New York Times Travel Show

The New York Times Travel Show has always been a success and it had done a great job of marketing the event but after going to the NY TIMES TRAVEL SHOW for three years now, there seem to be the least attendees out of the three years. The exhibitors are eager more than ever to get someone to look at their booth and more of them offer sweets to lure the attendees to their booth. The past two years, the place had been filled with people, but it was depressing to see so little people. I feel that it wasn't a matter of having not good marketing strategies but it's because of the current economic downturn. I didn't know that the economy will have this big of an affect on the events industry. 

Even though there were fewer attendees, I was glad to the booth that I had always missed at the travel show and that was the Busch Gardens booth. It was the first time that I saw the animals that they brought. It was fascinating to see penguins, sloth and birds and more. Another booth that I liked was the Japan tourism booth which I visit every year. There were having a raffle and were giving out free items such as coasters, tissues, notepads, etc. I think giving out items is a good way to help the attendees remember the destination when they use the item. 

Guest Speaker: Dan Paradiso

I enjoyed listening to our guest speaker, Dan Paradiso, the Associate Director of Sales from The Carlton on Madison Avenue. His lecture was about his sales team, the organization of the team, what sales people do and the sales call process. It was interesting because some of the topics he spoke about, I had knowledge about so I was able to understand sales even more than before. Also, I was able to learn more about what sales department does. Even though I knew some of the topics that he spoke about, such as Delphi, the breakdown of regions that sales managers are in charge of, through his lecture, it helped me understand the sales concepts a little better. It was helpful to hear some of the things that sales department does, such as sales calls and how they execute it. It was beneficial to helping us process the information that we have read in our textbook. Overall, I felt that our guest speaker, Dan Paradiso, gave the class and me a great insight in what the Sales Department does in a hotel.