Travel and Tourism

More gruesome news from the drug wars in Mexico: 49 bodies with heads and other body parts missing have been found along a road leading from Monterrey to the U.S. border in Texas. A message reading “100% Zeta” indicates that the deaths are related to the country’s continued deadly drug violence. The Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel are the two biggest drug cartels in the country.

“Mexico’s drug violence has been a public relations nightmare for President Felipe Calderon. The crime scenes inevitably make world news, scaring off would-be tourists and causing foreign investors to think twice,” writes Yahoo News. The story goes on to talk about the Mexican government’s emphasis on the fact that the violence is “contained” to a few places and most of the victims are directly involved with the drug cartels. Still, many inside and outside of the country are scared.

In March, the Mexican tourism board for the state of Sinaloa chose Ogilvy as its AOR. The following is a statement from the Board we received via email in response to today’s deadly news:

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WTH Spirit Airlines?! $100 for a carry-on bag?

As the image at left illustrates, people have gone berserk with the carry-on luggage in an effort to avoid the the current fees for checking in luggage. Certainly, Spirit isn’t the only airline jacking up fees for “amenities.” But $100 for a bag, checked in or carried on, is exorbitant.

The increased fee takes effect on November 6; the airline is already charging $45 at the gate to bring a bag on board. The fee goes down to $50 if the passenger pays during check-in, even less, $30, if it’s paid during an online check-in.

CNBC quotes a Spirit statement: “We don’t want any of our customers to wait until they get to the boarding gate to pay for their bag. That delays the boarding process for everyone.” CNBC’s Mandy Drury adds, “You have been warned.”  Here’s a list of all their bag new fees.

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Tasmania, a remote Australian island, and Trump SoHo, a downtown New York City hotel, don’t appear to have much in common. However, to expand their audience base they’ve followed similar paths: reaching out and immersing bloggers in their brand experience.

PR and marketing executives associated with both travel organizations discussed these and other digital initiatives during an ATME (Association of Travel Marketing Executives) Marketing Issues Forum on Tuesday in New York.

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Mashable has posted a short clip from the incident on a Las Vegas-bound JetBlue flight in which the captain had what some are calling a “panic attack.” The clip shows a relatively calm scene. Passengers are, of course, looking to see what’s going on, but it’s not the chaos one could imagine.

On the other hand, there’s this clip on ABC News that’s really frightening, not just for the passengers, but for the pilot, Clayton Osbon, who is clearly distraught. He has been suspended and is now getting medical attention while in FBI custody. This is barely two years after a JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater decided he had enough and decided to quit his job via the plane’s emergency exit ramp.

What the heck is JetBlue doing to its employees? Read more

Ogilvy PR has been chosen as the AOR for the Mexican state of Sinaloa, an area on the Pacific Ocean. Ogilvy will work to promote the area as a tourist destination and as a foreign investment option. In addition, the firm will work to “[protect] its brand from external criticism,” according to the press release announcement.

There was news today that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed sanctions on Jesus Reynaldo Zambada Garcia, who is described by the Wall Street Journal as a “a key operative in Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel.” CNN characterized that cartel as “one of Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficking organizations” last Friday.

Ogilvy’s media influence team in New York will lead this account.

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Is leisure travel rebounding?

January was a roller coaster month for the travel business. On the upside, the industry scored a coup when President Obama proposed a plan to boost travel to the U.S. during his January 19 visit to Orlando. As Terry Dale, president of U.S. Tour Operators Association observed, “It’s nice to see the industry recognized at the Presidential level.”

On the downside, the cruise segment of the industry was rocked by the January 13 grounding of the Costa Concordia ship off the Italian coast and the related stream of bad news.

These were among the issues discussed at the Association of Travel Marketing Executives annual forecast forum in New York on Wednesday. The panel, moderated by Henry Harteveldt, co-founder of Atmosphere Research Group, included Dale and one representative each from an airline, a hotel chain, a destination, and a transaction provider. Cruise lines were notable for their absence. Below are four key takeaways.

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Priceline’s spokesperson “Negotiator,” played by William Shatner, has died a fiery death, but we can all laugh about it.

Shatner has played the role for 14 years. But, Priceline’s CEO Christopher Soder says, with a new focus on fixed price offerings, the Negotiator just wasn’t relevant to the company any longer.

Just like Priceline’s previous ads, Shatner never comes out of character, even when he’s falling off a bridge.

[via Business Insider]

The Bee and Thistle Inn in Old Lyme

After two years with no budget, the state of Connecticut will develop a marketing and branding campaign for the state’s tourism and business development offerings.

The state announced today that it will spend $22 million over two years to market the state as a place to work and vacation. Connecticut’s Office of Tourism has assembled a marketing team led by Chowder, which specializes in travel marketing and advertising, and including Fleishman-Hillard, Media Storm, and research and marketing firm The Harrison Group.

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A report from British aviation consultancy Ascend finds that air travel is pretty safe these days, with passenger fatalities down to the lowest level since they began tracking it in 1990.

This year, there were 401 deaths on commercial and charter flights, versus 726 in 2010. That’s one for every 7.1 million passengers. There were nearly 2.9 billion passengers in 2011.

However, air travel is still a little dicey in any country ending in “stan” and in Africa due to slower aviation industry development and infrastructure in those location, according to Peter Goeltz, SVP of O’Neill and Associates and former director of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

New airline tagline: Stop complaining! At least you didn’t die.

[via Overhead Bin blog]