Cleveland reaps more visitors

Cleveland reaps more visitors

CLEVELAND

Cleveland is rocking, with a surge of visitors in the past year amid a lot of positive national attention.

The regional visitors bureau Destination Cleveland says nearly 17 million visitors came to the Cleveland area in 2014, up more than 4 percent from the year earlier.

The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reports that officials credit a variety of factors, including the Republican Party’s choice of the northeast Ohio city to host its 2016 national convention and the return to Cleveland of NBA star LeBron James. There’s also been a new branding campaign for the city with TV advertising.

The Destination Cleveland report says Cuyahoga County welcomed 16.9 million visitors in 2014, after being at 14 million in 2010.

Geography quiz

Q. Where would you travel to visit the Corn Palace?

A. Mitchell, S.D. The building is visited by several hundred thousand tourists a year to see the murals and artwork that are made from corn each year.

Few business travelers use Uber

Although ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft continue to expand across the country, the services remain one of the least popular ground transportation options among business travelers.

When business travelers need a ride, 36 percent rent a car, 24 percent hail a taxi and 13 percent call for a chauffeur, with only 11 percent relying on a ride-sharing service, according to a new study by the educational arm of the Global Business Travel Association, the trade group for the nation’s business travel managers.

Nearly 20 airports in the U.S. allow ride-sharing services to make pickups.

One reason ride-sharing companies have yet to overtake taxis and rental car companies in popularity among business travelers is that 24 percent of travel managers say their companies do not allow their business travelers to use ride-sharing services, according to the GBTA study.

Bureau to focus on first-time visitors

WAILUKU, Hawaii

The Maui Visitors Bureau is hoping to attract more new visitors to the islands this year.

Officials are focusing on “never been” travelers from the East Coast and other parts of the mainland, reported The Maui News.

In the first six months of the year, the island has attracted more than 1,296,000 visitors. Nearly half came from the 11 states west of the Rocky Mountains. Only about 361,000 came from the other states.

Direct flights from the East Coast to Hawaii would help change that, officials say.

Jay Talwar, the chief marketing officer for the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, said about a third of North America’s 26 million “avid travelers” have not been to Hawaii.

The Bureau also hopes to increase its international visitors including Korea, China and Taiwan. The only nonstop international flights to Maui arrive from Canada.

Vacation planning during work

When it comes to vacation planning, a recent industry survey revealed the Chinese (70 percent) and Americans (67 percent) are the biggest offenders of doing vacation research during work hours.

Canadians came in third with 64 percent secretly booking vacations during work, followed by Britons (40 percent) and Germans (38 percent).

Combined dispatches