Monday, December 29, 2014
The power of branding: Bluffton, SC moves into Forbes list of top 25 places to retire
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Early season snow critical for ski resorts
Monday, November 3, 2014
Hotels finding new ways to cut through the clutter
Friday, October 31, 2014
SmartState Center Report Wins Prestige National Award
Friday, October 24, 2014
Painting a picture of the future of travel: By Simon Hudson
Monday, October 20, 2014
Aruba puts the spotlight on green: By Simon Hudson
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
SmartState Welcomes International Tourism Expert
Monday, October 6, 2014
Tourism Intelligence in Action
Friday, October 3, 2014
SmartState Center Establishes Portuguese Connection
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
From bankruptcy to thriving boutique hotel
When Lee Goossens purchased Wickwoods Country Club, Hotel & Spa in 2010 it was bankrupt and empty. It is now an idyllic weekend getaway for fitness enthusiasts, walkers and tennis players – and the hotel is also attracting both corporate and wedding guests. A new article in Hotel Business Review by Simon Hudson focuses on the advantages and the challenges facing boutique hotels in a market dominated by big brands – and highlights the interesting history of this unique English boutique hotel, showing how Goossens, with shrewd business acumen, an innovative investment plan, and a $2million renovation, has turned things around by responding to trends and focusing on quality and top-notch customer service. Read the full article at: http://www.hotelexecutive.com/business_review/4066/from-bankruptcy-to-thriving-boutique-hotel
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Teaching, working, exploring: Dr. David Cárdenas is keeping busy in Aruba
Dr. Cárdenas is
spending two months in Aruba as part a student/teacher international exchange collaborative between
the University of South Carolina and the University of Aruba. This great opportunity
allows Dr. Cárdenas to share his
expertise with young and promising hospitality students. Dr. Cárdenas teaches class every day from 9am-4pm,
Monday through Friday. Classes are going
well. The students are working hard and currently working with four companies
on the island, helping them improve their tourism product and hopefully making
their products more sustainable. This week, Dr. Cárdenas
began evening seminar sessions with the tourism industry and began collecting industry
data on knowledge, trust and power for a research project. He is also helping one student with her thesis focused on the importance-performance of the road signage on
the island. While his schedule is extremely rigorous, he still has time to
engage in outdoor activities such as snorkeling, swimming, biking, and cheering
on the gamecocks!
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| Dr. Cardenas facilitating an evening session with industry leaders in Aruba |
Upcoming Publications
In the of world of ‘publish or perish’ it is always
nice to be able to announce upcoming publications, and I have three coming out soon
that are particularly important to me for different reasons. Firstly, I have
just had a paper accepted in Tourism
Management, one of our top journals. The paper examines the influence of social
media on customer relationships at music festivals. I am particularly proud of
this paper, as it was co-authored with my son Rupert, a recent graduate of the
Moore School of Business, who is now working in the music industry in New York.
In addition, the paper will serve as a tribute to Tom Madden (former Moore School
of Business Professor of Marketing), another co-author on the paper, who sadly
passed away a few months ago.
A second paper of mine that will be published shortly in Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research is a called ‘A Portrait to Brent Ritchie’. Brent was my Chair at the University of Calgary, and is undoubtedly one of tourism’s most eminent scholars. He retired this year, and so to be asked to write a portrait of Brent for a journal was a real honor, and is a small way of saying thank you to the best mentor a tourism academic could ever have. Brent has had a huge influence on my career.
Finally, I have just started writing a new book on the ski industry, nearly 15 year after publishing my first book on the subject called Snow Business. The industry has changed significantly in the last few decades: technology has had a huge impact on the sport and how it is enjoyed and marketed; demographic shifts have severely affected the customer profile; and climate change is impacting hills all over the world. Such dramatic changes require a fresh look at this exciting and dynamic industry, and I am really looking forward to working on this project over the next 12 months or so. The book, to be co-authored by my wife Louise, will be published by Goodfellow Publishers at the end of 2015.
