But Personal Relationships Still Bind Industry Together: It didn’t come all at once, like an epiphany, but more like a series of messages as we who prepare the Inbound Report reviewed our photos and recollections of our meetings and conversations at IPW 2016 in New Orleans: The torch has been passed to a new generation of tourism industry sales, marketing and public relations professionals—some young enough to have born in the 1990s—who came of age and entered the industry equipped with the high tech tools of their generation.

At one point, our editor was sitting an appointment at the IPW Media Marketplace with Rachel Cromer, public relations and media specialist at the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA), listening to her make a thorough and flawless presentation on what the organization does to promote Native American destinations and attractions, when he realized, “My, she is young.”

Back at his desk, doing follow-up, he noticed on her LinkedIn profile that she had graduated from college in 2012. It would be years before she would be born, he thought, when he attended his first IPW in 1986 in Phoenix.

And so it was, as we discussed what we had picked up about trends and projections, who’s gone where, who’s been promoted and who’s gone on to something else, that we realized just how young the median age of the IPW delegate pool was this year.

Yet, in an age when other industries survive and thrive through the internet and the digital devices that bind them to their markets, the tour and travel industry still depends on personal interaction and personal relationships.

Coming out of Retirement: Much like a retired baseball player, some of the key players in the industry came out of retirement to join their successors and former teammates to show international tour operators and journalists that the link was still there, and that it is OK to relate to the younger teammate who had taken their place.

So it was that Maureen Droz, trade sales and marketing manager for South Dakota Tourism, who announced her retirement earlier this year after spending the majority or her professional career with the agency, joined the state’s IPW team and helped buyers make the transition to the newer sales and marketing staff.

And there was B.J. Stokey, who retired a year-and-a-half ago from her post as senior manager, international tourism development, for the Port of Seattle, joining the team to help promote the destination, which has become a magnet for the growing Chinese market.

Also on hand was Werner Escher, the long, longtime—more than four decades—executive director of domestic and international markets for Southern California’s South Coast Plaza who has been joined at the shopping attraction by Brian Chuan, who transitioned from Macy’s and who is acknowledged expert on how to use the WeChat platform (WeChat is used by about 650 million people in China) for sales and marketing.

 

 

Left to right: Brian Chuan, director of travel trade development at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California; Werner Escher, executive director, domestic and international markets, South Coast Plaza; Daniel Shen, president, Lion Tours USA; and Alicia Chuan, marketing director, Los Angeles office, Lion Tours USA

Escher’s presence in the booth—as well as the presence of Droz and Stokey in the booths of their former organizations—provided buyers with a personal and reassuring presence to those who consider IPW and other trade shows as much a reunion as a business meeting. Escher, a skilled story-teller, worked the show as much as he did before, dispensing warm embraces, smiles, anecdotes and remembrances, closing with “And, oh, isn’t there some business we have to take care of …”

The torch has been passed or is being passed, but it is still all about relationships.

 

A Note about the Trump Factor: When a journalist got up at the Monday morning press conference held by Brand USA and asked Christopher Thompson, president and CEO, about the impact of presidential candidate Donald Trump who, he noted sharply, had insulted Mexicans and Muslims with his remarks, there was an audible groan—much like a “Boo!”—that emanated from most of the 250 or so journalists gathered for the occasion.

While Thompson’s response skillfully responded to the question, saying, in essence that his organization was prepared to work with whomever the new commander-in-chief would be, it did nothing to quell the undercurrent of hostility that the overwhelming majority of delegates had, and have, for Trump.

Some operators indicated to us that they would simply not book USA product and look elsewhere to take their business, should Trump be elected. And some are already avoiding Trump-branded properties anywhere.

REMINDER: With this issue, the Inbound Report will be published biweekly until after the USA’s Labor Day holiday (September 5, 2016), when we will resume publication on a weekly basis.

Every year at IPW, there are some half dozen or less news conferences at which a leading destination or host city makes its pitch, introduces a new slogan (developed after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars conducting survey research and analysis, talking to focus groups and working with branding consultants) and persuades trade and consumer journalists to write or talk about them.

