The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association has gussied up its website, adding all sorts of fun web tools. We're particularly big fans of the new videos, including this strangely compelling tour of the city.
Also available are older videos introducing you to Baltimore people like Cal Ripken, Jr. and David Simon, who explains that "The Wire" is a love letter to his hometown:
If you come from DC, you sort of have to admit you're not from a real place. You acknowledge that our food is better, that our beer is colder, that our neighborhoods are worth living in and that this is a city more real than yours. Once you do all that, you know, we're ready to embrace you!
Google Earth seems to get more useful by the day, and now you can plan more than just your next pool party using the free software.
South African Tourism worked with Google to develop a special batch of layers to hype the country. You can fly in over cultural sites and historic landmarks or click over to the nature and safari info to plan a wildlife-focused trip.
And of course all the locations for the 2010 World Cup are highlighted as well. Speaking of, tickets for the competition go on sale in February 2009, about the time, we'd expect, you'll start seeing a huge amount of press about visiting South Africa.
The east coast town of Wollongong in Australia used to be good for not much more than a tricky spelling question at a pub quiz night. But the Wollongong tourist board is busy telling the world that the city is worth a trip when you're next visiting Sydney.
In their exact words, if you want to "mix a Sydney stopover with a stunning coastal drive and regional tourism experience" then Wollongong is the right place to go. They've created a 140 km, signposted scenic drive down the coast which has been named the Grand Pacific Drive which certainly does sound pretty, well, grand.
The route crosses the slightly scary Sea Cliff Bridge, and the Illawarra tree-top walk is also close by. Just right for a short-but-grand escape from bustling Sydney.
When the "Lord of the Rings" movies came out, Australia sat by and watched neighboring New Zealand steal millions of tourists eager to see the scenery where Frodo Baggins frolicked. Now that "Australia" is nearing release, it's time for the Aussies to get their revenge.
As for the tourism marketing campaign, it should be pretty easy to connect the film to the nation, since the movie is simply called "Australia." It's set around World War II times, but the landscape still looks pretty sexy. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman don't look half bad either.
Australia's tourist board has put together a huge "See the movie, see the country" advertising campaign, including movie maps and location guides, so once the movie's released in November this year, nobody will be able to escape the mysterious pull to visit Australia. And that probably includes us.
If Betsy Ross and Ben Franklin were alive today, for what cause would they advocate? The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation thinks they'd join gay and lesbian Pennsylvanians in a new promotion called "We Your People," which encourages LGBT travelers to look at the City of Brotherly Love when making those summer travel plans.
The campaign also has help from Southwest Airlines and is timed not-at-all-coincidentally with Gay Pride festivities in many cities. (Philly's Pride Day Parade is June 8.) Local business owners, boutique moguls and even one journalist (Philadelphia Gay News founder Mark Segal) are helping the GPTMC spread the word that Philly is a LGBT-friendly destination.
And the poster children are getting something for their trouble: Campaign spokesman Matthew Izzo reports getting fan mail, site traffic and MySpace and Facebook requests aplenty since getting involved. Since we're feeling the love, too, we've got a video with Izzo right after the click.
You may not realize it, but Montreal has been a global cultural mecca for decades. Sure it's frequently visited by University of Vermont students interested in legal boozing, but the city is also home to one of the most progressive electronic music, fashion, design and cuisine scenes in all of North America. Lucky for you, then that the good folks from Tourisme Montreal have made planning a long weekend there even easier with a new website.
Sure San Francisco has that nice bridge and you can always ride those trains on a string, but there's way more to see in the city's more than 40 neighborhoods.
The San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau just launched a site filled with an interactive map and information about each of the neighborhoods to make your trip planning a bit easier. For the more Jerry Garcia-oriented crowd it illustrates the fun to be had in areas like Haight-Asbury. If that's not quite your scene, head to SoMa (South of Market) for "more than two square miles of sleek nightclubs, fashionable restaurants [and] art hubs." Finally, if you still haven't gotten your passport, just hit up Chinatown--it's one of the largest and oldest in the country.
Click on any 'hood to see more about it, including activity, sightseeing and restaurant picks. You'll also find neighborhood-specific events calendars that'll help you plan out your summer travel.
Hyping the oft-ignored borough of the Bronx can't be easy when the tourist playground of Manhattan is just across the Harlem River. But when The New York Times checked up on the Bronx Tourism Council the other day, the newspaper found a miserable website full of busted links and outdated information. Calling the office wasn't much help either:
A voice-mail message for the council's marketing director and executive director was not returned. A call to the council's Bronx hot line resulted only in a recorded greeting: "Please join us for the Bronx's official tree lighting ceremony, Monday, December 17, at 5 pm at the Bronx County Building." That's December 17... 2007.
Turns out that getting slammed in the city's paper of record is motivational. A mere two days after the NYT report, the website has been revamped and is newly useful, though that's not saying much. To wit: There are five "Entertainment" options, four of which are multiplexes. Need lodging? You'll find two listings on the site.
How much longer till the Bronx Tourism Council starts a blog?
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