U.S. Travel Association’s International Pow Wow is the travel industry’s premier international marketplace and the largest generator of Visit USA travel – it is NOT a typical trade show. In just three days of intensive pre-scheduled business appointments, more than 1,000 U.S. travel organizations from every region of the USA (representing all industry category components), and close to 1,500 International and Domestic Buyers from more than 70 countries, conduct business negotiations that result in the generation of over $3.5 billion in future Visit USA travel. At International Pow Wow, buyers and sellers are able to conduct business that would otherwise be generated only through an exhaustive number of around-the-world trips

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Delegates from Lee County included – Lee County VCB – Universal Vacations – Pink Shell Resort – Diamondhead Resort – Outrigger – Sanibel Resort & Spa Representatives for Lee County from the UK and Germany

According to the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau’s (VCB) research partner Davidson Peterson Associates, total expenditures for tourism in the county in 2009 equaled $2.6 billion. That amount equates to nearly $7 million per day, $297,934 per hour, $4,966 per minute and $83 per second! Plus, tourism accounts for nearly one of every four jobs in the county or 38,159 residents directly employed by the tourism industry. That’s 22 percent of total employment in the county or nearly the population of Bonita Springs. In addition to the 38,159 direct industry jobs in 2009, the industry supported another 15,178 indirect and induced jobs, for a total of 53,337 jobs in Lee County.

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The Annual Salute to Travel and Tourism in America

The first full week of May is annually recognized as National Travel and Tourism Week, a tradition first celebrated in 1984. Localized events are presented in cities, states and travel businesses nationwide to champion the power of travel. It was established as National Tourism Week when the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution in 1983 designating the week to be celebrated in May. In a White House ceremony, President Ronald Reagan signed a Presidential Proclamation urging citizens to observe the week with “the appropriate ceremonies and activities.”

Since its establishment, the U.S. travel community has collectively marked the event in a number of creative ways, from staging local rallies and conducting media outreach to securing proclamations and resolutions from local legislative bodies.

BRUSSELS (AP) — A plume of volcanic ash snaked its way through southern France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany Sunday, shutting down airports and disrupting flights across Europe.

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An unidentified passenger waits for a flight inside El Prat de Llobregat Airport in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday. Hundreds of flights between Europe and North America were either delayed or canceled on Saturday due to the spreading cloud of volcanic ash stretching across much of the northern Atlantic, the European flight control agency said

United Airlines and its US rival Continental Airlines have agreed a $3.2 billion merger to create the world’s biggest carrier.

The deal, which will result in savings of more than $1 billion a year, is likely to spark further consolidation in the global airline industry.The combined group will adopt the United Airlines name with Continental CEO Jeff Smisek heading the company.

The two airlines currently fly 144 million passengers a year to 370 destnations worldwide.

United Airlines and its US rival Continental Airlines have agreed a $3.2 billion merger to create the world's biggest carrier.