Group Tour Blogs

By Aaron Ogg

How do you decide what destination, attraction or activity is perfect for your group tour? Perhaps you consult colleagues, business acquaintances and assorted reviews. Maybe you do some comparison shopping. Or possibly the location works so well that it outweighs other pros, such as low price point and highly customizable options.

Here’s what I bet you don’t base your decision on: A company’s “like” count on Facebook.

Sure, it’s great to see a brand engaged with its audience, but not all the people who represent those “likes” are necessarily … let’s see, how do I phrase this diplomatically … real people.

There are scads of companies that sell Facebook “likes” — one thousand, five thousand, depends on how much you’re willing to spend. A product or service looks uber hip on the surface when its Facebook page boasts a gazillion approving thumbs. Unfortunately, there’s often a bunch of icky stuff underneath the thumbnails, such as spam and other grime.

So there’s that.  There’s also the possibility that, even if the likes are legit, they represent a demographic that doesn’t exactly match your customers’ tastes. A busload of student spring breakers might be more inclined to “like” a destination’s page than a busload of seniors, for example.

None of this is to say that social media savvy should not be a factor when making an informed purchasing decision. Much can be gleaned from observing how well a brand interacts with its followers, how responsive it is to real-time requests for information or complaints. It can often be a good gauge of how quickly the company might return a phone call, how warmly it will receive your group or how quickly it will correct an error or oversight.

Like my fictitious great grandpa always used to say after his crude time machine brought him to May 15, 2012: “A good jacket doesn’t need a bunch of confounded Facebook likes. It just fits.”

Aaron Ogg is Group Tour Media’s content marketing director. He resides in Grand Rapids, Mich., and enjoys social media, Apple products, games of chance, punctuality and the occasional meal of sushi. Follow him on Twitter, @aarongrouptour.

This blog by Senior Staff Writer Amanda Black ponders how TV nostalgia is good for group tours

The problem with having hundreds of cable channels is there is no time to watch them. Last night, in a bout of laziness, I decided to venture into the high register of channels and stumbled on Antenna TV. It’s one of those old timey TV channels like TV Land was before it starting showing George Lopez and Friends reruns.

Anyway, I was drawn to an episode of Too Close For Comfortfrom 1984. It was awful — the humor was as outdated as the jeans.

In case you want a little trip back to 1984, here's the Too Close For Comfort intro. Enjoy the Ted Knight pratfall. 

One part made me chuckle, however. The blonde bombshell daughter was trying out for a news reader job. The joke was she couldn’t pronounce the name of Muammar Gaddafi, and then she quipped “How long could he really last?”

If only she knew…

But none of us knows, because that’s the way life works. I was already thinking all nostalgic when this commercial popped up for Antenna TV itself. It was quite moving. As it featured clips of old shows, it said something like: “We’ve laughed with these old friends, cried with them,” etc. And then, they said this: “It’s like a letter to yourself of a different time.”

Wow. So I got to thinking about where I was when the Too Close for Comfort aired. I was living in Chicago’s Northwest suburbs, the home of Woodfield Mall. We loved the mall then, and that was long before it became the go-to shopping destination east of the Mall of America. I also was in school then, learning about the evils of the Soviet Union along with reading comprehension, basic arithmetic and other important skills I still use today.

Where were you in 1984? Were you in school too? Were you a gleam in your parents’ eyes? Were you already planning tours?

TV nostalgia also sets the stage for a host of interesting exhibits. The Paley Center for Media in Hollywood is hosting an exhibit of Warner Bros. TV memorabilia, representing shows like ER (I watched all 15 seasons), Kung Fu, The Big Bang Theory, Smallville and many other favorites.

“Television Outside the Box” just opened last month, and it is scheduled through 2015. The Paley Center also offers tours of its operations in Hollywood and New York, and it hosts a number of TV-themed events throughout the year. 

