Travel Agent - August 6, 2007 - (Page 12)

Vital Signs News You Can Use October 2006, to make a minimum of 70 calls per year. In a visit last week to Travel Agent’s offices, Ralph Brennan, of the famous Brennan New Orleans restaurant family, said that “cruise line business has been phenomenal” for local restaurants, with strong pre- and post-cruise weekend lunch traffic. He reported that the city’s restaurant business is in good shape overall, with 836 restaurants now open, as compared to the 809 pre-Katrina. Restaurants often are open fewer days and/or hours, but Brennan—whose Red Fish Grill in the French Quarter was the first restaurant to reopen after Katrina—put a positive spin on this for tourists, saying they now have better access to the city’s most popular dining hot spots. In other New Orleans news, in July, the city hosted the Essence Music Festival, the largest African-America festival in the country, which brought 200,000 attendees and over $100 million in economic impact; launched COOLinary New Orleans, special deals at restaurants through September; and went live with www.24nola.com, an interactive itinerary New Orleans Continues Recovery Just weeks before the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is in the news again, and from an exciting new riverfront development plan to Carnival extending its contract, the news is good. Highlights of proposals for the Riverfront Development Project (www. neworiverfront.com), 174 acres along the Mississippi River that are now occupied predominantly by public-owned wharves, include a new hotel at the foot of Julia Street in the Warehouse District, parks with piers and performance spaces and an extended pedestrian and cycling path. The final report will be ready in October, and a good percentage of the development could be finished by 2018, the city’s 300th birthday. That Carnival has extended its contract is just one piece of recent good news for the city planning tool. In June, Southwest Airlines announced the addition of eight daily nonstop roundtrip flights from New Orleans to begin November 4. All major hotels are open except for the Hyatt, which is scheduled to reopen on September 1, 2008; and the Fairmont, which Ralph Brennan said he heard has been bought. The World Trade Center will be redeveloped into 250 residences and a 130-room Renaissance Club Sport Hotel by Marriott. The $160 million project will also include a museum and the conversion of Spanish Plaza into a public entetainment area. For more New Orleans news, visit the web site of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, www.new orleanscvb.com. — Anastasia Mills Healy Carnival Extends Contract Carnival Cruise Lines and the Port of New Orleans have agreed on a new two-year contract with an option, which could keep the cruise line sailing from New Orleans through 2010. Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Carnival, said demand for cruises originating from New Orleans has steadily improved. The deal calls for the 2,056-passenger Carnival Fantasy, which replaced Carnival Sensation in Tzell Goes Private Again The senior management team at Tzell Travel Group announced last week that it has repurchased the company from CnG Travel Group, which bought Tzell Travel four years ago. The $18 million buyout was led by Tzell’s president and CEO Barry Liben, who spoke to Travel Agent about future plans for Tzell. “We’ll continue to look at travel businesses to add to our company. Merrill Lynch financed our deal and has given us a very healthy credit line, which we plan to use, and we’re always actively looking.” Liben continued to run Tzell during the past four years, and says that he and his management team, which includes Tzell executive vice presidents David Buda and Jerry Behrens; senior vice presidents Cindy Schlansky, Scott Booth, David Holyoke and Sara Sessa; and chief financial officer Willie Lynch, sold Tzell in 2003 to Ireland-based CnG because it made good economic sense at the time. “We wanted to bring it home,” says Liben, who celebrates his 30th anniversary with the company next month. As part of the company’s ongoing expansion and acquisition plan, Tzell most recently acquired a major California-based travel entertainment company, All-Star. “It’s all pretty exciting,” Liben tells Travel Agent. Liben says that following the purchase, he’ll continue on as Tzell’s leader and that all eight members of the senior management will remain in their current positions. A leader in corporate and leisure travel, Tzell Travel Group does more than $700 million in annual sales and has more than 700 employees, with dozens of branch offices in nine states. — Debbie Strong 12. TravelAgent August 6, 2007 http://www.neworiverfront.com http://www.neworiverfront.com http://www.neworleanscvb.com http://www.neworleanscvb.com http://www.24nola.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - August 6, 2007

Contents Editor's Letter News You Can Use Cover Story - Passports and Visas: What Clients Should Know About Them EUROPE: Capella Debuts Two Properties This Year LAS VEGAS: The De-Theming of Luxor HAWAII: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea Renovates CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA: Cruising the Panama Canal Lavishly CARIBBEAN & BAHAMAS: Bahamas’ Grand Isle Resort & Spa News and Notes Meet the U.S.V.I.’s Tourism Commissioner CRUISES: Defining Regent Seven Seas HOTELS: InterContinental Harbor Court Baltimore Agent Exchange Luxury Travel Expo Update Ad and Edit Index Classified Marketplace People & Places

Travel Agent - August 6, 2007

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