The mission of airlines and hotel companies is to provide a satisfying and safe travel experience (the ‘how’ of travel). Travelers, on the other hand, are primarily interested in the activities they will participate in when they reach their destination (the ‘why’ and ‘what’). These two paradigms are not so much misaligned as they are symbiotic. This is why the travel industry as a business... 

Among the immense volumes of content and entertainment we consume on a daily basis, finding one item that promises to have a lasting impact on our culture is truly a story of a needle in a haystack. In the case of the Avatar blockbuster we are only beginning to see the story unfold. Looking back it’s easy to see the true impact of other movies. Imagine Star Wars’ impact on the technologies we take... 

  I recently conducted a Webinar on key distribution trends for 2009-2010 for the Southeast Tourism Society, an organization of more than 900 destination marketing organizations (DMOs), travel suppliers and other companies involved in the marketing and promotion of travel and tourism to the Southeast United States. About 15 minutes into the Webinar, I posed this polling question to attendees: “What...