Internet serving tourism

TIM BULLARD
Special to The Post and Courier

     MYRTLE BEACH - Travel specialists from Charleston and across the South were told Thursday that the Internet is an important tool in marketing S.C. tourism destinations.
     "Travel is the only major import industry in the entire United States that has no official representation," said Arthur Frommer, a travel expert and publisher.
     Frommer, who spoke during the 16th Southeast Tourism Society meeting at Kingston Plantation, called for statewide tourism representatives to lobby for the United States to fund more international tourism marketing programs.
     Frommer suggested that tourism Internet sites add interactive features and quick response e-mail to web pages which highlight bargain discounts.
     A growth in the sale of air and land vacation packages is a mark of growth in the travel industry, he said, along with the travel guide book industry.
     "You have millions and millions of guidebooks bought by Americans," he said.
     Destinations should not be shy about advertising inexpensive rates. "It is the name of the game," he said. "It is mainstream travel." Motels with relatively inexpensive rates make up 65 percent of the industry, according to Frommer.
     Frommer is editor-in-chief of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine and author of "Europe On $5 A Day." He bragged about his $128 round-trip Spirit Airline ticket from New York City.
     Representing Charleston at the event were Helen Hill, executive director of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Perrin Lawson, CVB director of advertising and marketing.
     Also attending were representatives like Bud Flora, senior vice president of Travel and Tourism for Southern Living magazine, and officials from Biltmore Estate, Battleship North Carolina, and publishers from Disney Publishing, Atlanta magazine, Conde Nast Traveler and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
     Officials from tourism commissions from several states were also represented, including Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana and North Carolina.