Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/10149
Publisher’s Message B lack Meetings & Tourism has added a plethora of new and informative depart- ments as it prepares to launch its revamped and improved website in early March. The new online editorial content covers a wide range of subjects for both the meetings/bus- iness/incentives travel side of the equation, as well as leisure/vacation travel updates and stories directly targeting consumers. Included among those new departments focusing on the travel trade are “Meeting Planner Packages” (special deals for meeting planners), “What’s Happening” (a potpourri of activities and news stories of interest to travel professionals), “Marketing Tips” (advice and suggestions from industry experts on how to maximize your marketing dollars), “Current Events” (industry happenings), and “In Your Own Words” (a guest blog platform for industry movers and shak- ers). “In Your Own Words” will be a thought provoking inter- active department that will share stories and ideas, generate dialogue between planners and suppliers, and offer industry leaders an opportunity to express their views on issues of importance to travel, meetings and hospitality professionals. Targeting the leisure traveler are “Discount Travel Packages” (reduced cost travel offerings), “Cruising” (cruise news directed at consumers), “Reunions” (valuable informa- tion for planning a family reunion), “Great Vacation Destinations” (outstanding possibilities for leisure travel), “Sports Tourism” (vacation options for sports lovers), “Great Outdoors” (leisure travel for nature lovers), “Travel Tips” (suggestions for traveling smarter, safer and healthier), “Drive Destinations” (vacation destinations within driving distance), “Weekend Getaways” (perfect hideaways for that quick travel holiday) and “International Travel Hot Spots” (focusing on international vacation destinations). We have also moved several columns you are familiar with from the magazine to the BM&T website, adding to our menu of web-only content, including “Pacific-Asia Watch,” “Canadian Connection,” “Greening of Hospitality Industry,” “Facilities Update,” and “Hospitality Heartline.” These departments will be refreshed monthly, while our brand new electronic newsletter, featuring “Industry Briefs” (time sensitive short news items) will be delivered to your inbox weekly. Not only will BM&T’s increased online pres- ence provide expanded coverage for meeting and incentive planners, travel agents, tour oper- ators, group travel leaders and other travel industry professionals, it will also afford suppli- ers with a broad array of marketing options to target specific niches within the African- American meetings and incentive travel seg- ment. Moreover, BM&T website’s leisure trav- el tract will now offer direct access to the ever- growing African-American traveling public, as more and more consumers utilize the Internet to research destination options and special vacation discounts, as well as a host of recreational and culturally enriching activity possibilities before calling their travel agents. Additionally, Black Meetings & Tourism will be conduct- ing a series of online surveys designed to gather information that will help us more accurately serve the needs of our vast readership and advertisers. One of the first in this series will be an updated M.I.C.E. survey, slated to be distributed in late March, as we prepare to qualify 50 meeting and incentive planners to participate in the 2010 M.I.C.E. Showcase, an event produced by the publishers of Black Meetings & Tourism Magazine, in association with CTO. The Showcase, which takes place as part of Caribbean Week in New York during June, provides a platform for professional planners to learn about the Caribbean’s expanding MEETINGS, INCENTIVES, CONFERENCES, and EXPOSITIONS product. Please let us hear from you once the new website goes live if you have suggestions on how we can improve our presenta- tion, make it more user-friendly, or provide additional infor- mation that will help you in your work as a planner, travel agent or supplier. Solomon J. Herbert Publisher/Editor-In-Chief E-Mail: BMandTMag@aol.com Black Meetings & Tourism is published bi-monthly by SunGlo Enterprises, 20840 Chase St., Winnetka, CA 91306-1207 •Telephone: (818)709-0646/Fax: (818) 709-4753 Copyright 2010 by SunGlo Enterprises. All rights reserved. Single Copies, $6.00 Subscriptions $45.00. Postage Paid at Pasadena, CA. •Postmaster send address changes to Black Meetings & Tourism, 20840 Chase St., Winnetka, CA 91306-1207. 4 Black Meetings & Tourism March/April 2010: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com