to wear red in support and they invited local businesses (hotels and CVBs) that were affected by travel to participate with them. In addition, they had a local General Manager and President of their CVB speak to all of their employees about the impact that the travel industry has had on their community.
Go Wichita
According to the U.S. Travel Assocation, one out of every nine jobs depends on travel and tourism in the US. Prior to the formal creation of the U.S. Travel Rally Day, Go Wichita created events to call attention to National Travel & Tourism Week.
In 2009, Go Wichita organized a sign-waving rally in downtown Wichita to support travel and tourism. The event featured remarks from Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer and Sedgwick County Commissioner Gwen Welshimer.
In 2010, Go Wichita invited front-desk staff from local hotels to an open house. This gave Go Wichita the opportunity to highlight the partnership that the Bureau has with local hotels when it comes to providing information to visitors.
Ken Vandruff, Director of Communications at Go Wichita said their organization views the rally as an educational tool, “It allows Go Wichita to reach beyond our membership and take the message on the economic benefits of travel and tourism to the local population. It also gives the industry the opportunity to help spread that message regionally and nationally through other Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs).”
Vandruff also stated that each year Go Wichita obtains proclamations highlighting the importance of travel and tourism from the City of Wichita’s City Council and the Sedgwick County Commission. Each council member and county commissioner verbalizes their individual support as the proclamations are approved. “Go Wichita works closely with the Kansas Division of Travel & Tourism to share information and message points that can be disseminated to Kansas residents in conjunction with this event,” said Vandruff.
Greater Green Bay
This year marks the third year that the Greater Green Bay CVB officially has participated in the U.S. Travel Day Rally on a national level.
Each year the CVB holds a press conference to announce Wisconsin’s state and county tourism economic impact numbers. Tourism is the third largest industry in the state so the media attention Greater Green Bay CVB gives to travel and tourism, is noticed locally and statewide.
Greater Green Bay CVB has done everything from premiering a new Discover Wisconsin - Green Bay television program episode to gathering people on the shore of the Fox River in downtown Green Bay, for U.S. Travel Rally Day.
Brenda Krainik, Director of Marking at the Greater Green Bay CVB said while being known for the Green Bay Packers football team is great, there is much more to the community, “Few people realize that we are a city of 104,000 people… approximately 250,000 countywide. Tourism and travel is hugely important to our community. There’s not another NFL city in the country that would feel the same pain as us if you took away our football season. Our small community expertly hosts 70,000 people 10 or 11 times a year. That’s an amazing feat. So there isn’t one person who isn’t affected by tourism and travel in our community.”
Krainik said every year is exciting and this year, the Greater Green Bay CVB will be moving their Mobile Visitor Center (MVC) around the community on U.S. Travel Rally Day. They take the MVC to major events around the county to assist visitors. They plan to show it off in places that wouldn’t normally see it, play a few travel games and generate some buzz and excitement about travel with their local media.
Krainik said if in future years, more CVBs from around the country participated and were united as one voice, the industry would be louder and stronger. “I think that the greatest part of this day is that the smallest to the largest destinations all have the same message… get out and travel!”
For additional information on the U.S. Travel Rally Day check out, www.travelcoalition.org or for more information on The Power of Travel Coalition please visit, www.travelcoalition.org.
While The U.S. Travel Rally Day has a huge impact on travel, the day stems from a much larger campaign. This campaign was launched by the U.S. Travel Association last May and strives to build a grassroots army of one million travel employees.
According to Candice Knezevic, Director of Grassroots and Industry Relations at the U.S. Travel Assocation, the 2009 meetings crisis was a wake up call for the travel industry, “By launching the campaign, we wanted to be prepared to step up when the travel industry is negatively attacked or when there is harmful legislation threatening travel. In addition, we want more people to be educated on travel and for travel consumers and policymakers to recognize travel for the economic powerhouse that it is.
Travel brings in billions of dollars for our economy and supports ten million jobs nationwide. A strong travel economy means stronger local economies and more jobs.”
Approximately 350,000 individuals have signed up for the campaign and the The Power of Travel Coalition has a separate goal to enlist at least 50,000 meeting professionals.
Knezevic said that this year, more planning and preparing will be done for the National Travel and Tourism Week, including the U.S. Travel Rally Day. Knezevic said she hopes to have more people involved and to make more resources available.
