Brand Canada - The Tourism Marketing Blog

The most inaccurate weather forecast in history

2008-06-07T17:06:23Z

Weather forecasts are notoriously inaccurate, but this one is really pushing the envelope.

I'm off to Newfoundland next week so I thought I'd check in at The Weather Network to get an updated forecast. Apparently it will be around 4 degrees celcius this evening, dipping to a low of -48C tonite before warming up to a balmy -45C Sunday afternoon.

How does one pack for a high of minus 45? And shouldn't the weather network be making a bigger deal out of a forecast that would deliver the coldest temperatures ever recorded in June in Canada?

Fortunately, I have friends in Newfoundland and I know it's a heck of a lot warmer than -45C right now. But how many people, as part of their travel planning, surf over to the weather network and get an inaccurate forecast that sends them running off to a different destination?

In the age of instant access to information, accuracy becomes hugely important. Something as seemingly innocent as a software glitch in a weather website can result in lost sales, misinformed consumers and have a negative impact on your destination's overall image.

P.S. I hit refresh and got a more accurate(?) forecast of 10C for Sunday afternoon. I took that extra step because the original forecast was so obviously wrong. But if it has only been off by 10 degrees or shown rain instead of sun, it still would have had an impact on my impression of the destination and I would have been none the wiser.

Stay tuned for The Weather Network's new 55 degree guarantee.

Innovation from Banff Lake Louise Tourism

2008-03-24T08:07:52Z

Banff, Alberta, Canada has found a unique way to bring their destination and their destination brand to life: enlist the locals to tell their own stories of Banff.

A series of more than 30 videos have been created and distributed on social media sites including YouTube, Crackle and others.

Using video to promote tourism isn't new, but what's innovative here is that most of the videos don't focus on travel experiences -- they simply give an insight into how the locals live and cover a wide range of topics tailor made to reach a wide range of folks before they even begin their travel planning. Interested in tricked out bicycles or how to tie a fly for near-sighted fishermen? If so, you might find yourself learning a bit about Banff while pursuing those interests.

Click here for the videos or click on the graphic below.

The initiative has started to garner attention for Banff in both traditional and non-travel social media spaces, including Serge the Concierge, rugbyfanz.com, Copenhagen Cycle Chic, and curlingrink.ca.

Full disclosure: this was a pilot project for my new venture with Radar DDB and Carousel Content Corp.

Knut the Polar Bear Turns One!

2007-12-17T09:36:25Z

Knut, the German polar bear cub who took the world by storm has turned one year old!

To celebrate, the Berlin Zoo and the Canadian Tourism Commission are holding a contest to win a trip to Churchill, Manitoba to see polar bears in their natural habitat.

The relationship between Knut and the CTC dates back to shortly after Knut was born, when the CTC gifted the cub with a large red play ball emblazoned with the 'Canada. Keep Exploring" logo (a clever marketing coup).

As a one year old, Knut now weighs more than 240 pounds. If you think you'd like to swim with a bear that size, check out the polar bear habitat in Cochrane, Alberta Ontario. If viewing whole families of polar bears from the comfort of a tundra buggy is more your speed, head to Churchill, Manitoba (a friend of mine just returned from Churchill and describes it as an experience that should be on everyone's "do before you die" list).

Jamaica Tourist Board teams with tween girls book publisher

2007-12-05T09:12:25Z

Jamaica will be the setting for the newest Beacon Street Girls book, owing to a unique partnership between the Jamaica Tourist Board and series publisher B*tween Productions.

Previous Beacon Street adventures have been set in Telluride, Boston, Montana, New Hampshire and New York.

According to the press release, the new book will "teach tween girls to nurture their own family roots while they learn about Jamaica, its rich history, culture and lifestyle."

JTB and B*tween selected a local Jamaican childrens' book author to pen the new novel.

Once the book is published, the partnership plans to follow up with in-store, online and book launch events offering a chance to win a family vacation to Jamaica.

While most tourism boards chase blockbuster movie deals, it's nice to see the printed word and a younger audience getting some attention.

Auckland City Council logo controversy

2007-12-04T23:46:01Z

When you launch a new logo, it's almost inevitable that someone will step forward to point out similarities to an already existing logo. Often, these "look-alike" logo's belong to an obscure business halfway around the globe or operate in entirely unrelated fields. When we relied on complex images such as coats of arms or tartans to differentiate our brands, there was lots of room for tweaking a lion's claw here, adding a wheat sheaf there or stitching in an extra band of pink cotton and wammo - you could claim to have created a totally "new" graphic to symbolise your brand.