A second paper of mine that will be published shortly in Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research is a called ‘A Portrait to Brent Ritchie’. Brent was my Chair at the University of Calgary, and is undoubtedly one of tourism’s most eminent scholars. He retired this year, and so to be asked to write a portrait of Brent for a journal was a real honor, and is a small way of saying thank you to the best mentor a tourism academic could ever have. Brent has had a huge influence on my career.
Finally, I have just started writing a new book on the ski industry, nearly 15 year after publishing my first book on the subject called Snow Business. The industry has changed significantly in the last few decades: technology has had a huge impact on the sport and how it is enjoyed and marketed; demographic shifts have severely affected the customer profile; and climate change is impacting hills all over the world. Such dramatic changes require a fresh look at this exciting and dynamic industry, and I am really looking forward to working on this project over the next 12 months or so. The book, to be co-authored by my wife Louise, will be published by Goodfellow Publishers at the end of 2015.
Monday, September 8, 2014
‘Preying’ for tourists in the southeast? Not this year.
I was
visiting Sea Island Resort in Georgia this weekend, where it has been a bumper
summer for this classy resort that boasts four Forbes Five-Star experiences: The
Cloister at Sea Island; The Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club; The Spa at Sea
Island; and the Georgian Room restaurant. Service is really slick here, due in
part to the charismatic leadership skills of James Gibson, a fellow Brit, and
Director of Operations. Attention to detail is applied to every service
encounter and even raptors are employed to enhance the dining experience for
guests. Staff can often be seen (see picture above) walking around with a bird
of prey on a gloved fist, the bird’s presence being a natural, and non-lethal
means of disrupting the aggressive behavior of blackbirds who can be a nuisance
while guest enjoy dining outside.
But Sea Island is not the only destination to enjoy record numbers of guests this year. Tourism has been buoyant elsewhere in the southeast, with hotel occupancy and average room rates up on last year in most resorts and hotels. A recovering economy and low gas prices have contributed to this increase, but of course we do offer excellent value for money and guaranteed sunshine! If you would like to hear more about tourism in this part of the world (from my point of view anyway), click on the Podcast link below:
Thursday, September 4, 2014
The World Tourism Cities: Market and Cooperation
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| Dr. Fang Meng: World Tourism Summit in Beijing, China |
Monday, August 11, 2014
South Carolina moves up the rankings of business-friendly states.
According
to Chief Executive Magazine, South Carolina is now the fifth best state in the
U.S. to run a business, moving up from its 2013 ranking of eighth. In their
10th annual survey, the magazine questioned over 500 CEOs across the U.S.
asking them to grade states with which they were familiar on measures including
tax and regulatory regime, the quality of the workforce, and the quality of the
living environment. Texas continues its 10-year historical
position as the best state overall; but Florida, which ranks No. 2, is edging up
and even overtaking Texas in its quality of living
environment. Tennessee edged out North Carolina to take third place with North
and South Carolina respectively capturing 4th and
5th place.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Responding to ‘Think Aiken Think’
Dr. Hudson was a guest of Aiken South Carolina’s Chamber of
Commerce yesterday, where he was acting as a ‘responder’ to a community
leader’s think-tank called “Think Aiken Think”. The Chamber was looking for
someone from outside the community but with a background in economic
development and planning to come in and sum up the planning session. “My job
was to listen to all the various group discussions and then give a summary
based on what I had heard, reacting to the level of creativity and identifying
common themes” said Hudson. Participants were asked to debate various topics
including how to create a more progressive and future-oriented leadership, how
to attract more investment and create jobs in Aiken, and how to improve and
promote the quality of life in the city. “It is just great to see these rural
communities in the state realizing
that inaction is not a viable option if they genuinely want to improve local
prosperity. So they are bringing leaders of the community together to create a
vision for the future – such stakeholder engagement is a crucial step in the
community development process.” Last year, Hudson’s team in the Center of
Economic Excellence in Tourism conducted a similar project for the Town of
Bluffton. Their report can be found at: http://www.hrsm.sc.edu/CoEETourismandED/PDFs/BlufftonReport.pdf
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Great customer service should be delivered with a compliment or two (or five).
