The Trouble with Travel Industry Awards

Buck Banks

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

The public relations business thrives on awards, or, more accurately, the awards business thrives on public relations. Clients love receiving awards and so public relations practitioners are willing to spend time and sometimes money to “win” them.

Three recent awards presentations have gotten my hackles up about the whole shameful business.

I begin with the Travel Weekly Magellan Awards, which some consider the “Oscars of the travel industry”. Travel Weekly cultivates a reputation as the “newspaper of record “in travel, and the publication has been giving away Magellans for a decade to “recognize the very best examples of design and promotion in an extraordinarily competitive environment.”

ASTA and Costco Compete for PR

Buck Banks
[caption id="attachment_15893" align="alignright" width="293"] Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels[/caption]

Last week the “Today” show aired a segment about how to save money when booking a spring break getaway. The secret? Book through Costco Travel, a membership club that charges $55 per year to consumers for the privilege of shopping for commodities at a Costco warehouse store or buying travel products online at the Costco Travel website.

Travel Survey Results Should Concern Cruise Lines

Buck Banks

Morning Consult recently released “The State of American Travel 2018,” a nationwide survey of 2,200 adults. The title of the survey conveys a sense of comprehensiveness and breadth that the report itself does not actually display, and some of the methodology and conclusions do not hold up to close scrutiny.

However, it’s one of the many travel industry surveys that are intended to draw broad, somewhat obvious conclusions that generate media coverage.