But with the modern-day preference for logo's that are both simple and highly stylised, it's increasingly difficult to make a truly unique logo from a few strokes of colour here and an elongated blob there.

So when Auckland City Council launched their new logo, they were fully expecting a bit of a rough ride. What they didn't expect (and really, who could have foreseen this?) was that they'd be accused of pinching a logo not from some obscure laundromat in Des Moines, but from... their local tv station.

You be the judge -- the new Auckland City council logo is on the left and the local Auckland TV station's (Triangle TV) logo is on the right:

It's not that they compete in the same industry (though Triangle's major concern was over both organizations sponsoring sports and entertainment events and the resulting potential for confusion) -- it's that they both exist in and serve the same (relatively) small market.

Auckland spent $25,000 to develop the logo, $42,000 to conduct market research (which told them that the logo looked a lot like the local TV station) and another $16,000 for trademark registration costs (during which they were advised the logo was too similar to Triangle's) before going ahead and launching the logo anyway. Once news of the look-alike logo got out (lead story on Triangle's evening newscast perhaps?), Auckland spent a further $10,000 to re-design the logo and another $37,500 to settle the legal tussle with Triangle.

Hiccups like these aren't as uncommon as you might like to think in the world of logo design and branding. Auckland's is just a particularly inexplicable example of what can go horribly wrong when you ignore research findings and legal advice.

Be sure to invest in conducting a full competitive and environmental scan of all aspects of your branding project. If you come across something that feels a little too familiar, it probably is. Listen to what consumers tell you (people will almost always tell you that whatever they're looking at reminds them of something else, but if enough people say the same thing, they're probably right). And watch TV... just in case.

When good logos go bad

2007-12-04T19:30:53Z

When Kentucky launched their "Unbridled Spirit" brand, I was impressed with both their positioning and their logo:

But now that the state has decided to focus more heavily on adventure tourism, things seem to be going off the rails, in an unintentionally hilarious way. The new logo for the adventure side of the business features an abbreviation and a tagline that just beg to be misinterpreted:

umm... errr... if you're not sure what I'm talking about, ask a colleague.

Saint Nicholas to become pitchman for Turkish Tourism

2007-12-04T19:05:20Z

In a direct competitive threat to North Pole tourism, Turkish tourism officials have announced plans to re-frame the world's image of Saint Nicholas. Apparently the real Saint Nicholas lived in 4th century Turkey, where he would have had little use for a warm woolen jacket and would probably have had a tough time finding reindeer to pull his sleigh. References to the real Saint Nicholas will be used in an upcoming tourism campaign.

Hmmm...

Saint Nicholas = Turkey
Turkey = Christmas
Christmas = Santa Claus
But Santa Claus does not equal Saint Nicholas.

Now you know.
...

The Slog: Offbeat marketing from Horizon Air

2007-12-04T16:49:06Z

If you haven't seen the "Slog" campaign from Horizon Air, take a few minutes and click through the interactive map here.

Launched to promote its Seattle-Portland shuttle, the Slog offers a tongue-in-cheek documentary-style expose on "The longest 3-hour drive in American history." One the website, an interactive map allows you to explore the drive through video segments on landmarks such as "Last meal gorge" and "Big Repave".

Anyone who has ever been subjected to a regular long and boring commute can connect to the quirky Horizon pitch. But what I like most about it is that they've found a clever way to take what is essentially a category benefit (flying is usually faster than driving) and make it ownable in the Seattle-Portland corridor. In these days of endless airport hassles and delays, pointing out that driving isn't always a picnic either is a smart strategy.

Kansas on track with state-wide brand

2007-12-04T10:49:27Z

Over the past few years, Kansas has accomplished what most places can only dream of: create a common state-wide brand used by tourism, local government, other state agencies and private businesses alike. The brand is used in economic development initiatives, tourism campaigns, and to build pride among residents.

"As big as you think" was first launched in 2005. Like most place branding initiatives, it had its share of detractors when it was first announced and was even lampooned by residents of Lawrence, Kansas (the state's self-proclaimed hippie haven):

But two years later, the brand is still in use and appears to be gaining momentum. Here's what I like about it:

In creating a state-wide brand, Kansas has the opportunity to leverage the combined communications investment of many different sectors, unlike most destinations that fragment their message by using different brands for tourism, economic development, exports, immigration, etc.
It builds on a truth that already exists in people's minds (Kansas is a place of wide open spaces) and turns it into a benefit (you've got room to pursue your dreams here).
It's broad enough to work for a wide range of government and business interests without losing its focus;
The tagline is simple and approachable and consistent with what most people perceive as the personality of Kansas;
They use relevant proof points to promote the brand, based on Kansas' heritage: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Buffalo Bill Cody, Melissa Etheridge, Amelia Earhart, and icons of the state's business community all make an appearance in Kansas brand materials.
Most importantly, it's being used and used consistently by a wide range of players.

