Well, if you continue to live outside of social media trends, you might not know Twitter has rolled out it’s new latest functionality in the form of lists - and it’s all the rage.  Of course, it didn’t take long for users to complain about the list option - it’s interface, accessibliity and how it inevitably becomes a popularity contest of sorts.  In effort to get people back to the homepage, seems as though the leaders at Twitter have come up with something that’s both helpful and stirring some buzz.

In reality, the lists are great for new Twitter users who wonder what they should be doing there.  Lists provide a quick way to find interesting people to follow, by category and interests… enter tourism.   For those looking to be in the know on tourism trends, deals and more but are new to Twitter, lists provide a great solution.  If you’re not sure what your handle (read: name) should be or who to follow and how to gain followers, lists are the perfect solution to browse a selection of tourism enthusiasts and pick who’s right for your niche.  From tourism blogs to specific countries, hotels, influential tourism leaders and travel columnists, it’s all just a tweet away. 

Today’s Jaunted newsletter spotlighted the top five tourism lists which serve as a great kick start.  With that as ammo, you should have a great base to get out and start tweeting to build buzz and awareness of your destination, carrier or hospitality clients!  Or follow me @EEPR_17 and check out the influential travelers on my lists!

Anyone who has seen the movie “The Holiday” with Cameron Diaz, Jack Black, Jude Law and Kate Winslet knows how the home-exchange works. Upon experiencing small personal trauma you look online for attractive place to escape current problems. Next, you stumble upon person (who happens to have extremely attractive, single brother) in the exact same situation as you and make the switch. The results: save money on travel accommodations, immerse yourself in local culture and fall madly in love with said attractive single brother.

All joking aside, home exchanges are a growing trend in the travel world. To many people the thought of swapping houses for a week with total strangers is absolutely terrifying. To others, it is no different than renting out a second home during peak travel times, or even staying at a bed and breakfast. During this time of economic uncertainty, it is especially attractive to people looking to still travel and experience the world, but now on a tighter budget. With airfares at record lows, and then adding in free house swap, one could come up with a very economical vacation package.

What do you think about this? Are you willing to give up your bed for a free week in Maui? I suppose the only kicker is that you have to live in a location that people want to come visit, equally as much as you wanting to visit their place. For example, my family in Omaha, Neb. might not be able to switch with someone in Maui…but I guess you never know, you could always be on the better end of the deal! Do I sense a Wife-Swap-esq reality show in the works?!

If this is something that interests you check out the full article that appeared last month in the Wall Street Journal for popular Web sites and other tips and tricks. While you may not fall in love with a Jude Law lookalike, or hang out with the funny Jack Black neighbor all week, you will have an insider’s look into the culture of a destination, without giving up all the things you love about home.

In the travel industry, now is probably the best time ever for incentives encouraging people to travel…discounts are almost necessary these days to get business, and free things are everywhere you look. The travel industry is doing everything it can right now to get people to spend money, and one of the most prominent ways is FREE STUFF.

Hotels across the country (and across the world!) are throwing in extras like free breakfasts, free nights, free side trips to area attractions and more. For example, the Joie de Vivre hotels in California are offering a third night free, hotels in Vegas are offering extras like passes to shows and VIP admission and the Rosewood Mayakobá in Playa Del Carmen even offers a free shot of tequila along with a free night.

There is a method to this madness, though. Extra days spent at the hotel not only mean travelers are more likely to book their vacation today, but also ensure more money spent at the hotel restaurant and local attractions, thereby benefiting the entire community.

Extras like free drinks at the hotel bar and free valet parking can upgrade a normal vacation to something a little more special – at no cost, and make travelers feel like they got something for nothing.

Does the “free” tactic work for you? And would it provide that extra incentive to make you book a vacation today, if you were hesitating…? In an industry of bargains, how do travel providers stand out above the rest of the deals?

Basically, you make connections with people online and they invite you to stay ‘on their couch’ (proverbial or literal) when you are traveling. The site is full of testimonials and the ‘CouchStories’ are both heartwarming and full of amazing couch surfing experiences. To date surfers have claimed 2,742,009 positive couch surfing experiences.

While it might be awkward to stay with someone you meet over the internet, think how cool it could be. Not only do you get to stay somewhere for virtually free – although I am sure it would  probably be proper etiquette to buy your host a dinner or at least a few drinks – you get the unabashed guidance of a local who’s willing, and free spirited enough, to let a complete stranger stay in their home free of charge. What more could you ask for?

