VISIT USA NOW! ISSUE 88 | FEBR UAR Y 2011 Early USA bookings look brighter


Visit USA tour operator members are countering the seemingly endless diet of gloomy economic news with some very encouraging reports of 2011 booking trends. With the UK economy contracting by


0.5 per cent in the last quarter of 2010, rising inflation and increased Air Passenger Duty (APD), you might well expect US holiday bookings to be somewhat stagnant. Not so, according to several US specialist tour operators. USAirtours said it started the year


with enquiries up by more than 25 per cent and bookings up by almost 20 per cent. “Villas continue to outsell hotel holidays in Orlando and we are seeing strong demand for pre-planned fly-drive holidays to California,” said company founder and CEO Guy Novik. “Demand for cruise and stay


itineraries is particularly strong for sailings from Florida and two new itineraries that include ranching and Amtrak are also selling well.” For Jetset North America sales are


standing up well against other long haul destinations and currently outselling the Far East, Southern Africa and Australasia, said product manager


In brief...


The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau has a new dedicated web page featuring high-definition web cameras located throughout the Greater Miami area. The web cams are designed to showcase the destination’s natural beauty. The page is updated regularly and has live feeds from GMCVB’s Twitter and Facebook, surf and weather reports, and a map of Greater Miami’s beaches. www.SeeMiamiLive.com


The Los Angeles Zoo &


Jonathan Ditte. “Our bookings have been fairly evenly spread throughout 2011, showing that clients are still booking in advance,” he said. The West Coast and Las Vegas have


started strongly, which Ditte partly attributes to Virgin Atlantic’s new Manchester-Las Vegas service. “Hawaii sales have also been brisk, as


have city breaks for autumn and winter 2011. New York breaks are still popular, but we are also booking more people to Washington and Philadelphia, combining with New York on fly-and-rail holidays,” he added.


The operators’ comments lend weight


to a recent U.S. Department of Commerce-sponsored UK Travel Trade Barometer which reported that for the first quarter of 2011 the majority of UK tour operators (67%) projected higher bookings to the United States. Value rather than price is a key factor


for US-bound customers, added USAirtours’ Novik. “Customers are trading up to four-


and five-star hotels, providing they are attractively priced, and we predict that the tailor-made market will continue to perform well.” said Novik.


Titan’s still got golden times


Titan HiTours’ second edition


2011 Worldwide brochure features a California and the Golden West tour for the 25th year running. The 16-day overland adventure still


starts and ends in Los Angeles, taking in San Diego, Las Vegas and San Francisco. Also featured are the Grand Canyon, Mojave Desert and Yosemite National Park. New to the tour are two nights at


the Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas and admission to Universal Studios in Hollywood. Available year- round, the package starts from £1,395pp. This includes flights, accommodation, excursions and Titan's VIP Home Departure Service. www.titanhitours.co.uk


32 February 2011 • www.sellinglonghaul.com Legoland park puts blocks in place


LEGOLAND® Florida will be the Sunshine State’s latest mega-theme park when it opens this October. Located in Winter Haven, 45 minutes


southwest of Orlando, the 150-acre ‘interactive park’ says it will offer a ‘full- day’ experience that will be geared mainly towards families with children aged between two and 12. There will be more than 50 interactive


rides, shows and attractions including LEGO® models. The park will consist of 10 different ‘lands’: The Beginning, Fun Town, Miniland USA, Castle Hill, Land of Adventure, XTreme, LEGO City, Imagination Zone, Pirate Cove and DUPLO® Village. Key attractions will include Pharaoh’s Revenge, where children and parents will fire soft foam balls at enemies and explore the complex maze of the Pharaoh’s kingdom; Lego Mindstorms, where kids


will build and programme computerised Lego robots; and Fun Town Fire Academy, which will see families competing to put out a ‘blaze’ by piling into a 'fire truck' and powering it by pumping levers. Advance-purchase tickets – priced at


$65 for adults and $55 for children and seniors – and annual passes are already on sale at: www.LEGOLANDFloridaResort.com


Botanical Gardens, one of the best zoos in the US, has a new 'Elephants of Asia' exhibition. The facility, which features bathing pools, a waterfall, river sand, sandy hills and varied topography, is home to Billy, a 25-year-old male Asian elephant, and two female Asian elephants from the San Diego Zoo: Tina, 30 some years old, and Jewel, 40-something. The exhibit will familiarise guests with the challenges Asian elephants face in the wild. www.lazoo.org


Element New York Times Square West, a Starwood hotel, has opened in New York City. The Element brand is the first major hotel brand to mandate that all its properties pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Every Element property is also a high-performance structure where sustainable practices reduce waste and conserve resources. Element New York Times Square West features 411 guest rooms and seven suites and a rooftop terrace. www.elementhotels.com/ timessquarewest


Delta Air Lines will begin non-


stop twice-daily services between London-Heathrow and both Miami and Boston from March 26. The new routes will complement Delta’s existing non-stop services from London to New York-JFK, Atlanta, Detroit and Minneapolis-St. Paul. www.delta.com


VISIT CALIFORNIA


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