The advertising articulation of the brand is still a little spotty, but it's at least consistent with the brand, is focused on Kansas (unlike some ads in the category) and has a clear message.

Whether the brand succeeds in advancing Kansas' business objective remains to be seen. The "big" positioning is already in use by other destinations. But it feels right for Kansas (thanks in large part to the Wizard of Oz) and if they stick to their guns and continue to ad more dimension to the brand, they might just have something here.

R.I.P. "Where the bloody hell are you?"

2007-12-03T13:43:51Z

Apparently Tourism Australia has ditched their (in)famous "Where the bloody hell are you" campaign in Japan, in the face of a 12% decline in Japanese visitation (the story broke in September, but I'm a slow reader).

The new campaign focuses on Australia's world heritage sites and natural beauty and the new tagline can be roughly translated as "Immerse yourself in Australia's World Heritage."

In other news, Aussie bikini model Lara Bingle is reported to be "covering up these days in a bid to shake the past."

BONUS: for a (very) funny take-off on the Australia tourism campaign, check out the Chasers (warning: lots of coarse language).

The soul of Brisbane, as interpreted by a Swede via New York

2007-12-03T12:37:27Z

With a national culture as iconic and well-defined as that of Australia, where do you turn for a sound-track to convey the soul of your travel experience?

If you're the city of Brisbane, you apparently turn to a singer raised in Sweden who now makes his home in New York.

In a bizarre case of a tourism marketing organization turning a blind eye to concepts like cultural authenticity and competitive differentiation, Brisbane has launched a new tourism brand video featuring "Save Tonight" by Swedish-American singer Eagle-Eye Cherry. To be honest, I'm not sure whether the song featured in the video is the original recording -- it may be a cover by a local Australian artist. Either way, it's a well known American song.

With a vibrant domestic music industry (with a history of international success -- see AC/DC, hoodoo gurus, the Bee Gees, INXS, Kylie Minogue, and probably lots of more current bands that the kids are listening to today), why would you need to look outside your own borders for a brand soundtrack?

A quick tour of their website reveals a Brisbane eager to position itself as a hip urban center, free of dingo's and barbequed shrimp. The one nod to Australia's "Where the Bloody Hell Are You" campaign seems to be a more upscale rendering of the Australian bikini babe:

Perhaps Brisbane felt that going international on its soundtrack would help to position the city as a world-class centre? It's plausible, but it's a mistake to court the generification that comes with chasing the blandness of an "international" image. People don't travel to visit things they can experience elsewhere -- they travel to experience something unique.

Deja Vu, All Over Again...

2007-12-03T11:36:35Z

Tell me if any of this sounds familiar:

Tourism organization launches quirky marketing campaign that it touts as "highly creative and very different for the category";
Campaign launch creates controversy among the locals when what's portrayed in the ads doesn't match up with their own self-perceptions;
Campaign goes on to win awards from the advertising and tourism marketing communities;
Everyone remembers the ads, but very few people express a desire to visit the sponsoring destination; and
Campaign ends up getting pulled once everyone realizes it's done little to increase visitation.

If you said " Bahamavention", you're partly right.

But the exact same scenario is now playing itself out in New Mexico. They've has launched a tourism marketing campaign that plays off the state's connection with UFO's in Roswell, alien encounters and Area 51.

The campaign was first unveiled back in April amid much fanfare (I wrote about it here). But in recent weeks, the residents of New Mexico have started to take notice and they're not happy (google "New Mexico tourism campaign" and you'll see that the controversy around the ads has now gone national).

Last week, the Alien campaign won a Gold Adrian award from the American travel industry.

So far, the campaign has reached stage 3 in the scenario outlined above. Will it go on to stage 4 and 5 or will the campaign actually succeed in driving visitation to New Mexico?

Tourism officials are claiming that the campaign is driving interest in New Mexico in the markets in which the ads air. IN tourism circles, "interest" can mean everything from "we've noticed a slight spike in our website visits" to "all our hotels are now fully booked", so it's difficult in these early days to judge success.