In Las Vegas, the CSI Experience at the MGM Grand puts visitors right in the heart of the forensic TV show. The traveling exhibit of the same name is being refurbished and will start appearing at museums again soon.

Switching gears without leaving the medium of TV, there’s the Andy Griffith Museum in Mount Airy, N.C., the real town that stood in for the fictional Mayberry. Griffith’s friend Emmett Forrest collected a large number of items related to the show, its actors and ol’ Andy himself.

Don’t forget about location tours, sitting in the studio audience, studio tours, media-themed theme parks and a host of other ways to connect with the wonderful world of TV.

What’s your favorite TV show? How can you weave it into a group tour?

Let’s keep the conversation going on Twitter (I'm @AmandaGroupTour) and Facebook.

By Aaron Ogg

The coffee vs. tea debate is a heated one here at Group Tour Media. It might be the most polarizing issue we face on a day-to-day basis.

As we head into what is sure to be a highly adversarial U.S. presidential campaign season, we are reminded that our differences mustn’t deter us from striving toward a common goal. We choose our words wisely within neutral territory — in this case, the Keurig beverage station, which serves both parties equally — sip and move on.

Usually.

Once in a while, however, a member of one of the factions gets feisty and fires a shot across the bow (See Exhibit A, right, a reworking of a previous sign that had read, “Tea: It’s what winners drink.”).

During these uncertain times, we immediately brace ourselves for the possibility of escalation and a zero-sum catastrophe. Fortunately, reason always has prevailed on both sides. Still, we remain conscious of a very real threat that only looms larger the more caffeinated we become throughout the day.  

Call me Augustus Group

I recently spent time in Seattle, which is basically made of coffee. I was tempted to chip off a piece of a street sign and brew it a la Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Wouldn’t a coffee river smell delicious? Having learned a valuable lesson from another overeager young fellow, I’d be sure to keep a safe distance.

In addition to the omnipresence of Starbucks and other major chains, there is the “coffee shack” phenomenon. These are small, shed-type retail operations often no larger than a tollbooth run by hyper-localized entrepreneurs. They appear in the parking lots of auto service stations, hair salons — any place imaginable where people might want to get their fix. I hear these are also big in Alaska, too. I’d never seen anything quite like it.

It may come as no surprise that India apparently is home to tea’s answer to this business model. Considering the country’s population density and the popularity of tea, I’m sure it’s an effective way to make a few bucks. Check out this artsy video capturing the look and feel of one of these operations.

Brewed and steeped for groups

Groups can experience the best of Seattle one cup at a time during a coffee crawl with Seattle By Foot Tours.  The tour is dedicated solely to coffee and serves up a “masterful roast of Seattle coffee lore” along with sampling at several city cafes.

If that’s not your group’s cup of … yeah … they can check out Bigelow’s Charleston Tea Plantation in Charleston, S.C. Its 127 acres are located on Wadmalaw Island in the lowcountry, and include Camellia Sinensis tea plants, a working tea factory and a plantation gift shop.

So, which beverage do you think is superior? Is there room in this world for both?

Aaron Ogg is Group Tour Media’s content marketing director. He resides in Grand Rapids, Mich., and enjoys social media, Apple products, games of chance, punctuality and the occasional meal of sushi. Follow him on Twitter, @aarongrouptour.

It’s the beginning of May and temperatures in the mid-80s have me dreaming of the beach.

Summer to me means the shoreline, complete with colorful buckets and shovels tossed haphazardly on the sand, towels angled for optimum sunbathing, sandy feet and flip-flops. I’m eagerly awaiting spontaneous excursions on the pontoon boat, and hours watching my kids play in the shallow water. I really could spend the whole summer surfside, and my husband, Ignazio, and kids, Rocco and Lena, are the same way.

We spend most summer weekends at my family’s cottage on Gun Lake, in Yankee Springs Township, Mich., where crisp quiet mornings turn into lively sunny afternoons before waning into pleasant nights by the bonfire.

