U.S. Government’s Global Tourism Tax Blitzkrieg: TPA

Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York – The recently passed Travel Promotion Act (TPA) is nothing more than an expansion of the federal bureaucracy and a government desperate for revenue streams placing an industry and job killing tax on the U.S. Tourism industry.


Currently U.S. individual states, counties and local governments in cooperation with private businesses promote U.S. destinations globally. In 1994, the entity within the U.S. Department of Commerce responsible for tourism promotions overseas was dissolved and the U.S. saw increases in tourism debunking the myth that the U.S. requires a centralized federal government tourism bureaucracy to compete globally for tourism receipts.

It is the role of the U.S. State Department and our embassies to engage their respective populations through public diplomacy campaigns which by definition includes tourism promotions.

“The irony is that national governments globally are decentralizing their tourism promotion operations placing greater responsibility and control at the local level,” said Gregory Kelly, CEO, K2 Global Communications LLC http://www.k2globalcomm.com/greg_kelly.html. “Does anyone really believe that Washington can promote and market New York City better than the current public-private partnership?”

The weak dollar is what made the U.S. an attractive destination for visitors; however, the tightened entry requirements in the name of national security encouraged many to vacation elsewhere.

The recently passed Travel Promotion Act (TPA) will do little more than turn away more travelers (revenue) with the ten-dollar tax going to the federal government rather than the local businesses and communities who are the major beneficiaries of tourism.

K2 Global Communications is a morally and socially responsible based full service public relations firm whose practice is built upon our excellent reputation for mutual regard, shared visions for a better tomorrow as well as common interests and values according to our core belief system that includes the Dignity of Life.

Our firm is comprised of a network of highly proficient professionals specializing in: Public Diplomacy, Tourism, Culture and Culinary Arts promotions.

For information on K2 Global Communications Public Relations and Marketing services visit us at http://www.k2globalcomm.com/index.html

K2 Global Communications LLC CEO Gregory Kelly’s experience includes public relations, international relations, public/government affairs, corporate communications, and relationship building from the local-to-international level.

He has worked as a U.S. Congress Assistant. He is also the former Manager of Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising for the Korea National Tourism Organization where his duties included speech writing for senior Korean government officials and establishing and maintaining working relationships with various foreign and domestic companies, government agencies and media outlets.

Mr. Kelly graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from State University of New York at Potsdam where he majored in political science and minored in communications.

Mr. Kelly resides in the Hudson Valley, married with one daughter.

Source: http://www.prlog.org/10553798-us-governments-global-tourism-tax-blitzkrieg-travel-promotion-act-tpa.html

An Email Solution to Marketing

The marketing field has been revolutionized over the past 10 years. Social networking, the Internet and unconventional methods of understanding the market place are all open questions. The weapon of choice for most modern businesses is email marketing. the question as to why is rather clear.

Email is definitely the best mode to conduct business. Snail mail is too expensive and time consuming. It is advantageous for smart businesses to develop email marketing campaigns. This will generate more business and retain ones customers as well.

Email Marking is the way of the present and immediate future. Businesses are smart to develop intelligent approaches to impact their customers. The main reasons for email marketing are: The ability to survey , develop newsletters and evaluate ones campaign makes a huge difference in ones overall effectiveness.

Source: http://www.prlog.org/10537287-an-email-solution-to-marketing.html

Hard-hitting Year Ahead For Print Media And Radio

Increasing investment in social media, mobile marketing, email marketing and search will fuel a 17 per cent surge in digital marketing spending this year, as marketers migrate budgets from television, print and radio. ExactTarget, the on-demand email and one-to-one marketing specialist worked in conjunction with Econsultancy, the digital publishing and training group, to conduct a survey of over 1000 company and agency marketers around the globe.

The outlook for offline channels is much less favourable than its digital competitors, where 28 per cent of marketers will shift their overall marketing budgets towards digital in 2010.In contrast, the research depicts a healthier outlook for the burgeoning digital marketing industry, with 66 per cent of companies increasing their online marketing spend, and a further 30 per cent stating that they will maintain the same levels of spend in this area. On average, digital marketing currently accounts for 24% of overall marketing spend.

Peter McCormick, the general manager and co-founder of ExactTarget comments: “The shift from offline to online is in full swing as marketers look to measure direct increases in top-line sales, site traffic and improve overall marketing return on investment. Interestingly, brand reputation is becoming a more significant driver of the migration to digital marketing, particularly when it comes to social media.”

70 per cent of in-house marketers plan to increase their budgets for off-site social media marketing efforts, using agencies to engage with audiences on Facebook, Twitter and other networking sites. But according to agency respondents the biggest impediment to digital marketing investment is a general lack of understanding of digital marketing channels. Just under half (48%) of agency respondents cite this as the key reason, which prevents their clients from investing more money in this area.

“The research shows a healthy outlook for the digital marketing industry with the majority of responding companies increasing their budgets for most digital channels,” said Linus Gregoriadis, research director at Econsultancy. “Social media marketing is the area where companies are most likely to be spending more money during 2010, but areas such as search engine marketing and email marketing will remain buoyant.”

The research also looked at the effectiveness, measurement and allocation of budgets, and probed the differences between "traditional" and digital marketing investment. Online and offline channels have been compared individually, in terms of where companies are investing and their ability to measure return on investment (ROI).

Marketers can download a summary of the More Money, More Channels: Marketing Budgets For 2010 free of charge here. The entire report is available for purchase from Econsultancy online.


About ExactTarget
ExactTarget is a leading global provider of on-demand email and one-to-one marketing solutions. The company’s software as a service technology provides organisations a single platform to connect with customers via email, SMS text messaging, voice messaging, social media and landing pages. Supported by collaborative global services teams, ExactTarget’s technology integrates with more sales and marketing information systems than any other in the industry, including Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Omniture and Webtrends among many others. ExactTarget’s software powers permission-based multi-channel communications for thousands of organisations around the world including Expedia.com, Aurora Fashions, Papa John’s, Sun Microsystems, Value Retail, World Society for Protection of Animals and Gulf Air. For more information, visit www.exacttarget.co.uk

Source: http://www.prlog.org/10519098-hardhitting-year-ahead-for-print-media-and-radio.html