And for the next 51 weeks, until the next IPW, the result is the same: New York City sets another record for international visitors (it was 12.7 million last year), room nights booked by international visitors and number of polls and surveys abroad as it ranks as the top USA destination and one of the tops in the world.

 

At this year’s IPW, New York City’s marketing arm, New York City & Company and its president and CEO, Fred Dixon, made the task of any other U.S. destination that is trying to move a little closer to the city and its standing as the favored U.S. international destination more challenging. He presented his summary of what’s new in the nation’s largest city a different kind of discussion by making a brief stop in each of the New York’s five boroughs—emphasizing that the city of nearly 8.5 million comprises four boroughs besides Manhattan—with a special emphasis on Brooklyn. He underscored the emphasis by pointing out that Carlo Scissura, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce who also heads up Explore Brooklyn, was in the room, right up front. Scissura stayed around well beyond the conclusion of the news conference, talking to journalists and exchanging business cards with others.

Dixon used variations of “hip” and “happening” to describe the borough. In fact—Inbound gathered a few numbers to illustrate the point—were Brooklyn a city on its own (which it was until the latter part of the 19th century when it merged, along with State Island, Queens, The Bronx and Manhattan to become New York City), it would be the fourth largest city in the United States.

 

Five Largest Cities in the USA

1. NYC (without Brooklyn): 5.890 million
2. Los Angeles: 3.929 million
3. Chicago: 2.722 million
4. Brooklyn: 2.592 million
5. Houston: 2.239 million

Source(s): infoplease.com, Wikipedia

(In fact, there are neighborhoods in Brooklyn that are larger in population than this year’s host city of New Orleans.)

If there is any caveat or, possibly, danger in the new emphasis on Brooklyn, it lies in a reality that U.S.-based receptive tour operators have already become aware of: Brooklyn’s hotels are nearly expensive as those in Manhattan. Next stop, Queens.

 

The Destination Video Blahs: Following what seemed liked back-to-back-to-back-to-back news conferences by destinations that included New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Las Vegas, as well as Brand USA, the Inbound Report’s editor and other journalists came to the conclusion that, somewhere in a warehouse on the outskirts of a Midwestern city—the location chosen because of its low overhead costs—there is a DVD (Destination Video Distributor) specialist that produced all of the videos that we watched on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at IPW because they all had: the same World Beat sound track comprising synthesized sounds and percussion; the same stop-action and fade-to-the-next-scene imagery; the same voices that are used for “on-sale” commercials; the same cute couples dancing, shopping or visiting a museum; and the same cute families playing at the beach or visiting a theme park. And, before showing their video inserts, all of them stuck pretty much to the same script, introducing the presentation with the words, “We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get right to it.”

Everyone except Las Vegas. The Las Vegas CVA used its time—just after Tuesday’s luncheon—and did something different. It was a conference-room sized circus: there were no videos or presentations, but there were female actors dressed a light attendants handing out tickets to its aerial show in a small dome, hors d’oeuvres, small toy-like demos, free booze and a gift bag filled with tchotchkes upon departure. The journalists loved it.

We asked Rafael Villanueva, the Las Vegas CVA’s senior director, international sales, why there was a departure from the conventional news conference. “Because there’s  just too much to tell,” he explained. “So, we decided to show what we could.” Since much of the bureau’s large international team was on hand, they were able to answer on-spot any questions, take cards and prepare for follow-up contact with the journalists who attended. For those journalists who depended upon the canned content that so many journalists rely on in order to write and file their stories, there was the obligatory flash drive in the gift bag that had more than the average journalist could write or the average traveler read.  Watch for the Las Vegas non-conference news conference model to spread to other destinations in the future.

 

Depending on which list pops up during an internet search, New Orleans barely makes the top 50 U.S. cities in terms of total population. It has just less than 345,000 people. The number is still not back to what it was prior to Hurricane Katrina of August 2005, which devastated the city, but IPW 2016 affirmed to the international tourism community that New Orleans is definitely back as an international destination.

