Tourism News | Owen Organization

Daily News ‘Talking Tourism’ column. Digital is essential, but tourists still want human interaction.

Did you know that just 14 percent of Snapchat users are over 35 years old, where as half of Facebook users are over 35? If you asked what Snapchat is, then I guess you must be nearly as old as I am. The thing is that in tourism the digital world is where everything is happening. It’s been that way for a while and digital, particularly mobile devices, are leading the way. Google has seen a 50 percent increase in travel-related searches over the past year on smartphones — not tablets and laptops, but smartphones.

The younger travelers, millennials and centennials are committed to their phones and their influence on old travelers is very strong. Parents and grandparents are going to the youngsters for advice and research. These groups also love images and video. Instagram is the favorite social media channel for 33 percent of U.S. teenagers compared with only 14 percent for Facebook. YouTube reaches more people between the ages of 18 to 49 than any network TV or cable provider. YouTube reports that interest in travel-related video is up 60 percent in the last couple of years.
What does this mean for tourism?……

To read the rest of the article, click HERE

How you can help to save funding for Visit Florida

As you know, there are moves to de-fund Visit Florida. Such and action would cause irreparable damage to Florida’s tourism industry. If you would like to help, there are many ways you can influence the legislatures decision.

These include contacting your local legislators, contacting members of the committee involved in funding, writing to local news outlets, posting on social media and generally encouraging your contacts to support the action.

Below are links that will help.

As we enter this year’s legislative session, we are fortunate to have the support of Governor Scott and other key leaders. But each and every one of us in the industry needs to advocate for support of the state’s top tax revenue and jobs producer. Here’s how:
View and download the slides that Roger Dow, head of U.S. Travel, presented to the Senate Appropriations Committee last week that shows what can happen if public funding for tourism marketing is taken away.

Email your local elected officials emphasizing the importance of continued funding for VISIT FLORIDA and support of the tourism industry. Contact information for your local elected officials can be found at TourismWorksForFlorida.org.

Share your voice as a participant in Tourism Day. Sign up here.

Follow Tourism Works for Florida on Twitter and Facebook.

Here are the lawmakers to contact:

Rep. Halsey Beshears

Email: Halsey.Beshears@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5007

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/halsey.beshears/

Tweet: @HalseyBeshears

Rep. Jay Trumbull

Email: Jay.Trumbull@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5006

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaytrumbulljr/

Tweet: @jaytrumbull

Rep. Mike La Rosa

Email: Mike.LaRosa@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5042

Post on Facebook:

Tweet:

Rep. Loranne Ausley

Email: loranne.ausley@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5009

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loranneausley

Tweet: @LoranneAusley

Rep. Larry Ahern

Email: larry.ahern@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5066

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/electlarryahern/

Tweet: @Larry_Ahern

Rep. Ramon Alexander

Email: ramon.alexander@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5008

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RamonAlexanderFL

Tweet: @RamonAlexander

Rep. Randy Fine

Email: Randy.Fine@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5053

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/voterandyfine/

Tweet: @VoteRandyFine

Rep. Julio Gonzalez

Email: Julio.Gonzalez@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5074

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliogonzalezforflorida/

Tweet: @juliogonzalezmd

Rep. Joe Gruters

Email: Joe.Gruters@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5073

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/repjoecrowley/

Tweet: @RepJoePetrarca

Rep. Roy Hardemon

Call: (850) 717-5108

Email: Roy.Hardemon@myfloridahouse.gov

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Roy-Hardemon-State-Rep-Dist-108-1043023642434340/

Tweet: @RepRoyHardemon

Rep. Shawn Harrison

Email: shawn.harrison@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5063

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Florida-State-Representative-Shawn-Harrison-121200512612/

Tweet: @Shawnfor63

Rep. Al Jacquet

Email: Al.Jacquet@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5088

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StateRepAlJacquet/

Tweet: @ALJacquet

Rep. Alex Miller

Email: Alex.Miller@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5072

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlexMillerforFlorida/

Tweet: @ElectAlexMiller

Rep. Paul Renner

Email: Paul.Renner@myfloridahouse.gov

Call: (850) 717-5024

Post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VoteRenner/

Tweet: @Paul_Renner

Thank you for your help.

Sustainable Tourism

Some time ago, I wrote a blog about how I learned to love tourists called, “I’m not a Grockle, I live here.” (You can find it at http://ow.ly/Ps7k308ciuD, if only to find out what a “Grockle” is!). Having grown up in a small, historic country frequently visited by camera-wielding tourists, you quickly learned to embrace, rather than fight, human curiosity.

