16 NEWS ADVERTORIAL
16 NEWS ADVERTORIAL Chicago’s Mayor Announces Further Investment in “Choose Chicago” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, along with the Chicago Department of Aviation and Choose Chicago, have announced that Choose Chicago will receive an extra million in annual funding to foster joint marketing efforts to promote Chicago and access to the City through O’Hare and Midway Airports. This partnership will enhance both the mission of increasing airport usage and promoting the City of Chicago as an international travel destination. “The partnership announced today between the Chicago Department of Aviation and Choose Chicago is part of a multi-faceted approach working toward our goal of 50 million visitors in the City of Chicago annually,” said Mayor Emanuel. “These new efforts will boost both local economic development and job creation. Increasing tourism and business travel to Chicago is a central part of my economic strategy and it will further establish the city as an international hub for the United States.” © Julienne Schaer/ NYC & Company Urban Excitement NYC and Company Launches New Brooklyn Neighborhood Toolkit for Travel Professionals As more hotels and attractions debut in Brooklyn, this new resource provides invaluable information to better promote neighborhood visits. NYC & Company, New York City’s official marketing, tourism and partnership organization, today launched a new Brooklyn tool kit designed for the international and domestic travel trade to promote and sell the City’s Since 2006, hotel development in New York City has expanded more than 30 percent from 71,000 rooms in 2006 to 93,000 rooms now. most populous borough. The new “Brooklyn, Downtown and Nearby Neighborhoods” tool kit—being launched this week during ITB, the world’s leading travel trade show—will provide relevant information and showcase the area’s hotels, attractions, cultural organizations and transportation offerings. The new resource is part of an overall effort by NYC & Company to encourage more visitation to the city’s diverse neighborhoods. Travel trade partners can access detailed information on this new tool kit, including a Brooklyn video, at nycgo.com/traveltrade. “As new hotels and attractions debut in Brooklyn, NYC & Company is encouraging more visits and stays in the neighborhoods of the city’s most populous borough. Today’s launch of the new Brooklyn tool kit will provide travel professionals with the resources they need to better sell and increase bookings to this diverse and inviting borough,” said NYC & Company CEO George Fertitta. The new Brooklyn tool kit will include a new product fact sheet for the neighborhood; a consumer focused video conveying the feeling of the area; neighborhood imagery; a neighborhood map highlighting enclaves such as Downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, BoCoCa (Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens), Fort Greene, Prospect Heights and Park Slope; and online content available to the tour operator community at nycgo.com/traveltrade. A variety of hotels including conference, express and boutique properties will be spotlighted as part of the new tool kit including the Aloft New York Brooklyn (176 rooms), Fairfield Inn & Suites New York Brooklyn (133 rooms), Holiday Inn Express Downtown Dumbo - Brooklyn Bridge Park Park Slope - Gorilla Coffee Brooklyn (104 rooms), Hotel Indigo Brooklyn (128 rooms), Sheraton Brooklyn New York (321 rooms), New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge (665 rooms), NU Hotel (93 rooms), Holiday Inn Express Brooklyn (115 rooms), the Best Western Plus Arena (56 rooms), Hotel Le Bleu (48 rooms), Condor Hotel (35 rooms) and Hotel Le Jolie (54 rooms). Since 2006, hotel development in New York City has expanded more than 30 percent from 71,000 rooms in 2006 to 93,000 rooms now. During this time period, approximately 72 hotels representing close to 6,200 rooms have opened in the City’s boroughs beyond Manhattan, providing visitors with more experiential options than ever before. Since 2011, Brooklyn has seen the opening of 8 new hotels, with 6 more in the pipeline through 2016. © Joe Buglewicz / NYC & Company ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 6 th March 2013 www.itb-berlin-news.com