Because such a large percentage of the city is dependent on tourism, there is a certain everyone-knows-everyone character to its tourism-related businesses.  On the IPW trade show floor, one frequently heard exchanges such as this in the New Orleans/Louisiana section: “Martha, wouldn’t Denise know about that? Yeah? OK, why don’t you go over to Denise over there—she’s the one in the purple blouse, and she can take care of you.  All right, hon?” Denise was two aisles away.

The compactness of the relatively large New Orleans community is ideal, it seems, for an industry such as tourism, in which face-too-face relationship marketing is so important. And everyone in the distribution chain, right down to every taxi driver, feels as if he or she is part of it. One Uber driver told the Inbound Report’s editor of an exchange he had while driving a guest from one appointment to another.

Asked by the passenger what he thought of the new BB King’s Blues Club, the driver told his passenger that it wasn’t much. It was just another chain place. The food was nothing special, and if he wanted to hear good music, he should go to Frenchman Street. After a few more comments, the driver asked the passenger, “Why do you want to know?” His passenger answered, “Because I’m the president of BB Kings.”

After he “put his head between his legs,” the driver said that he was thanked for his honest opinion and given a voucher for a free meal.

Another driver cautioned our editor to wait directly in the cover of the doorway at the guest house where he was staying to be picked up. “That neighborhood’s kind of sketchy,” he explained. “You don’t want to be walking around there too much dressed like that. That camera’s a dead giveaway that you’re from out of town.”

About half of the dozen or so drivers we had were, at one time, in another line of work or another industry, but had gotten laid off or simply lost interest. Driving for Uber offers them flexibility and the chance to do something else at the same time, they told us.

 

What is the New Orleans Product? We’ve been to New Orleans on at least a dozen occasions and the top tourism products (the top products, not all of them) are: Attitude, Food, Music—and not necessarily in that order.

 

The Attitude: “We’re the professionals! We know how to do this!” crowed Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans CVB, told an IPW news conference on Monday morning—after hearing both Roger Dow, president and CEO of US Travel and Chris Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA make references to how difficult it must have been for everyone to be awake and active at such an early hour. (The news conference started at 8 a.m.) His message: You’re in New Orleans. It’s time to party.

 

The “Laissez les bon temps rouler!” attitude of New Orleans is a cousin of the “What happens here … stays here” norm for behavior owned by Las Vegas. A walk down Bourbon Street in the French Quarter (it’s legal to walk around with an open alcoholic drink here) has as much of a party atmosphere as a private affair inside a dark ballroom or night club.

The strong carnival-followed-by-Mardi Gras tradition (in which the Christian religious significance is utterly lost), with its party masks, festive attire, beads, painted faces, second-line parades permeated the IPW social functions. The Sunday night opening function inside the Louisiana Superdome, complete with a private Mardi Gras parade and ear-splitting noise scored well with delegates—except, possibly, for the noise level, as conversations were carried on at the level of shouting.

Rated higher was Wednesday night’s closing party at the River City Complex with its Mardi Gras World, Natchez riverboat and cavernous spaces inside (the buildings are used to construct floats for the big annual Mardis Gras parade) had just about everything a party goer wanted: gambling, dancing, food (more on this below), stilt walkers, tarot card readers, face painting  … and a fellow with a small alligator that delegates posed with for photos. Someone wondered aloud if the alligator would later become alligator bisque.

 

The Music. No city its size has as much musical talent abiding within its borders than does New Orleans. It is a constant presence throughout the city, as it was during IPW. A local FM station set up in the IPW Press Room throughout IPW, broadcasting regular programming and live performances from time to time—featuring local talent. (Local talent includes or has included such names as Fats Domino, Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis, Al Hirt, Doctor John, the Neville brothers and more.) While jazz is the idiom most people think of when they think of music and New Orleans, one can find just about type of any music being performed somewhere in the city—ranging from rock-a-billy and blues and to classical and Zydeco.

