High gasoline prices be damned. America's tourism operators smell not only spring but also summer in the air, and they're gearing up for a business season that seems to hold the most promise of any in several years.

Rising auto sales and other indicators suggest Americans will be more active travelers this year than last year even if they have to pay $4 a gallon or more for the gasoline to get there. And among other locales, tourism operators in economically struggling Michigan, as well as the many small towns and dusty little museums along Route 66, want you to know they're open for business.

In Michigan, a state-sponsored study just found that last summer's Pure Michigan national-advertising campaign, featuring voiceovers by Tim Allen, attracted a record number of out-of-state visitors to the "beautiful peninsula" last year. The $14-million campaign motivated more than 3 million trips to the state and a projected $1 billion in spending at state businesses, the study found.Continue reading...

It's nothing unusual for a hotel chain to concentrate on China as a growth market; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) was the first international hotelier in the country and has operated there for thirty years. What is novel, however, is IHG's newest Chinese play: Hualuxe, which the company describes in a press release as "the first international brand designed specially for the Chinese traveller."

"Hua" translates into 'majestic China' and "Luxe," of course, stands for 'luxury.' IHG says it already tailors the hotels it operates in China to local tastes, but Hualuxe will take the concept one well-shod step further to attract the high-end traveler.Continue reading...

Everybody is hurting for money these days and nobody is saying no to any potential revenue streams. So why should Virginia?

The governor of the great commonwealth is looking to sell naming rights to streets, bridges, and intersections, Voice of America reports. And he’s not just thinking that corporations will buy in. Wealthy civilians might as well get into the act, too. What would make a nicer birthday present than to give your sweetheart a local intersection?  

Governor Bob McDonnell wants to use the money from naming rights to “help the cash-strapped Virginia transportation budget,” VOA notes. But what is the "your name here" response to budget woes doing for the Virginia brand?Continue reading...

Last August, to mark its first year in downtown Detroit, Quicken Loans took to the streets to ask local business owners and downtown Detroit leaders why the Motor City is a great place to live and work, even if it's still struggling (which it is) to rebound to what it once was. 

Now one of downtown Detroit's biggest business boosters is proving there's more than one way to bring retailing back to the heart of America's most distressed big city. If you can't fill vacant storefronts with actual retail stores and shoppers on foot, Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert figures, why not try a new form called "virtual retailing"?Continue reading...

NBA fans across the nation were concerned last fall when there were threats that the whole season would be lost due to a major disagreement between team owners and players on a new collective bargaining agreement. Things finally got worked out and now basketball fans can get massive doses of the stuff on a nightly basis.

On Manhattan’s Lower East Side, some folks are getting to extend that love all year round, thanks to a Nike-sponsored renovation of the crumbling gymnasium in a 1,100-residence coop building, the Masaryk. Named for a prime minister-elect of Czechoslovakia who was killed by defenestration — pushed out of a window, back home — in 1948, the building now boasts one of the most incredible gyms available in a New York residential building, as paid for and installed by Nike as part of its #MakeItCount pro-social effort.

As Sneaker News notes, hoops fans can’t just pull on their Jordans and head over to the place. It is invite-only until April and then, Bowery Boogie reports, “the Towers are left with a brand-spankin’ new facility.”Continue reading...

The Nokia Lumia 800 is sure doing everything it can to promote itself - even if it means projecting a free light show onto a huge skyscraper with musical guest deadmau5, or constructing a 32 foot version of the phone. (Not to mention the 55 foot Windows phone put up in New York's Herald Square.)

The towering Lumia 800 is currently on view in Paris, France, on the city's famed Avenue des Champs-Élysées (where residents and visitors can also check out Absolut's subtle outdoor advertising). This is the first Windows Phone that Nokia has produced, and it's hard to speculate how well it will do until Nokia releases their Q4 financial results.Continue reading...

Booze is recession-proof: people drink alcohol in good economic times and they drink alcohol in bad economic times, athough the price of what they imbibe may decrease in tough times.

According to Fox, “a recent Gallup poll shows alcohol consumption hit a 25-year high in 2010, with 67 percent of Americans reporting drinking alcoholic beverages.” That is pretty close to the all-time alcohol-consumption high of 71 percent set back in the ‘70s, the site notes.

New York Senator Charles Schumer, an outspoken Democrat, is trying to use this fact to help his state’s business grow. While New York state is the official body behind the famed "I Love NY" campaign (not New York City, as commonly believed), Schumer feels it isn't doing enough for local businesses. That's why he's encouraging restaurants, bars, and retailers to stock as much New York-brewed beer as possible, according to the Saratogian. Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnellli may love New York but Schumer loves New York brew.

As he kicks off his campaign this week, Schumer is hoping that New York brewers will sell more product and thus have to add to their employee rolls, the Saratogian reports.Continue reading...

Can Angry Birds be stopped?

The mobile game that has reduced worker productivity in America by half (at least in my household) was already global, but now it's "glocalizing" as well to meet those new markets. For China's Autumn Festival, Rovio released a special "Moon Festival" theme for the game.Continue reading...