GULF SHORES AND ORANGE BEACH, ALA. – Guests visiting Alabama’s 32 miles of white-sand beaches have a new mobile vacation tool at their fingertips. Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism (CVB), which serves as the area’s official destination marketing organization, announced the launch of its new vacation guide app that is available through both the iTunes and Android stores.

In addition to providing detailed listings for all accommodations, restaurants and attractions in the area, this app showcases specials for local restaurants, lists nearby businesses, previews the weather forecast, provides links to all of the CVB’s social channels, and enables users to check into Facebook Places.

“The use of this app allows us to reach our guests directly and provide the necessary content in a fun, engaging and simple to use manner,” said Herb Malone, president/CEO for the CVB. “We are confident that this tool will enrich the beach vacation experience even more while allowing guests to get back to the real reason why they came on vacation – reconnecting with those you love.”

Guests who download this new app may receive a small token by visiting either the Gulf Shores or Orange Beach Welcome Center through Labor Day and showing the app on your phone to one of the welcome center staff members.

The CVB will be rolling out an app awareness program in the coming months.

6/7/2011

GULF SHORES AND ORANGE BEACH, ALA. – Gulf Shores & Orange Beach tourism – which serves as the area’s official convention and visitors bureau – is proud to announce the promotion of Beth Gendler to vice-president of sales for the organization’s convention sales and sports commission departments.

“Beth has lead our team’s sales efforts as the director of sales for eight successful years,” said Herb Malone, president/CEO of Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism. “During her tenure, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of small conventions brought to the area. Her team has aggressively sought new opportunities while strengthening the existing ties. In addition, she had lead the development of our Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Sports Commission. Since 2006, we have seen unprecedented growth in the sports travel market.”

For more information the CVB’s group sales department or the sports commission, visit www.gulfshores.com or www.gulfshoresorangebeachsports.com, respectively.

GULF SHORES AND ORANGE BEACH, ALA. – “Tourism is the economic force behind our local economy and there are more than 41,000 people in Baldwin County who have devoted their careers to our hospitality industry,” said Herb Malone, president/CEO of Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism (CVB), an organization that will host several events to celebrate the 28th annual National Travel and Tourism Week (May 7-15).

Yesterday, nearly 200 individuals from various accommodation, attraction and restaurant properties throughout Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Fort Morgan convened at the Erie Meyer Civic Center for the convention and visitors bureau’s annual Tourism Summit. Designed as an informative and resource-driven event, the summit began with a brief media seminar that featured helpful tips and pointers for assisting travel media (presented by Debbie Geiger of Geiger and Associates) and crisis media (presented by Cristyne Nicholas of Nicholas & Lence Communications).

Also, leading tourism research expert Peter Yesawich shared his insight and study results that shed some light on consumer perceptions and their upcoming travel plans. According to Yesawich, about 59 percent of U.S. adults plan to take at least one leisure trip between February and July 2011, which is up from 56 percent during the same time period in 2010. In addition, data from his group’s recent research project indicated that potential guests to the Alabama Beach area were more likely to vacation here now verses their view last year. In June 2010, 42 percent of survey participants indicated that they were less likely to visit the area now verses before the spill. By July 2010, that figure had dropped to 29 percent and most recently fell to 15 percent in February 2011.

Finally, Alabama Tourism Director Lee Sentell spoke to the travel professionals in attendance and provided a state-wide tourism update.

Sponsors of the tourism summit include AL.com, Alabama Golf, Aristotle, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Magazine, The Advocate, City of Gulf Shores, Collinson Media & Events, Compass Marketing Inc., Global Marketing Solutions Inc., Madden Media, Navigate Media Inc., Southern Living and Texas Monthly

Continuing the week-long festivities, the CVB will be serving free Bruster’s ice cream at the Orange Beach Welcome Center (23685 Perdido Beach Blvd.) from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 12.

Finally, several sponsors of the Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Sports Commission will be showcasing their businesses and providing free items or food samples at either the Gulf Shores or Orange Beach Welcome Centers throughout the week. Participating sports commission sponsors include Original Oyster House, Spectrum Resorts, Brett-Robinson, Kaiser Realty, Young’s Suncoast, The Hangout, Caribe Resort, Fairfield Inn and Suites and Tanger Outlet Mall.

“Travel is a force in America’s economy that is simply too important to ignore. It’s responsible for employing one out of every nine Americans, more people than other giants like the insurance or automotive industries,” said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, the umbrella organization representing the U.S. travel industry.

Travel and tourism generated $1.8 trillion in economic output for the U.S. economy in 2010. The industry also represents one of America’s largest employers, supporting 14.1 million jobs (including 7.4 million directly in the travel industry and 6.7 million in other industries). Direct spending by domestic and international travelers averaged $2 billion a day, $86.6 million an hour, $1.4 million a minute and $24,000 a second.

The U.S. Travel Association projects nearly 2 billion Americans will take a domestic trip this year, up about 2 percent over last year. International arrivals are expected to total 63 million in 2011, a 6 percent increase over 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.