The performers in the press room made it mildly difficult for some of the journalists to work—although some were bobbing their heads or tapping their feet in time as they did—with a foot-stomping Zydeco version of “Jambalaya” playing at more than a background level. We found that one cannot escape the sound of music anywhere in New Orleans. But, then, why would one want to escape the music. It is one of the three signatures of the city’s tourism product.

 

The Food. Perhaps the best way to describe how important food is to what New Orleans is would be to describe the food at IPW’s closing function as the best the Inbound Report’s editor has experienced since his first IPW in 1986 in Phoenix. Almost all IPW functions will have six, seven or eight major food stations, with each station featuring the same collection of dishes. At the River City complex on Wednesday night, there were at least 40 different serving stations—each with a unique dish.

Anything from cheese and sushi to fried oysters and praline cream crepes were available. Our editor’s personal favorite was the Butternut Squash and Shrimp Bisque. (Don’t ask.) For the imbibers, the reward seems to be that New Orleans mixologists have figured out more ways to sweeten, sour or neutralize alcohol than just about any other drinking city in the USA.

It is difficult to understate the quality or range of food in New Orleans. A Colombian Creole restaurant is not too far from a Japanese sushi bar along St. Charles Avenue, which has a restaurant on every block. Here are our two favorites.

Finally, someone informed us that there is also such a dish as sacred chicken. We’ll pass.

IPW—What Top 50 Tour Operators Were Honored in New Orleans?

The Nifty Fifty: For 50 selected international tour operators who participated at IPW 2016 last week in New Orleans, the event began with a Saturday night dinner at which the leadership of both the U.S. Travel Association and Brand USA recognized them by presenting them with US Travel’s Chairman’s Circle Honors.

Honorees were nominated by members of US Travel’s Chairman’s Circle member level, which includes some of the largest U.S. travel companies and top destinations. Factors such as a buyer’s annual revenue, or innovative marketing programs that result in expanded visitation to the United States are just a few elements that determine how Chairman’s Circle members nominate prospective honorees.

At this year’s invitation-only event, 50 buyer companies representing 16 countries around the world were recognized at the Saturday night diner. The Chairman’s Circle Honors event was introduced to the IPW program four years ago and provides for this special recognition for key buyers of the U.S. travel product.

 

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Among those who received the Chairman’s Circle Honor was Hannover, Germany-based America Unlimited. Timo Kohlehnberg (second from right), the company’s president and CEO, and Julia Kurz, managing director, accept the honor from U.S. Travel’s president and CEO, Roger Dow (left), and Chris Thompson, president and CEO of Band USA.

 

In the last issue of the Inbound Report, we published a series of photos taken Saturday at IPW in New Orleans. This week, we feature photos taken on Sunday. Photos from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be featured in future issues.

 

Definitely in a New Orleans state of mind at the Sunday morning brunch for journalists are Barbara G. Ferguson (left), Washington correspondent for the Arab News; and her colleague at the publication, Hala Abdulla.

 

Only one person at a time gets the spotlight. From the balcony of the Orpheum Theatre, we see Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans CVB, greeting journalists at the Sunday morning brunch. With him are Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser (left), and Roger Dow, president and CEO of US Travel.

 

From the My Passion media group in Vancouver, Canada, and all smiles at the Sunday morning brunch for journalists are: Terrilyn Kunopaski (left), editorial director-travel and tourism; and Jennifer Prendergast, associate group publisher.

 

Journalists found themselves in a dancing frame of mind as legendary Zydeco musician Bruce “Sumpie” Barnes (center) entertained journalists at the Sunday morning brunch with a foot-stomping series of songs.

 

A regular for three decades at IPW, Alberto Sanchez Lavalle (left) editor of Argentina’s “Viajes Agentes” (Travel Agent) magazine, is joined by his wife, Norma Jure, also a journalist for Airport News Espiza, at the Sunday morning brunch.

 

Busy with a text exchange while others are taking in the entertainment at the Sunday brunch is Helen Hatzis, “chief exploration officer” for the Toronto-based Weekend Jaunt publication.