But if the lessons of Bahamavention hold true, the alien campaign may be short-lived. Both campaigns focused on category benefits: co-workers in need of a vacation, a destination offering the generic benefit of a relaxing holiday, etc. And in both cases, the scenarios play out in an anonymous indoor location, with images portraying the actual destination simply tacked on to the end of the ad.

From a strategic standpoint, the Alien campaign may be slightly more on-strategy than Bahamavention. New Mexico wants to position itself as a "land of enchantment":

Aliens, it can be argued, are about fantasy and can certainly inspire wonder. But the UFO industry is fairly concentrated in a few small and iconic areas of New Mexico and isn't something that the tourism industry as a whole can benefit from. While the aliens can grab attention, it's difficult to see how New Mexico's rich culture, heritage and non-alien-based attractions can really benefit from the association with intergalactic travelers. Can you use something that doesn't exist and can only be experienced within the confines of a "tourist trap" to market the breadth an depth of the New Mexico tourism experience?

Only time will tell.

Bringing a destination brand to life: the medium is the message

2007-12-03T11:42:15Z

I've written quite a bit lately about the difference between a destination brand and its accompanying logo, and the perils of focusing too much on the logo at the expense of communicating the broader meaning behind the brand.

So I was really pleased when a news item out of Oregon provided a great illustration of how to launch a logo in a way that is true to the spirit of the destination brand and communicates its broader meaning.

Sisters, Oregon, recently completed a destination branding project in which they identified the town's "pioneering spirit" as its unique selling point. True to the brand, the logo that was developed is a simple "S" inside a circle, modeled to look like a cattle brand.

And when it came time to launch the brand and logo, the folks of Sisters hit on a stroke of sheer brilliance: rather than invest in fancy new roadsigns or an expensive advertising campaign, they simply enlisted the help of a local blacksmith to create an actual cattle brand and travel around town "burning" the brand into the front porches of local businesses, park benches, and any other surface willing and able to be branded. Wooden planks were also branded and handed out to tourists as a unique souvenir from Sisters.

Photo: Jim Cornelius, Nugget News Editor

By employing an ingenious grass-roots, do-it-yourself, old-school approach to launching the logo, the true meaning of the Sisters brand was effectively and impactfully communicated.

Something to keep in mind for future destination branding projects: when it comes time to launch your logo, HOW you launch is as important as WHAT you launch.

What's the deal with Americans ripping off our tourism slogans?

2007-12-03T13:00:36Z

It seems that Canada has a new export industry: tourism taglines.

First Anchorage, Alaska, launched a brand remarkably similar to its next door neighbour, Canada's Yukon Territories.

Then New Mexico tried to one-up British Columbia's claim of being "The Best Place on Earth" by positioning itself as "The Best Place in the Universe".

But this latest case of cross-border shoplifting really takes the cake:

Peoria, Arizona, recently entered the Canuck-copying frenzy with its new tagline "Naturally Connected." The line is, of course, already in use by Canada's Victoria County.
Not content to swipe one Canadian tagline when two could be had for the same price, Peoria's alternate tagline during the comprehensive branding process was "Come to Life... In the Desert". "Come to Life" has, of course, been used for years by the province of Nova Scotia.
For those of you thinking this is nothing more than an odd coincidence, it will seem even more odd when you realize that Victoria County is located in... Nova Scotia!
How does a branding process in the American desert end up choosing between two taglines from Canada's east coast? Maybe they just figured we wouldn't notice. Or that we're so darn nice we just wouldn't mind one bit thank you very much.
Peoria's local media have picked up on the "Naturally Connected" connection (though they haven't yet caught on to the Nova Scotia connection to the alternate tagline) and some folks are asking smart questions.
The answers, unfortunately, aren't so smart from the folks who were hired to create the brand and tagline: Don McEachern, CEO of North Star Destination Strategies, a leading(?) US brand firm that has done work with more than 80 American cities, said "he would be hard-pressed to find a negative to two communities having similar slogans." Huh? Isn't that the very reason why cities hire branding firms - to differentiate themselves? And isn't that the very definition of a brand - a unique mark that identifies a unique product? Someone should direct McEachern's attention to his own website where the firm claims "each North Star client faces a unique challenge that requires a unique solution." Unless they meant that to read "a solution that is unique within the continental United States (offer not valid in Canada)."
North Star was apparently behind another branding campaign that resulted in the launch of a slogan for Longview, Texas ("Pure and Simple") that was already in use by South Walton, Florida. The South Walton slogan was, of course entirely original and was created by ummm... wait a minute... North Star Destination Strategies?
Scratch the previous edit. When they said "a unique solution" on their website they must have meant "a solution that is unique within at least a few hundred miles of city hall unless we've forgotten something we did a couple of years ago and then hey, all bets are off, and you guys are pretty much totally differentiated by having a different name for your city already anyway, right? Taxi!"
Why don't we just cut out the middle man here and license our taglines to the American market? I'd be hard-pressed to find a negative in that.