I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to make a connection, buy a plane ticket and surf a couch!

Well, if nothing else, business travel a constant and it struggles, has issues and is something tourism clients from all categories - airlines, hotels, and destinations can flourish or flounder with the support (or lack) of.  So, it’s an inherent trend that ebbs and flows… we have to keep up with those jet setters! 

The latest from the New York Times is telling us the business traveler must “work harder. Fit more productivity into each trip. Become a lot more accessible on the road — even on airplanes, using new in-flight wireless services.” 

As a business traveler myself, I’m inclined to agree.  When I’m in NYC for a meeting, I make the most of catching up with media, clients, colleagues and even vendors.  There’s not a minute that passes on a business trip that I can’t squeeze another opportunity to find a new business connection, further develop an existing relationship or brainstorm ideas for the next great Ogilvy opportunity in the tourism sector.  

So: we’re busy.  The business traveler gets that by now, I think.

Conde Nast’s Business Travel Awards were recently published and the results proved that business travel, while down (flat is the new up according to some), the industry has never seen such hard work and harder bottom lines: Yes, more than 50 percent report their companies have reduced the number of employees who hit the road.   But one-fifth believe their spending will return to pre-recession levels in a year or less. 

What does that mean for us - it’s time to roll out the red carpet.

Not with prices, fees and the like… but instead, with hospitality.  At the core of all tourism clients - hotels, destinations, airlines - lies hospitality.  The business traveler’s patience is wearing thin and customer service is more important now than ever before.  We, as representatives of the companies they keep, the companies they rely on and turn to during these increasinglybusy trips must be transparent and hospitale in our offers and communication.  In doing this, we’ll have another opportunity to secure return customers - both our clients and their clients, the business traveler. 

“The Princess Bride” (a fantastic film unrelated to the business traveler) is memorable for many quotes but one comes to mind used throughout the movie: “as you wish.”  This phrase should be a tenant to those service industries targeting the business traveler but also to us as marketers who ought to be hospitable in all interactions with clients, media and business travelers…

The seventh annual Fall Travel Trends Survey conducted by Travel Leaders was released this week. The survey was conducted with information from 452 Travel leaders agents, managers and owners from August 4-28.

So what are the favorite destinations for fall? Las Vegas and Caribbean cruising – again. They are continuously ranked number one in the survey and this year is no different. They are warm (something us northern dwellers look for in fall vacations), fairly easy to get to, provide a myriad of things to do for people from every walk of life, and have a seemingly endless supply of rooms that are discounted this year like you would never believe. New York knocked the revolving Hawaiian destinations off their #3 spot as travelers look to take advantage of the Big Apple’s rock bottom prices, which are certainly not going to be around forever.

Other good news to come from the survey is that many more Travel Leaders are more optimistic about their business then they were last year and there is even speculation from Piper Jaffray at Citibank the travel industry may have already bottomed out. Nearly 60% of Travel Leader respondents were optimistic about their business in the upcoming year. Maybe because, according to Christopher Elliott, 2010 is supposed to be the year of travel deals .

What are leisure travelers doing to take full advantage of the good deals? According to the survey they are staying at all-inclusives (69.9 percent), using frequent-flyer miles (64.1 percent), being flexible with dates (62 percent), booking only if there is a promotion/deal (54.9 percent), shortening trips or vacations (traveling fewer days) (51.5 percent). With all the fun things to do and see out there and the amazing prices things are being offered at, it’s worth shopping around, and then taking advantage, of the best deals.

It was also no surprise that the odds makers had Rio (the first South American country to come close to hosting the Olympics) and Chicago (ironically the Second City) as favorites.

And again it was no surprise that the front page of every major newspaper in the world had images of Obama on his way to Copenhagen, Oprah in full media-mogul sell mode and the beautiful beaches of Brazil as the primary backdrop for the country.

But for all the lack of surprises, there was one thing that shocked us all … when in the first round Chicago was eliminated. Gasps filled the crowds watching in Chicago (yes, I actually believe there was an audible city-wide gasp). Due South from Chicago some 5,000 miles cheers filled the crowds in Rio with their impending victory. Copacabana Beach was decked out in the colors of Brazil with crowds comparable to their famous Carnival, or their legendary New Year’s Eve celebrations.

