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SHOPPING TOURS BY SONYA STINSON If shopping is your group’s favorite thing to do on a trip, you’ve got lots of company. According to the U.S. Travel Association, shopping ranks as the #1 activity for domestic travelers. So, for the group tour leader who always has trouble leading the troop away from the mall in time to make the next stop on the itinerary, how about a trip that’s all about the shopping? Of course, with the economy squeezing just about every- one’s wallet a bit tighter, it helps when you can score a price break on your retail therapy. A number of malls, downtown retail districts and suburban outlet centers offer tour packages featuring shopping discounts. The four destinations highlighted here also happen to have some outstanding cultural and entertainment attractions, in case your shopping enthusiasts want to do a little something extra on the side. BLOOMINGTON, MINNESOTA Situated just south of the Twin Cities, the massive Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, contains more than 400 stores and several entertainment and recreational attractions. Shop America offers several tour options. The Shop & Save tour includes free shuttles, shopping discounts and free admission to the Nickelodeon Universe theme park. You also get a VIP Coupon Book for more discounted shopping at Albertville Premium Outlets, located 45 minutes northwest of Bloomington. The Shop Like a VIP package features a $10 discount on a facial and hand treatment at Trillium Spa, while the Shop & Dine option comes with a $15 dining certificate for Famous Dave’s BBQ. Both also come with admission to Nickelodeon Universe. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Gray Line offers several shopping tour packages for the Windy City. On the Oprah Store tour, which includes pickup and drop off from downtown hotels, you can browse a retail shop stocked with workout and luxury apparel, souvenirs, the O Baby line of baby products and South African arts and crafts. Another tour will shuttle you from downtown Chicago to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL. With nearly 300 stores and restaurants, it’s the area’s largest mall and the state’s top vis- itor attraction. You can find a group reservations form on the mall’s Web site, www.shopwoodfield.com. LAS VEGAS. NEVADA Travelers to Las Vegas might want to check out Gray Line’s extensive menu of Shop & Dine Gourmet, and Shop & Play, Shop & Spa tour packages at the Fashion Show, the Forum Shops at Caesars, the Miracle Mile Shops, Macy’s and the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian. At the Fashion Show, which is across the street from the Grand Canal Shoppes, you can see live runway shows, browse six department stores and 1,200 specialty shops and dine at your pick of nine full-service restau- rants. The Fashion Show Shop & Play package includes $20 to play slots at the Treasure Island Casino. NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK On the Web site www.nytours.us, you’ll find information about several shopping tours for visitors to the Big Apple. The three-day Shop, Hop & Top Tour includes a 75-minute harbor cruise (available from March to mid-October), a ticket to either the Rock Observation Deck or the Empire State Building Observation Deck, admission to the Museum of the City of New York, the Downtown Tour, the Uptown Treasures & Harlem tour, the Brooklyn Tour, plus roundtrip tickets to the Woodbury Common Premium Outlet. Other options include the Garment Center Insider Shopping Tour, which features sample sales and access to private showrooms, the SoHo and NoLita Shopping Tour and the Consignment Crawl Shopping Tour in Uptown New York. For more shopping tours, check out the Web site of the Shop America Alliance, www.shopamericatours.com, which rep- resents 200 shopping destinations and offers more than 60 shopping tour packages. American Automobile Association members receive additional discounts at Shop America VIP tour destinations. 34 Black Meetings & Tourism May/June 2010: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com