From a press release seen at Hospitality-1st.net:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is launching a television and print advertising campaign in Canada to remind the Canadian public about travel document requirements for entry into the U.S. that go into effect on June 1, 2009.
The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative establishes document requirements for travelers entering the United States who were previously exempt, including citizens of the U.S., Canada, and Bermuda. This phase of CBP’s WHTI outreach efforts will include French and English-language advertising on Canadian television and in newspapers and magazines; advertising on the Web; public service announcements; the launch of new Web sites and interactive widget; as well as distribution of related information through the media and various travel stakeholders.
“We take seriously the obligation to inform travelers on both sides of the border of the change in procedures,” stated CBP Commissioner W. Ralph Basham. “This multi-faceted campaign is designed to reach frequent as well as infrequent border crossers. A well-informed traveler plays an active role in contributing to the security as well as the efficiency of our shared borders.”
This is an EXCELLENT article and video about the differences between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York.
From ABC News/Good Morning America:
Niagara Falls, which spans both America and Canada, provides a telling example of the region’s economic troubles.
Walk down what was once the main shopping thoroughfare on the New York side, and you’ll see boarded-up storefronts and deserted sidewalks.
Across the waterfalls in Canada, though, shine the bright lights of casinos, hotels and restaurants.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Beginning this week, New York drivers will have the option of buying an enhanced driver’s licence to comply with stricter travel requirements adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The new licences will contain an identifying computer chip and can be used instead of a more expensive passport at U. S. land and sea border crossings between Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Mayor Brian McMullan of St. Catharines is right about one thing: Niagara is fortunate to have Niagara Falls as a major tourist destination.
But he veers off course in suggesting all Niagara municipalities pool destination marketing fee money to promote the region to tourists.
Given the number of hotels in the city, Niagara Falls would be carrying the bulk of the load when it comes to contributing pooled resources.
The status quo is far from perfect. Right now, the money collected in Niagara Falls stays with the hotel owners to fund their own programs as well as buy-in promotions with Niagara Falls Tourism.
In the case of St. Catharines, a government-approved destination marketing fee is collected by the city and remitted to the Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association, where it is also managed.
But that’s not the point in this instance.
Another article about the Destination Marketing Fee (or DMF) in the Niagara Region from the Niagara Falls Review:
St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan wants all Niagara municipalities to pool destination marketing fund money to promote the region to tourists -and he’s got the support of Regional Chairman Peter Partington.
“I think we’re fortunate to have the Falls here, in terms of a major tourist destination,” McMullan said this week. “I don’t think we should be envious of that, but we should be using that to our best advantage and we aren’t, so shame on us.”
Currently, St. Catharines is the only one of Niagara’s 12 municipalities to collect a government-approved destination marketing fee: Money raised by a three per cent levy on a hotel room bill to promote a tourist destination.
With 700 hotel rooms, the Garden City generates about $250,000 a year in destination marketing fees, which is remitted to and managed by the nonprofit Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association.
Niagara Falls collects an estimated $9.6 million a year through its version of the destination marketing fee as well, although the funds are typically kept by the individual hotel owners for their own programs as well as buy-ins with Niagara Falls Tourism.
Here is part 2 of the article about the Destination Marketing Fund (or DMF). Part 1 is here…
From the Niagara Falls Review:
What Happens Here Stays Here. I Love New York. Virginia is for Lovers.
Chances are, if you’ve been around for the past quarter century you’re familiar with the famous tag lines for Las Vegas, New York State and Virginia.
Like all good slogans, they’re short and to the point. And in the case of New York and Las Vegas, they’ve moved beyond their intended purpose -diving headlong into the pop culture realm, generating billions in free advertising. But catchy, quirky and clever comes at a cost.
Although the price tag of the campaign by Vegas-based advertising and marketing agency R&R Partners was not disclosed, the city’s convention and visitors bureau will spend $36.2 million this year to market Las Vegas to the world, according to its budget posted online at www.lvcva.com.
Another $86.7 million is set aside for advertising -the cost to execute those plans in North America and beyond.
“Oh, don’t even show me,” says Anna Pierce, executive director of Niagara Falls Tourism, when presented with Las Vegas’s 2008 and 2009 budgets.
The $2.36 million the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau will spend this year to add 37 new staff to its current roster of 537 employees is a little more than Niagara Falls Tourism’s entire 2008 operating and marketing budgets. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
There is a fantastic article in today’s Niagara Falls Review about the Destination Marketing Fund (DMF). Apparently there will be another article tomorrow.
Guests staying at Fallsview hotels like the Embassy Suites and Hilton, as well as motels like the Blue Moon and Candlelight Motor Inn a little further afield, see a three per cent destination marketing fee added to the pre-tax room rate on their bill.
Guests at the Great Wolf Lodge and the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort, however, do not.
Diners at Applebee’s and TGI Fridays in the city’s tourist sections have the extra charge added to their bills.
Those who eat at Niagara Parks Commission properties only pay the applicable government taxes.
Pick up a T-shirt or trinket at Souvenir City on River Road or the Fallsview Mini Mart and pay a premium; be spared the extra change at Jo-An Souvenirs on Victoria Avenue.
Golf at the Grand Niagara, Eagle Valley or Willowdell and there’s no charge added to your green fee.
At Thundering Waters, you’re charged three per cent more.
Ask what the charge is for, and expect to be told anything from, “It’s a Niagara Falls tax” to “It pays for the lights and the fireworks at the falls.”
Or get the correct answer - given only once in about 40 requests for an explanation: “It’s a fee added to bills in the tourist district used to improve the streetscape, pay for part of the new convention centre and advertise Niagara Falls outside the area.”
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Depending on who you talk to, things don’t appear to be as bad as many thought they would be in the tourism sector this year.
Some operators along Clifton Hill are reporting a better-than-expected summer - poor weather, a high Canadian dollar and slowdowns at the border haven’t stopped visitors from crowding the tourist hot spot in Niagara Falls, despite projections earlier this year that the numbers might fall.
On the other hand, we hear from others who say it has been a soft year … much as what was expected.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Tim Parker was wrong when he predicted a 10 per cent decline in the city’s tourism industry this year.
But the general manager of Ripley’s Niagara Falls said he’s not sorry.
“If I could retract my story from June, I would,” Parker said this week, after a day filled with strategic planning for the 2009 season. “We actually sort of recovered since then and my prediction of being 10 per cent down is sort of dissipating.
“Every week, we’re a little bit up or we’re even.”
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