The U.S. Travel Association will continually send out information building up to the National Travel and Tourism Week. The organization has already sent out a mini-toolkit video featuring President and CEO Roger Dow and plans to send out multiple webinars with focuses on the power of travel and grassroots advocacy.
The theme this year is, “Why Travel Matters” and especially during the U.S. Travel Rally Day, the organization hopes to make a case to local communities of why travel is important.
ITAGroup, Inc.
Tanya Feldman is with ITAGroup, Inc. who participated in the U.S. Travel Rally Day last year. She said their company thinks participating in the event is important for several reasons, “There is so much impact to our economy by travel that not everyone recognizes. We looked at it from two different perspectives. By participating in the rally, it draws attention to how many people are involved in the travel industry and shows what a positive impact this has on our economy. Also, it shows support for our local businesses that are related to travel. We want to present a united front.” Feldman said last year, they held an internal rally at their offices. All of the employees at ITAGroup, Inc. were asked to wear red in support and they invited local businesses (hotels and CVBs) that were affected by travel to participate with them. In addition, they had a local General Manager and President of their CVB speak to all of their employees about the impact that the travel industry has had on their community.
Go Wichita
According to the U.S. Travel Assocation, one out of every nine jobs depends on travel and tourism in the US. Prior to the formal creation of the U.S. Travel Rally Day, Go Wichita created events to call attention to National Travel & Tourism Week.
In 2009, Go Wichita organized a sign-waving rally in downtown Wichita to support travel and tourism. The event featured remarks from Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer and Sedgwick County Commissioner Gwen Welshimer.
In 2010, Go Wichita invited front-desk staff from local hotels to an open house. This gave Go Wichita the opportunity to highlight the partnership that the Bureau has with local hotels when it comes to providing information to visitors.
Ken Vandruff, Director of Communications at Go Wichita said their organization views the rally as an educational tool, “It allows Go Wichita to reach beyond our membership and take the message on the economic benefits of travel and tourism to the local population. It also gives the industry the opportunity to help spread that message regionally and nationally through other Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs).”
Vandruff also stated that each year Go Wichita obtains proclamations highlighting the importance of travel and tourism from the City of Wichita’s City Council and the Sedgwick County Commission. Each council member and county commissioner verbalizes their individual support as the proclamations are approved. “Go Wichita works closely with the Kansas Division of Travel & Tourism to share information and message points that can be disseminated to Kansas residents in conjunction with this event,” said Vandruff.
Greater Green Bay
This year marks the third year that the Greater Green Bay CVB officially has participated in the U.S. Travel Day Rally on a national level.
Each year the CVB holds a press conference to announce Wisconsin’s state and county tourism economic impact numbers. Tourism is the third largest industry in the state so the media attention Greater Green Bay CVB gives to travel and tourism, is noticed locally and statewide.
Greater Green Bay CVB has done everything from premiering a new Discover Wisconsin - Green Bay television program episode to gathering people on the shore of the Fox River in downtown Green Bay, for U.S. Travel Rally Day.
Brenda Krainik, Director of Marking at the Greater Green Bay CVB said while being known for the Green Bay Packers football team is great, there is much more to the community, “Few people realize that we are a city of 104,000 people… approximately 250,000 countywide. Tourism and travel is hugely important to our community. There’s not another NFL city in the country that would feel the same pain as us if you took away our football season. Our small community expertly hosts 70,000 people 10 or 11 times a year. That’s an amazing feat. So there isn’t one person who isn’t affected by tourism and travel in our community.”
Krainik said every year is exciting and this year, the Greater Green Bay CVB will be moving their Mobile Visitor Center (MVC) around the community on U.S. Travel Rally Day. They take the MVC to major events around the county to assist visitors. They plan to show it off in places that wouldn’t normally see it, play a few travel games and generate some buzz and excitement about travel with their local media.
Krainik said if in future years, more CVBs from around the country participated and were united as one voice, the industry would be louder and stronger. “I think that the greatest part of this day is that the smallest to the largest destinations all have the same message… get out and travel!”
For additional information on the U.S. Travel Rally Day check out, www.travelcoalition.org or for more information on The Power of Travel Coalition please visit, www.travelcoalition.org.
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