Table of Contents
Cover Story:
The Tourist Trade
We need 'em, We want 'em, We got 'em.
Feature Story:
How'd He Do That?
Some words of advice from Union State Bank's Tom Hales
DEPARTMENTS:
Economics Roundup
• The Smart Investor
Bold moves can be exciting, but also fruitless
• Economic
Viewpoint
The Fed's bark may be worse than its bite
Business Roundup
• Technology Viewpoint
Five steps to drive more traffic to your website
• The Fine Art of Advertising
Building a good campaign - how would you rate you?
Retail Round-Up
• Retailers Seeing Green
Shoppers plan to open their wallets this holiday season
Invest in Your Community
• Get The Ball Rolling
Learn how your company can help Meals on Wheels
Odds & Ends
• From The Publishers
• PR Patter
Dedicated Section:
Rockland Business Association:
The President’s Desk
Want to help Rockland and the business community gain some respect?
Here's how.
Bridging
Borders EXPO 2006
Recent Business-to-Business Expo a great success
RBA Happenings
• Other News
• Committee and Council Info
• Calendar of Events
• New Members
Recent News
RBA/RCDT Discover
Rockland Motor Coach
Familiarization Tours Taking Place
The Rockland County Department of Tourism and the Rockland Business
Association hosted a familiarization tour for 14 motor coach tour
operators on Sunday, October 22 – Tuesday, October 24. The
tour operators came from New York City, Connecticut, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania to participate in the tour, which emphasized both
Rockland's history and newer features such as the Palisades Center
Mall.
Heather Duke, Director of Rockland's Tourism Program, said the
tour received very positive feedback and she was hopeful that business
would come in to the County as a result. Duke said the tour was
the result of "a newly formed consortium involving the Rockland
County Department of Tourism and the Hospitality and Tourism Alliance
of the RBA (RBAHTA). We decided to take up this activity to promote
the County to those who have the ability to bring many tours to
Rockland."
The Consortium is chaired by Greg Parseghian of the Best Western
in Nyack, one of the participating hotels and chair of the RBAHTA.
The other host involved was Comfort Inn. Transportation was provided
by Coach USA, with the RBA covering the cost of the driver. According
to Parseghian, the group's mission is to identify and create tourism
opportunities to enhance economic growth and development in Rockland
County.
Al Samuels, President/CEO of the RBA, pointed out that even though
Rockland is the smallest county in the State (outside the boroughs
of NYC), very often it exceeds the State's rate of tourism growth. "It
is our intention to reinvent our consumer driven marketing program
to the group sales market - the bus that brings in 40 people, rather
than a car of three or four visitors. The expenditures triple when
a person stays overnight." RBD