Dr. Hudson was a
guest of the Members Club at Woodcreek
and WildeWood in Columbia this week delivering a customer service seminar
to employees. As part of a general training day, Dr. Hudson was giving some
tips on how to provide superior customer service. “It’s actually not that
complex,” he said “But few organizations really get it right.” One of the
problems, he says, is that many companies think they are providing good
customer service, when, in actual fact, their customers are saying otherwise.
Hudson refers to a recent study that found 80 percent of companies believe
they deliver superior service to their customers, but only eight percent of
their customers actually agreed! “It is refreshing to see an organization like
Woodcreek & Wildewood recognizing the significance of customer service, and
investing in their employees. Customer service training is often viewed as a
cost rather than an investment, and even if companies recognize the importance
of customer service, they don’t know how to deliver consistent, high quality
customer service on an on-going basis.” One of Hudson’s tips on how to wow your
customers: pay them a compliment. He refers to one study where hairstylists compared the tips they got
when they complimented their customers versus when they did not compliment
them. In the study, tips were significantly higher when the hairstylists used
compliments. “Did you know the key to a successful relationship is to pay
your partner a compliment five times a day?” says Hudson. There’s food for
thought.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Hotels add health to the menu
An increasing number of hotels are responding to growing global
demand for health and wellness and are catering to the physical and
psychological needs of guests while promising enhanced wellbeing – benefits
that visitors can take home when the holiday is over. A far cry from more
traditional vacations spent lounging on a beach or poolside chair. Intercontinental
Hotel Group (IHC), for example, created EVEN Hotels after conducting research
that found there are 17 million travelers who want hotels to accommodate their
healthy lifestyle needs. Westin hotels also
recently launched a Well-Being Movement and even Las Vegas’s MGM Hotel has
Stay-Well rooms.
A recent article by Simon Hudson published in Hotel Business
Review focuses on this trend and spotlights certain hotels around the world and
the specific services they are providing for the growing number of
health-conscious visitors. The full article can be found at:
Monday, July 21, 2014
Santee Cooper Research Uncovers Yet Another of South Carolina's Hidden Treasures
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| Beautiful sunset in Santee Cooper Country |
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| Drs. Hudson and Cardenas at the lock |
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Can destinations attract tourists via branded entertainment?
I am ‘In Bruges’ this week presenting a paper at
the Travel & Tourism Research Association annual conference. My paper is about
America’s use of branded entertainment as a way of attracting international
tourists. Branded entertainment is a relatively new term to describe a more
contemporary, sophisticated use of product placement, and involves co-creation
and collaboration between entertainment, media and brands. Although there are
only a few examples of destinations employing branded entertainment as a
communications tool, it has been acknowledged that placing a destination in a
film or television is the ultimate in tourism product placement. Just witness
the success of In Bruges. Tourists have
been flocking to Bruges since the debut of the 2008 movie (despite the fact that
it depicted a city full of contract killers, racist dwarfs and prostitutes),
and I used the movie map yesterday to get around the beautiful city.
But the resulting tourism from this film was more
chance than actual marketing strategy, whereas the U.S. recently has been more
proactive in using TV and film to attract tourists. Last year, Brand USA, the group that is spearheading the
nation’s first global marketing effort to promote the US overseas, launched a
website in London accepting confidential television ideas from producers. Following
an external committee selection, entries were shortlisted to three, and the
first program to be produced was Extreme
Frontiers: USA, which was broadcast in the UK on Channel Five late in 2013.
Produced by director Russ Malkin, owner of Big Earth, the four-part series
followed well-known thrill-seeker and adventurer Charley Boorman, whose
expedition began in Hawaii before he and Malkin travelled over 8,000 miles
across 22 states.
Brand USA developed a dedicated web page on their consumer
website for the show featuring video excerpts from the series, photographs, and
links to Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. On the website were also links to
travel information and to the show’s own website. The program is currently
being sold globally and will appear in over 90 territories, but as a result of
the program being broadcast in the UK alone, EagleRider, an official sponsor of the show created an,
‘Extreme Frontiers Guided Tour’, of which they have already sold 60 packages.