Hall 2.1 NEWS 17 Madison Celebrates 50 Years as “The Place to Meet” in Washington Blossoms & Presidents Washington DC has “spring in its step” following the Presidential inauguration in January The Nation’s Capital, Washington DC, is taking on growing importance as a tourist destination. ITB Berlin News spotlights the latest highlights. The upcoming National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC (April 2013) is the USA’s greatest springtime celebration. The 2013 Festival, March 20 – April 14, includes three spectacular weeks and four weekends of events featuring diverse and creative San Francisco San Francisco has always been a sweetheart for European visitors, as they feel the local ties in this extremely cosmopolitan, vibrant and colourful city. And San Francisco International Airport (SFO) offers non-stop flights to more than 31 international points on 30 international carriers. This year, there are even more reasons to visit. Here are just a few… SFJAZZ Center Opened January 21, 2013 The million, SFJAZZ Center, at 205 Franklin St, which opened on January 17, 2013, is the first center anywhere in the country for jazz designed and built from the ground up. The 35,000-squarefoot, transparent structure designed by Mark Cavagnero of Mark Cavagnero Associates, features a flexible, 700-seat performance hall, programming. Last year’s festival won its organisers the prize for the best event website (www. nationalcherryblossomfestival. org) among a swathe of Pinnacle awards. “Striving for the highest degree of excellence in festival and event promotions and operations in every budget level and every corner of the globe, this competition has not only raised the standards and quality of the festivals and events industry to new levels, but also shows how event producers can use innovation and creativity to achieve dedicated space for education and professional development; three rehearsal spaces; a digital music lab, and a sidewalk-level restaurant/ café. For information visit www. sfjazz.org or call 415-398-5655. The Bay Lights, World’s Largest LED Sculpture, Celebrates 75 th Anniversary of Bay Bridge Inspired by the 75 th anniversary of the Bay Bridge in 2011, The Bay Lights is a fine art piece designed to be installed on the western span and viewable from San Francisco and points north, but not by drivers crossing the bridge. Measuring 1.8-miles-long and 500-feet-high, the high-tech light sculpture design features 25,000 individually programmable, energy-efficient LED lights mounted Whitehouse Spring a higher level of success,” said IFEA President & CEO, Steven Wood Schmader, CFEE. The US capital is putting its best foot forward with an impressive number of hotel rebuilds, including the Hay Adams, which has enclosed its rooftop terrace overlooking the Whitehouse, and a 22-million dollar rebuild for the Madison, which looked so good after the work was done that the Loews group snapped it up as its new flagship in the DC area. As If You Didn’t Already Have Enough Good Reasons to Visit… on the bridge’s vertical cables. The Bay Lights will remain on the bridge for two years. The New Exploratorium Opens April 17, 2013 On April 17, 2013, the new Exploratorium, San Francisco’s internationally acclaimed museum of sciences, art and human perception, will open on Piers 15 and 17, located on San Francisco’s historic northern waterfront at Embarcadero and Green streets. The new museum will feature 150 new exhibits, a Bay observatory, outdoor gallery and free civic space. For information visit www.exploratorium.edu or www.press.exploratorium.edu. More info on San Francisco: www.sanfrancisco.travel Washington’s Madison Hotel has been celebrating its 50 th anniversary over the past month. In February 1963, President John F. Kennedy was on hand for the opening of the establishment. Since then, the hotel has played pivotal roles in international politics, acting as a temporary Kremlin in 1987 while Soviet leaders met with the Reagan Administration as well as a temporary Oval Office for George W. Bush, just before he took office in 2000. Beginning in 2011, a revitalization plan was inspired by a desire to modernize and update the look and feel, without sacrificing Washington, D.C. as a “sense of place.” The adjacent “The Federalist” restaurant stars executive chef Tim Recher, who is putting his own mark on modern interpretations of classic American dining. From humble beginnings, Recher went on to work with some of the country’s best chefs preparing the inaugural dinner for President Barack Obama, and was recently named Chef of the Year by the Nation’s Capital Chefs Association, in recognition of embracing new approaches to incorporating artisanal and regional ingredients into his menus, and is a winner of the Presidential Medal from the American Culinary Federation. Madison Exterior ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 6 th March 2013
