Tourism's direct route.

TOURISM'S DIRECT ROUTE

Using direct response advertising to increase travel revenues is becoming popular and proving quite successful.

LOAD up the family station wagon, pack up the kids and get going, it's vacation time. The question for families across America remains: Where

With the numerous possibilities facing American travelers who only have a week or two slotted for vacation annually, does direct mail and glitzy brochures make a difference? Most state and city tourism directors seem to think so and are spending millions of dollars hoping to prove it.

Toll-free numbers are ringing off the hook and coupons are frequently being returned as some economies are reaping the benefits from direct response advertising. Millions of out-of-state residents are opening their pocketbooks and spending billions of dollars in the local economies of such places as Scottsdale, Arizona, Greenville, South Carolina, Fort Worth, Texas, New York and Virginia.

Another method of building tourism is the catchy slogan which allows tourists to readily identify with a specific area. Every area has one, with some being more famous than others. "I Love New York" and "Virginia is for Lovers," but did you know about the cowboys and culture of Fort Worth or the smiling faces and beautiful places of South Carolina?

On The Road Again

For those who think Americans aren't traveling as much as they used to: forget it! The U.S. Travel Data Center figures for domestic travel reveal that more Americans traveled in 1989 than ever before, taking nearly 1.26 billion person trips, a 2 percent increase over 1988. (A person trip consists of one person traveling 100 miles or more away from home).

Vacation and weekend travel jumped considerably in 1989, with vacations up 6 percent and weekend trips up 4 percent. Vehicle travel was the preference of 78 percent of travelers, with 19 percent going by air. More than 55 percent of all vacations lasted three nights or less in 1989.

The areas most popular with weekend travelers consisted of Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Summer and fall continue to be the most popular seasons for travel.