One of the major factors affecting world tourism in the coming years will be what’s termed “over-tourism.” We’ve seen the 300,000 residents of Iceland struggling with 3 million tourists a year. It’s almost impossible to buy a home in Venice and the city has almost become a tourist theme park. Machu Picchu, the Inca city situated 8,000 feet up in the Peruvian Andes, has been forced to restrict tourist numbers at certain times of the year to avoid destroying the world heritage site.
These are extreme examples, but there is a need to manage tourism. It’s a process called Sustainable Tourism, which aims to ensure that development is a positive experience for locals and tourists while helping to generate future employment and……..

Read the rest of this article at here.

Agri-tourism could be a big winner

When we think tourism here on the northern Gulf Coast, we automatically default to sugar white sand and emerald green water. Why wouldn’t we? We have some of the best beaches in the world. The trouble is the tourists only tend to see the part of our counties that are within two miles of the beach. The effects of tourism spread far inland, though, as many of us involved in the tourism industry live away from the beach and consequently spend income within inland communities. Incidentally, that’s another benefit of tourism that’s not often recognized.

Last year we went on a short road trip to Georgia, to an area north of Atlanta. I wrote about the trip on my blog – http://ow.ly/KgHL3083iem. We took the back roads avoiding as many towns as we could. It was here that what’s termed agritourism was evident. What may not be obvious is that tourists travel for many reasons, and we’ll cover some of these in the future – cultural tourism, ecotourism, heritage, historical and medical tourism to name a few.

There is a current movement to preserve the rural way of life in Florida. Despite the impression that the Sunshine State is the theme park and beach capital of the world, agriculture is vital to Florida. Farm cash receipts from marketing Florida agricultural products in 2012 amounted to $8.22 billion.

Florida has a vibrant agritourism business (http://visitor.visitfloridafarms.com) as does Georgia (http://georgia-agritourism.org), which offer everything from pick-your-own to farm-stays. Many farms we passed in Georgia had signs offering “on farm accommodation.” There also are farm visitor centers, many boasting restaurants, souvenir stores and produce outlets – all activities that generate new income for the rural communities.

Do we promote agritourism here in Northwest Florida? Well, not really.See the rest of the article HERE.

Talking Tourism – We must prepare for changing travel habits

This article was published in the Northwest Florida Daily News on Sunday January 14, 2017.

When I was 16, one of my greatest goals was to learn to drive. I bought an old car to do up when I was 15 and had my first driving lesson the day I became legally eligible. My friends did the same. During my late-teens and twenties (in the UK), my friends and I thought nothing of driving all over Europe for our vacations. Evidently it was the same here in the United States, and that had a particular effect on the Emerald Coast tourism business.

Well over 90 percent of Emerald Coast leisure visitors drive to our piece of paradise, with many loading up the car and driving 10 or 15 hours to visit. It’s been that way for 40 years.
Like everything else in tourism, things are changing. My children live in New Zealand – one is 28, the other 24 – and neither can drive or have any wish to learn. The same thing is happening in the U.S. The Federal Highway Administration reports that every demographic is losing interest in driving. Between 2011 and 2014, two particular age groups – 16-year-olds and those in the 20-24 range – stopped getting driver’s licenses. For 17-year-olds, the percentage of licensed individuals fell from 45 percent to 44.9 percent. Similar reductions happened across all age groups.

Read the rest of the article here.

Get ready……

Happy New Year and welcome to 2017! I’m not one for making resolutions, mostly because I change my mind so much! If you want to change something, better to just to get on with it than wait for some arbitrary date to start. That’s my excuse anyway. Similarly, looking backwards doesn’t help because we can’t … Continue reading Get ready……

Generational disruption and other buzz words…..

An old joke in the ‘80s and ‘90s was “ I bought a video recorder that was ‘so simple, a 5 year-old could program it’. I ended up having to get my 5 year-old to program it as I couldn’t’.” That five year old is now likely a Millennial generation adult and is having a … Continue reading Generational disruption and other buzz words…..

A free gift……

I recently celebrated yet another birthday. They appear to come alarmingly more frequent. As a kid I used to count the birthday cards but now count, with amazement, the number of good wishes I receive via social media. The greetings come from the world over as my friends and family get spread further and further. … Continue reading A free gift……

Culturally speaking……

Many people suggest that Sir Winston Churchill said ‘England and America are two countries separated by a common language’. Most sources agree that it was actually George Bernard Shaw who said it first, although Churchill probably either repeated it, or said something similar. Whatever, bringing Sir Winston into the story helps me later in this blog, … Continue reading Culturally speaking……

Plus ça change…….

I read an article recently that prompted me to think about how the purchase of travel, and associated products, has changed over the years. More importantly it made me think about how things have stayed the same. The article was published by organization Tnooz, which is a global provider of news, analysis, commentary, education, data … Continue reading Plus ça change…….