What’s followed since is endless analysis of what went wrong. That’s not the point of this post. As fans, we are excited to watch along with the rest of world in 2016. As believers in the Olympic spirit we recognize the importance of grace in the face of defeat. And as Chicagoans, we are so proud of the efforts and commitment so many people in this great city have made over the last several years – to even get this far is truly remarkable. Our thanks cannot be conveyed in a blog post, but it’s a start.

So folks its caipirinhas, samba dancing, Havianas and thousands of miles of coastline for 2016. We here at Ogilvy PR know Brazil well – we’ve worked with their tourism department for years. If 2016 is your first time visiting, get ready for the lush landscape of green mountains mixed with white sand and blue seas. Get ready to meet people who graciously welcome you to their country, their restaurants and their stores. Most importantly, get ready to drink a real caipirinha on the beach, or induldge in a pão de queijo for breakfast. I have been fortunate enough to experience all of the above and am currently whistling to the tune of “The Girl from Ipanema.”

Congratulations Cariocas!

At first glance, tourism and development  might seem to have little in common. But nothing could be further from the truth. For many African countries, tourism provides a major source of foreign exchange and foreign direct investment, and it is a major money earner in the “formal sector” (i.e., the sector of the economy that provides wage employment, is “on the books,” and generates tax revenues that can fund development).

The challenge is that Africa currently earns very little from tourism relative to other world regions.  (Go to the web sites of the UN’s World Tourism Organization and the World Travel & Tourism Council for more information.) While some African countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa enjoy significant proceeds from tourism, the scale of their revenues just doesn’t compare to destinations in Europe, Asia, Australia, and Latin America.

How can African countries turn this around? I think the solution requires a mixture of tried-and-true approaches to destination marketing, as well as a  disciplined approach to: (1) recruiting a broader array of brand ambassadors, and (2) getting the bulk of African news off the front page. (More on that second, seemingly counterintuitive, point below.)

The tried-and-true approach includes a combination of proactive marketing and reactive crisis communications.  This means that African national tourism boards still need to invest in marketing their countries via multiple media channels, trade shows, and events, but they also need to develop effective crisis communications plans that empower brand managers to respond to crises when they arise and take steps to reassure the public and the tourism industry.

In regard to recruiting a broader array of brand ambassadors, I believe that there are four key markets to engage.  First, there are high-net-worth Americans, Europeans, and Asians who are looking for the vacation of a lifetime.  The African tourism sector can target this group with vacation packages that highlight the five-star quality of many African vacations and the unique qualities of a holiday in the Serengeti, or Kruger, or by the boiling waters of Victoria Falls.

Second, African tourism boards can target what I will call - for lack of a better expression - the “backpacker set.”  These are the twenty-something experiential tourists, the returned Peace Corps Volunteers, the American and European university students who pick Ghana or South Africa for their semester abroad, and medical and nursing students who want to practice their professions in communities that need access to primary health care.

If we can target this set when they are young - using the social media channels that are their most credible source of information - we can convert them to the cause and create lifetime brand ambassadors.  This younger set can also sing the praises of destinations that are stilll off the beaten track for high-net-worth tourists - like the beautiful hillsides overlooking the Zambezi inland delta in Mongu, Zambia or the rugged shores of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.

A third critical target audience are African Americans who are seeking to reconnect to their heritage.  The west African tourist industry in particular can benefit by working with African American destination marketers to create tourism packages that highlight 500 years of cultural connection between west Africa and the Americas.

A fourth target audience is the sizable population of first- and second-generation African immigrants to America who maintain strong connections to their countries of origin and can broaden the conversation about Africa beyond landmarks, flora, and fauna to contemporary conversations about music, food, fabrics, and art.

This brings me to my counterintutive observation.  People who think about Africa’s image in the world often say that Africa never makes front page news unless the story relates to war, disease, hunger, or hardship.  While this statement oversimplifies matters (and is a definite reflection of the specific tone and focus of media coverage in the U.S., UK, and Germany), it also bears real elements of truth.

I believe that we need to change the image of Africa by investing in a rebranding process that features more stories - stories that appear in the Food Section, the Business Section, the Style Section, and, yes, the Travel Page.  We need to start telling new stories - based on credible facts - about Africa’s economic growth over the past decade, about Africa’s unrivalled biodiversity, about Africa’s potential leadership in the production of organic foods and materials, about Africa’s diverse cuisine and innovative music scenes (in Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya).

Telling new and surprising stories is key to repositioning Africa as something other than front-page tragedy.  Front pages are normally reserved for crises, wherever they happen, and it’s time to get the bulk of African news off the front page.