UPDATE: At least one American branding agency is taking a more upfront approach to unashamedly selling recycled taglines: in a tongue-in-cheek press release, Fort Collins, Colorado, based Burns Marketing Communications describes itself as an "Agency eager to make obscene amounts of money for mediocre creativity." Gotta love it.

Where did "Bahamavention" go wrong?

2007-11-29T03:14:51Z

You're probably familiar with the "Bahamavention" campaign, launched by Bahamas Tourism in late 2006. Each of the quirky ads featured a stressed-out character ambushed by concerned friends staging a "Bahamavention" to encourage their tight-wound friend to take a much-needed vacation -- a take-off on the "intervention" reality shows popular at the time. If you need a refresher, you can see the ads here.

The ads became popular on YouTube. The campaign won a Kelly Award from the Magazine Publishers of America, a Jay Chiat award for strategic planning, and as recently as this past July won an Atlas award for best branding of an international destination. "Bahamavention" became part of popular culture and entered the vocabulary as a buzzword for being badly in need of a vacation. Google "Bahamavention" and you'll get more than 800 results for this made-up word.

This week, Bahamas Tourism switched advertising agencies without even asking the incumbent, Fallon, to participate.

wha' happened?

The answer is probably both simple and complex.

The simple answer is that the ads didn't work. Visitation to the Bahamas is down 9.1% in the first six months of 2007 at a time when destinations in Mexico are up over 30% and islands such as Anguilla, Bonaire and Curacao are enjoying double-digit growth.

While the campaign was memorable, entertaining and original, it didn't differentiate the Bahamas as a tourism destination or a travel experience. "Bahamavention" might stick in the consumer's mind, but its effect was simply to remind the consumer of the generic category benefit of a vacation: you'll feel more relaxed. And there are a lot of places (and a lot of them in direct competition with the Bahamas) where you can go to relax.

The ads failed to provide a single compelling reason why a "Bahamavention" should result in a trip to the Bahamas, or to make an argument for why the Bahamas were a better prescription for a "Bahamavention" than anywhere else. Tropical destinations as a whole may have benefited from the campaign, but growing the category probably wasn't Bahamas Tourism's goal.

It's a common mistake in marketing: a concept looks so good and has the potential for the much-sought-after "buzz factor" (something Fallon is famous for), that tourism marketing organizations get caught up in the buzz themselves and forget to probe the tough questions about whether the campaign will actually drive consumers to take the desired action.

The other factor that may have influenced the Bahamas to decide to ditch the agency and the campaign is a bit more complex.

For a few years now, beginning around the time the Bahamas launched their new logo:

the tourism authority has been committed to the idea that "The Bahamas represents a series of independent, individual and highly differentiated destinations. The Ministry is establishing individual identities for each island and seeks to eliminate the current perception in the minds of many consumers and members of the trade that once you have seen one island in The Bahamas, you have seen all of The Bahamas."

The "Bahamavention" campaign did nothing to further this strategy. In fact, the ads reinforced the idea that a "Bahamavention" was a one-dimensional experience of surf and sand, available in equal and generic abundance across the chain of islands.

Facing declines in visitation and no doubt a lot of pressure from the local industry over the campaign and the lack of strategic consistency, Bahamas Tourism decided to cut and run. And they're probably right.

A lesson in how not to create sustainable tourism

2007-12-04T08:24:29Z

After a tsunami ravaged the economy of the Adaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, the Indian government looked to boost domestic tourism in an effort to ease the region's woes.

Heavily subsidized "leave travel concessions" for state employees were expanded to include the Adamans and the result was a massive influx of "LTC" travelers.

Within a few short years, island residents found themselves besieged by deal-chasing and low-spending government employees on state-sponsored leave and had to endure water shortages even during the height of the monsoon season. Off- and intra-island transport was as difficult to find and the local infrastructure was overwhelmed, at times threatening sensitive coral reefs with damage from an inadequate waste management system.

