By Karen Ballard, Administrator Idaho Division of Tourism and U.S. Travel Association A tremendous boost to our industry occurred today by the Obama Administration making tourism a national priority with the first-ever National Travel and Tourism Strategy. This is a major victory for the travel community and affirms what can be accomplished when we speak as an industry with a clear [...]
Karen Ballard
Tag Archives
Legislative Update Week 9 March 5-9, 2012
By Megan Ronk, Public Information Officer, and Karen Ballard Administrator of Tourism, Idaho Department of Commerce IGEM Bill Heads to Governor After passing both the House and Senate with overwhelming support, House Bill 546 – is headed to the Governor for signature. Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission (IGEM) creates a platform to facilitate and accelerate the commercialization of new technologies [...]
Legislative Update Week 8: February 27-March 2, 2012
From Megan Ronk and Karen Ballard Idaho Travel Council change in terms proposed House Bill 613 Amends existing law relating to the Idaho Travel and Convention Industry Council to revise provisions relating to the term of office so that they begin January 1st rather than July 1st to better align with our grant cycle and bringing [...]
Legislative Update Week 6: February 13-17, 2012
By Megan Ronk, Public Information Officer and Karen Ballard, Tourism Administrator, Idaho Department of Commerce Director Sayer introduced the IGEM legislation to the House Commerce & Human Resources Committee earlier this week. It has now been assigned a bill number – H0546 – so feel free to share this with your various community contacts and other key [...]
Travel Gets Presidential Treatment
By Karen Ballard with contribution from Nan Marchand Beauvois, Senior Director National Council Relations, U.S. Travel Association Well 2012 is starting out rather promising for the tourism industry. Not only are our numbers improving but it appears our industry is getting some new attention and respect. I shared with you that earlier in the month [...]
Number 1 Social Media Resolution for 2012
By Karen Ballard I just got my e-newsletter from our friend Todd Skelton at TripAdvisor and was reminded of this very important bit of housekeeping we must all do. By far, the most important thing any tourism business can do is to make sure they are registered on TripAdvisor to use their owners’ page. Whether [...]