Building on this initiative, this April, the US Travel
Association, in conjunction with Brand USA, launched a new broadcast/production
program at the annual IPW conference in Chicago. This allowed broadcast and
production media from the UK, Ireland and Australia to participate in
face-to-face appointments with US travel and film organizations to find out
more about filming in the US. Once again, the idea was to encourage producers
to feature the US as a premier destination and leverage the new brand promise. In
addition, Brand USA is spending $10m on an IMAX movie that will showcase the
country’s national parks, and the group has also teamed up with National
Geographic Travel on a digital campaign to showcase iconic road trips across
America to international travelers.
What all this shows is that if destinations can think
creatively and work closely with the film and television industries to
facilitate production, they will capitalize on the subsequent exposure. Brand
USA not only exploited the power of entertainment to promote the US as a travel
destination, they supported the initiative with a promotional campaign around
the brand integration, a tactic that has proved successful in the past with
consumer brands.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Center intern meets with entrepreneur and economic expert
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| Chip Harriford, Always Fresh Farms, LLC and Daniel Beasley |
Monday, May 19, 2014
What do the beaches of South Carolina have in common with the new Porsche Macan?
Well,
both were recently advertised in distinctive window displays at the
world-famous Harrods store in London. As Harrods Media Director, Guy Cheston,
says "Harrods' iconic exhibition
windows are one of the most sought after and visited retail display areas in
the world,” so it is refreshing to see marketers of South Carolina reach
out to potential international travelers in such an innovative fashion. The
initiative was partly funded by Brand USA,
the organization established by the 2009 Travel Promotion Act to spearhead the
nation’s first global marketing effort to promote the US as a premier travel
destination. Brand USA is funded through a fee on tourists from the 37
countries whose citizens don’t require a visa to visit the US (called the
Electronic System for Travel Authorization – ESTA - program). The organization
is allowed to use up to $100 million a year, provided it obtains matching
contributions from its private partners in the travel and tourism industry. In
addition to the window displays, South Carolina was also promoted on the
store’s multi-media video displays, in its 500,000 circulation publication, and
on the side of its trademark green double decker buses. If you would like to
know more about Brand USA, I published a white paper recently in the Journal of
Destination Management & Marketing that digs a little deeper:
Thursday, May 1, 2014
ArtFields in Lake City Gathers Strength
I was in
Lake City today where ArtFields was in full swing. The 10-day event is a
celebration of all things creative, and features the largest art competition in
the Southeast. Hundreds of artists compete for $100,000 in cash prizes, displaying
their art in more than 50 downtown businesses, outdoor spaces and other venues.
While I sat in the Downtown Bakery & Deli, people were wandering in off the
wind-swept streets to view the spectacular art on the walls behind me – and if
they wanted to, they could then vote for their favorite piece. Public votes
factor into the top $50,000 prize, and a panel of visual art professionals name
the $25,000 juried panel prize-winner.
The
event is part of a larger effort to put Lake City on the map. When I first
visited five years ago, there was barely a traffic signal to light up the city,
but now crumbling buildings have been transformed into high-class restaurants,
cafes, shops and museums, and a boutique hotel will be opening in the fall. The Lake City
Partnership Council is the key impetus behind this revitalization, with Darla
Moore the catalyst supporting this economic development group that has invested
generously in the rehabilitation of Lake City. As a vehicle for economic revitalization,
artistic expression, and community pride, Artfields itself attracts thousands
of visitors, providing an estimated $5.4 million impact for Lake City
community, and incalculable benefits for the merchants, artists, and citizens
of the Pee Dee. More information about the festival can be found at http://www.artfieldssc.org/
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Breaking through with tourism research
Dr.