We always fit in a few trips to Grand Haven State Park, where jumping into the Lake Michigan waves feels freshwater cool, and the boardwalk beckons to the Pier Peddler ice cream shop. I love to look at the names painted on the huge yachts in the marinas, monikers like Ships and Giggles and Vitamin Sea.

The season wouldn’t be complete without visiting Saugatuck, the artsy waterfront town I recommend every visitor to the Mitten State spend a day or weekend.  (My best friend and I have made Saugatuck Day of Fun an annual tradition. We take our kids out for a dune-buggy adventure through the rolling dunes provided by Saugatuck Dune Rides, followed by a picnic and swimming at Oval Beach.)

Since I’m sure I’m not the only sun lover looking forward to the long days of July, I figured it would be a good time to spotlight several group-friendly beach vacation spots perfect for creating memories and traditions.

 Myrtle Beach, S.C, offers 60 miles sandy beaches, 102 golf courses, tons of lodging options and lots of fresh seafood.

Virginia Beach, Va., offers three beautiful beaches stretching 35 miles on the coast, and a lovely three-mile boardwalk.

Jersey Shore, N.J., consists of 127 miles of white sand beaches, golfing, fine dining and its well-known nightlife. Cape May, N.J., is a historic seaside resort with lots of cultural and natural attractions. Wildwoods beaches stretch on for miles and miles, offering lots of offshore attractions.

In Florida, horseback ride, bird-watch and enjoy the pristine beaches on Amelia Islands, or collect shells on Sanibel islands, or there’s Key West, Naples, Palm Beach and so many more.

In North Carolina, choose from the 200-mile stretch of islands along the Outer Banks, N.C.

In Southern Calif., Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Del Mar, Laguna, Huntington, Hermosa, Malibu are just a few of the beautiful Pacific.

The options are endless for beach destinations, and I could go on forever. Writing about them makes me even more excited for the summer days ahead.

What are you planning for group beach town destinations? Where are your favorite beaches?

Group Tour Media Staff Writer Erin Albanese is already at the beach in her mind. A graduate of Central Michigan University, she currently resides in Wyoming, Mich. 

By David Hoekman

When you’re in the travel trade or, like me, an attentive and regular observer of the travel trade, every week is a travel and tourism week.

Every day is a travel and tourism day.

A lot of people outside the industry, however, don’t give travel a second thought unless they happen to be planning a vacation or they’re stuck in a traffic jam on their way to a vacation.

Even for people in the travel and tourism industry it is easy to get wrapped up in duties like booking hotel rooms for a group tour, double-checking room lists or going over itinerary details with the tour escort.

These are important and necessary tasks, to be sure.

But it’s also possible to lose sight of the big picture.

Which is why the first full week of May is recognized in the United States as National Travel and Tourism Week (NTTW).

The U.S. Travel Association, the umbrella organization representing the U.S. travel industry, notes that during the week events are presented in cities, states and travel businesses to champion the power of travel.

To align with U.S. Travel's year-long campaign, this year's NTTW theme is Vote Travel.

“Travel is a force that can drive our nation’s economic recovery. It is one of the healthiest sectors of our economy in terms of job creation and hiring, employing one out of every nine Americans,” said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, in a prepared statement. “During this election season, we are galvanizing support to ‘Vote Travel’ to showcase the power of our industry and its impact on our economy.”

According to the association, travel and tourism supports 14.4 million jobs across the U.S. (including 7.5 million directly in the travel industry and 6.9 million in other industries).

My job is one of them.

Everyone from a clerk in an attraction gift shop to an airline pilot is part of this vast enterprise.

Vast may be an understatement.

Travel and tourism generated $1.9 trillion in economic output, with $813 billion spent directly by domestic and international travelers that spurred an additional $1.1 trillion in other industries.

Now that’s real money.

David Hoekman is the managing editor of Group Tour Media, based in Holland, Mich.