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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Does Travel Matter? Tahoe Tourism Conference Looks For AnswersBy Craig Altschul 
"It's time we reset the time frame to what's going on around us," Ribaudo told The Industry Reportas he wrapped up planning details for the 2009 event. "There are really two issues - the economic level and the individual level." "It's not just how cheap, it's what appeals emotionally to a consumer about traveling," the president of SMG, a 17-year-old tourism, recreation and hospitality firm based in South Lake Tahoe, said. "We need to consider the large concept of why travel matters and why people should want to continue to travel even during times of economic uncertainty. This goes beyond just trying to attract visitors." Ribaudo said the conference began in 1999 as "a way to get people working in Tahoe tourism on the South Shore to talk to each other." The event quickly expanded lakewide and beyond and now rotates between the North and South shores. It didn't take much prodding for Ribaudo to take a walk down memory lane and point out some of the highlights over the years that surfaced at the conference. The then-new Blue World ad campaign consumed one year's event; a Hispanic TV station from Sacramento got tourism leaders looking at ways to grow that market; and Foodie Tourism ate up another one. "It was funny," he said. "I remember three years ago we looked at Web 2.0 before everybody was talking about social media and marketing. A speaker asked how many in the audience had an iPod and maybe 10 hands went up." Another memorable theme surfaced two years ago when destination authenticity raised its head. "California resorts were in danger of becoming similar. There were California Pizza and Williams Sonoma stores in every resort town. The conference attendees looked to implement ways to get visitors to do what locals do.” Conference speakers delving into the question "Does Travel Matter?" will be paced by Darin Dinsmore, president of Regional Planning Partners. Dinsmore is a planner and landscape architect and has won awards for his designs of downtown plans, mixed-use downtown centers, redesign of commercial corridors, waterfront planning and more. He created plans in the region for destination communities of Donner Summit, June Lake and the Lake Tahoe Basin. Tom Medland, marketing director for the Reno-Tahoe International Airport and a member of the Boards of the Regional Marketing Committee and the Sierra Ski Marketing Council, will offer an update on that lifeline to Tahoe tourism. "Air service is a hot button issue for Lake Tahoe and recent cutbacks of airline service into the region is part of the travel mix," Ribaudo said. Ralf Garrison, president of MTRiP, a mountain travel research group, will put the numbers on the table as it relates to the current economic situation in the region and nation. "I think a panel discussion will take things in an interesting direction on the reason people should want to continue traveling," Ribaudo said. An afternoon panel will focus on historical/cultural travel, ecotourism and destination restaurants. "One of the panelists is Matt Toomey whose restaurant, Tioga Toomey's Whoa Nelly Deli in middle of freaking nowhere - in Lee Vining, Calif., at the bottom of Tioga Pass near Mono Lake, serves absolutely great gourmet food inside the Mobil station. This place blew me away." Another will be Pete Brumis, founder and CEO of Ecomentum.com from the San Francisco Bay area, chiming in on ecotourism and authentic marketing. Ribaudo said adventure photographer Corey Rich would conclude the event with his photographic take on why people should want to continue traveling. "There are a number of issues facing Lake Tahoe tourism leaders these days, not the least of which is the current state of the economy and how to deal with it," Ribaudo told the IR."Tahoe has the same empty businesses and faces the same social impact as many resort towns. "The dysfunctional California budget is frozen and that's having an impact on everything. The second-home market has slowed down dramatically at the Lake. Also, the composition of the community has changed There was about a 50-50 split between full- time residents and second homeowners a decade ago. Today, the shift has brought second homeowners to 65 percent. The impact of that shift has become significant on the community because so many second homes sit empty in the neighborhoods." Finally, Ribaudo said, the area is faced with the eyesores and broken promises of stalled development projects - one now a big hole in the ground surrounded by a wood fence literally across the street from the Heavenly gondola in the middle of Stateline. "That one has politicians and everyone else angry," he said. "We all have to get beyond the discounts," Ribaudo said. This 10th anniversary conference is designed to do that. More information: www.SMGTourismConference.com. What It Means:There are few symposia in the industry that consistently deliver the goods and advance the agenda. The Mountain Travel Symposium Forum does so each year on a large scale. Ribaudo's SMG Tourism Conference at Lake Tahoe may be the best example of a smaller event tackling big issues in an important tourism-driven region. « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » |
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