Hudson was presented with a prestigious award last week by the University of
South Carolina’s Research Office. He was recognized as one of eight
Breakthrough Leaders in Research university-wide. Recipients were given the
award not only for their research contributions but also for their efforts
above and beyond their funded research, such as community outreach and support
of graduate students. Dr. Hudson is pictured below speaking at the Breakthrough
Awards Dinner held at the Capital City Club in Columbia, SC on April 24. The
evening celebrated the achievements of both USC’s Breakthrough Leadership in
Research award recipients, and the Breakthrough Star award winners
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Raising Awareness to Benefit SC's Tourism Industry
 |
|
(From left) Legislative Assistants
Matthew Ellison (Rep. James Clyburn) , Deputy Chief of Staff Legislative
Director Melissa Chandler Murphy (Rep. Joe Wilson), SmartState Endowed Chair
Simon Hudson, and Legislative Assistant Jessica Phillips Tyson (Sen. Lindsey
Graham) discuss tourism’s economic impact on South Carolina.
|
Friday, April 18, 2014
Like Father like Son
Dr. Hudson was in Denver this week attending the Great Western Travel & Tourism Research Association Conference. This morning, he presented a paper with his son Rupert, a senior in the International Business program at the Moore School of Business. The paper was about the use of social media in music festivals, the duo finding that social media has a significant affect on emotions and attachments to festival brands, and that social media-based relationships lead to desired marketing outcomes such as positive word of mouth. It has been an exciting week for Rupert. Not only was he presenting at a top academic conference, he also received an award at the annual USC Awards Day ceremony, started his own record label – Scenario Records, and was offered a job in New York with an up-and-coming music company called Gigit. His Dad of course taught him everything he knows.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
The Perfect Hotel Restaurant – and it's in Florence, South Carolina!
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| The bar in Victor's Bistro |
Imagine
my surprise to find evidence of this trend last week in Florence South
Carolina. I was there doing some research looking at the potential for tourism
development in the Pee Dee region, and I was blown over with what I found. I
stayed at the Hotel Florence, a
relatively new boutique hotel in the revitalized downtown district. The
49-bedroom hotel is made up of three of Florence’s historical buildings that
have been renovated to create one space of 35,500 sq. ft. The old Schofield
Hardware structure is the main hotel building, which includes the hotel lobby,
guestrooms, and the hotel restaurant Victor’s
Bistro.
Victor’s
has been an integral part of the Florence community for almost 15 years.
Awarded “Best of the Pee Dee: Fine Dining” for the past 8 years, Victor’s is
recognized as one of the area’s most upscale and elegant restaurants. Tim
Norwood, a native of Darlington, South Carolina, purchased Victor’s Bistro in
2003. Tim graduated from Francis Marion University with a degree in political
science, and has been an active member of the Florence community for many
years.
The
restaurant moved into the Hotel Florence last May, bringing with it a host of
experienced personnel including Steve Gibson as General Manager and George
Floyd as Operations Manager. The pair were headhunted from Columbia where they
had both been working for many years in the fine dining sector. “It’s really
exciting to be here,” says Gibson. “People here say they are looking for a lot
out of us all. We’re supposed to be the best. We’re doing this by taking advice
from guests and improving the experience for everybody.” With a background at
Columbia’s trendy Motor Supply Company and Ruth’s Chris, Floyd came to Victor’s
last March to help with the renovation and transition. “It’s been really neat
the number of local people who’ve come in and said ‘Gosh, we’ve come into New
York City!’” says Floyd. “But when people from New York and Boston and
Chicago come in and say the same thing, that’s when it really hits home.”
With
its upscale décor and ambiance, first-rate food, mellow musical entertainments
and meticulous service, Victor’s and the Hotel Florence are the cornerstone of
the downtown revitalization project. Can’t wait to see how the forward-focused
area progresses!
The Sun Rises in the...South?