In the rush to find an economic solution, the Indian government created an entirely new social and economic problem. And all this happened within the past three years, at a time when the concept of "sustainability" was a well-established principle in the tourism industry and it's a stark illustration for the need for co-ordination and co-operation among politicians, economic development and tourism marketing staff.

More details here.

UPDATE: The tourism crunch on the Adamans shows no sign of slowing, as evidenced by this recent article in Frontline, India's national magazine.

Scotland the Brave launches timid new slogan

2007-11-28T19:05:11Z

Ah, Scotland... the land of men in skirts, bleating bagpipes, ancient warriors and over-boiled cuisine... with such rich cultural heritage and some of the world's most stunning scenery, encapsulating the Scottish tourism experience in a pithy tagline is no easy feat.

But, after 6 months and a budget approaching $300,000... the Scots have bravely stepped up to the challenge and launched.. umm... err... "Welcome to Scotland".

I'm not making this up.

Article here.

Don't even think about launching a destination branding project until you've read this book

2007-11-27T20:35:32Z

Arrived in Vancouver yesterday to find a copy of Bill Baker's new book, Destination Branding for Small Cities, waiting for me (thanks Bill!). I wish all my clients had read this book. In fact, I wish Bill had published it about four years ago so that I could have read it then.

Here are four reasons why it's genius:

It's a step by step guide to creating a destination brand, covering everything from basic principles to the brand creation process to marketing;
It's full of real-life examples illustrating the ups and downs along the way;
It's an easy read unlike a lot of the more "academic" texts in this area; and
While Bill's been very savvy in focusing on "Small Cities" (an under-served segment in the destination branding world), the ideas and lessons in the book are just as applicable to large centers, regions and even national tourism marketing organizations.

One of the many features of the book I like is the Brand Performance Scorecard (p. 176) -- measuring the impact of a destination brand is something marketers often struggle with and Bill's provided a very practical solution.

I'm also really proud that Bill references pieces from the Brand Canada Blog in several chapters. It's a real honour to be included in a book that I think will become a must-read for anyone involved in tourism marketing and destination branding.

Interview on Social Media Today Podcast

2007-12-02T23:17:41Z

My good friend Doug Walker invited me to be the latest guest on his Social Media Today podcast. We had a good chat about FaceBook's Beacon initiative, viral videos and the state of the social media industry in general.

You can hear the full podcast here.

Doug's doing a great job since taking over as host of the podcast, but the real irony here, of course, is that Doug should have been the one being interviewed as he's much more interesting than I am. He's a leading authority on Web 2.0 and social media and wears his heart on his sleeve in terms of what he believes to be right and wrong in the marketing world.

Doug's day gig is as the king of all things wired and social at Venture Communications and he blogs at webwalker.ca. In his spare time, he co-founded The World Rock Paper Scissors Society, a project that started out as a lark and became a worldwide phenomenon. A documentary on World RPS recently won the Peoples' Choice Award at the Calgary Film Festival. To top it all off, he's a great guy and always has an interesting perspective on the world around him.

The Recommended: Top blogs for tourism marketing and destination branding

2007-11-27T10:52:14Z

Kevin May, the editor of UK-based Travolution has re-organized the T-List to focus on quality blogs of use to those involved in tourism marketing and destination branding. Kudo's to Kevin for doing the tough work of slogging through the longer T-List to edit out general travel blogs and create a very useful resource for folks in the industry.

A Luxury Travel Blog
Blog on travel
Blog Rydges
The Brand Canada Blog
BuhlerWorks
Bull City Mutterings
Dot tourism
E-hotel
Farecast Blog
Fasten Your Seatbelts [German]
Happy Hotelier
Hawthorne Hotel
Hotel Blogs 2.0
Les Explorers
Marriott on the move
Mashable
Musings on Travel & E-Commerce
New York Hospitality
Online Travel Review
O'Reilly Radar
PhoCusWright Blog
Radar
Randy’s Journal
Realtravel
Relactions Blog
Search Engine Land
Stephen Joyce
Sunverse
The BOOT
The McCluskey Blog
The Tourism and Hospitality Diaries
The Travel Cooler
The Travel PR Blog
Tourism INTERNET Marketing Blog
Travelremark
Travel and Web 2.0
Travel Rants
Travel Start-ups
Travel Weekly Blog
Travolution Blog
Travel & Tourism Technology Trends
Tourism Trends
Web 2.0 travel tools
Vacant Ready
Zeitgeist

As per Kevin's direction, feel free to re-post the list. Kevin is managing additions to the list and you can submit your suggestions to him here.