 

Catherin Prather, senior vice president at NTA, is also a member of US Travel’s Communications Committee and is busy at all the association’s PR-related events, including the IPW Sunday brunch for journalists.

 

Stopping in mid-conversation to give us a warm photo opportunity are Roger Dow, US Travel’s president and CEO; and Angela Chuang, a journalist with the Taipei Times.

 

In the midst of a friendly exchange are Mike Gallagher (right), founder and co-chairman of CityPass; and Australian journalist Mark Sheehan.

 

The busload of journalists who took the Plantation Country tour were treated to some spectacularly beautiful scenes, such as this one, which is what visitors see when approaching the mansion at Oak Alley Plantation, about 55 miles north of New Orleans.

Uruguayan television personality Virginia Negro Ubilla gets set to tape a broadcast segment with her cameraman, Diego Porcile López, at the Oak Alley Plantation.

 

The charming and gracious Linda Dow provides a pleasing accent to the beautiful main entrance of the Oak Alley Plantation, whose arched path stretches out almost to the point that it touches the Mississippi River in the background.

 

Debra Mayhew (left), a tour guide who lives on-property at Oak Lawn Plantation, with Tim Wassberg, editor-in-chief for Mobile RVing/The Buzz.

 

It is par-taaay time Sunday night at IPW’s opening function at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. On hand are Marcia Brewster, accounts director, at New Orleans-based Tomahawk Tourism Marketing; and Denise Thevenot, executive director of Louisiana Tax Free Shopping.

 

Oblivious to the costumed performer on the right, who appears to be making a malevolent move on her, Kelly Troia, founder of Clandestine New Orleans tours, enjoys the company at the Louisiana Superdome function.

 

Managing to appear calm and civil midst the tumult and the shouting are: Concha Perdomo (left), tour and travel sales manager, The Palms Resort and Spa; and Myra Roman, manager, tour and travel, Charles Group Hotels.

 

Enjoying the party are: Janelle Granfors (left), regional sales director, Engage Hospitality; and Marilyn Perry, sales, Personality Hotels.

 

They turned around from watching the dancers on stage long enough to give us a smile: Grant Daley (left), senior business development manager, EMEA, Universal Parks & Resorts; and Veronica Flood, marketing manager, Tour America.

 

Simeon Araujo (left) is client relationship coordinator & business development, for the Brazilian travel trade publication, PANROTAS; and Marcos Barros is senior director, Latin America, Universal Orlando Resort.

 

Tour operators on parade? We checked. No IPW badges. They were part of the entertainment, although the distinction was lost at times during the Superdome party on Sunday night.

 

With the lights and color all about, Jeanette Alicea, revenue/sales manager, The Excelsior Hotel, with her beads and face paint, complements the décor and color themes of the night.

 

A costumed stilt walker/dancer helps Cash Li, general manager of Guangzhou-based Swallow Holidays, join the dancing action.

 

On the left is Amy Shahin, director of hotel sales, JW Mariott Minneapolis/Mall of America; her table-mate is Ashlee Thostenson, account manager for Radisson.

 

Part of IPW’s Memphis continent is looking festive: Caroline Stanfield (left), public relations specialist for the Memphis CVB; and Patrice S. Graves, sales manager, The Peabody Memphis.

 

Watching the Mardi Gras parade directly in front of them are: Jake Steinman, founder and president of the NAJ Group, which publishes the Inbound Report; and Julie Chase, vice president and chief marketing officer, Austin CVB.

 

Part of the Hard Rock International IPW delegation shows up for the Mardi Gras Parade at the Superdome: Amanda Roberson (left), sales & marketing manager, Washington, D.C. & Atlanta; and Tara Hippensteel, director, tour and travel, North America.

 

Very likely the most festively decorated IPW delegate at the Superdome party is Kristen Old, marketing and tourism specialist, Great Lakes  Crossing Outlets in Michigan.

 

A trio from HHR Hersha Hospitality at the Superdome party (left-to-right): Sameer Mehra, chief revenue officer; Clare Baruti, national director of sales; and Stephanie Esposito, senior vice president, sales.