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| Sun Rising in Georgetown,SC |
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Feeling Dizzy
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| Statue dedicated to Dizzy Gillespie in downtown Cheraw, SC |
Monday, April 7, 2014
Final Report from Bluffton Branding Project Released
In May 2013, the town of Bluffton, located between big sisters Savannah, GA and Hilton Head Island, SC, embarked on a partnership with Rawl Murdy Associates of Charleston SC and USC Columbia/Beaufort to strengthen their tourism and economic presence in the Lowcountry through rebranding efforts that would distinguish them among their neighbors. With both a magnificent past and a magnificent future, the town wanted to capture the quaint small town feel of their community and highlight the town's economic development. The research team used mixed methods data collection methods. They conducted 36 in-depth key stakeholder interviews, facilitated 4 community Charettes with over 100 individuals in attendance and collected 624 surveys targeting visitors, residents, local leaders, business owners and potential business owners. The culmination of the data has led to the development of the Heart of the Lowcountry brand that will be viewed through a variety of media outlets including radio, TV, social media, print and billboards. To access the full report, click below:
http://www.hrsm.sc.edu/CoEETourismandED/PDFs/BlufftonReport.pdf
The Masters of Customer Service
It is Masters week in Augusta Georgia,
and spectators from all over the world will experience top-notch customer
service. And not just because we have over 500 of our students working there
for the duration of the tournament. The strong customer service philosophy was
instilled years ago by a man called Cliff Roberts. The tournament was conceived,
nurtured and run for nearly forty years by Roberts, and more than three decades
after his death, the Masters still operates as if he were at the controls. Customer
service excellence was the guiding principal behind Robert’s perfectionism and
his conception of almost every aspect of the club and the tournament. His
practice of calling spectators ‘patrons’ was a reflection of his belief that
the purpose of the club during Masters week was to serve the people whose
support had made the tournament possible in the first place.
The Masters is still viewed almost universally as the best-run golf tournament in the world, if not the best-run sporting event, and it has maintained its standing without acquiring the modern trappings of success. Spectators can still buy lunch for half the price of any other tournament, because Roberts believed that anyone who had to travel hundreds of miles to watch a game of golf ought to be able to buy a decent meal at a decent price. Teams of uniformed workers constantly clean up after spectators because Roberts felt that litter detracted from the beauty of the course and the dignity of the event. In fact, the cups and sandwich bags are green, making them nearly invisible to television cameras – a major issue with Roberts. Members still wear their green coats all week, as they have done since 1937, because Roberts felt that knowledgeable sources of information ought to be easily identifiable to spectators in need of assistance.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Pearls of Wisdom
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| Dr. Hudson interviewing Pearl Fryar of Bishopville |
Dr. Hudson interviewing Pearl
Fryar at his Topiary Garden in Bishopville
A few years ago, we examined opportunities for tourism development
in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, and results showed limited brand
recognition and a need for innovative marketing to increase awareness of the region
as an attractive place to visit. So building on this previous work, the Center
recently won an Economic Development Administration grant to establish a brand
identity for the Pee Dee, a region plagued by high poverty and unemployment,
low educational levels, and a high number of dislocated workers. The first
stage of this research will focus on establishing the core values of the Pee
Dee, and so the team has just started conducting interviews with key
stakeholders and decision makers in the area.
The first interviewee in this project was the charismatic Pearl Fryar from the Pearl Fryar
Topiary Garden in Bishopville. Pearl started work on his garden in the 1980s,
and has since appeared in numerous television shows, including the documentary A Man named Pearl. Today, visitors come
from all over the world to meet Pearl and to see his garden. “We had 15,000
visitors last year from as far away as Japan, Australia Germany, Sweden and the
UK”. For Pearl, the key to economic
success is education. When Fryar gives a lecture to
young people, he doesn't talk about pruning techniques or soil amendment. He'd
rather urge people to use what they have and put their creativity to work --
lessons his garden taught him. "Don't allow some test score to determine
where you go in life," he says. And, "If you're the smartest person
in your circle of friends, you need to get smarter friends." For Pearl,
the key to attracting more tourists to the Pee Dee is marketing. “We have the
products – we just need to package them well. Improved signage on the highway
would also go a long way to promoting our area” he says. To learn more about
Pearl’s amazing work, go to www.pearlfryar.com
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| Pearl's topiary garden in Bishopville,SC |
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