The Tampa/St. Petersburg area ranks 14th among domestic destinations for 2009 travel bookings, a survey of 547 Travel Leaders travel agencies reports.
Las Vegas edged Orlando as the top domestic destination while Chicago rose 10 places to number 10.
The election of Chicago's hometown President-elect Barack Obama may have renewed interest in the Windy City, the report by the company formerly known as Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates said.
The report said nearly 41 percent of the Travel Leaders owners reported travelers are shortening their trips and 21.6 percent are checking into different "tiers" of accommodations than they did previously to save money.
It said travelers are being flexible with dates of travel, staying at properties providing "all inclusive" packages, using frequent flyer miles, taking a cruise and booking only if there is a promotion or a deal.
Mexico ranked first in best travel value beyond the United States, followed by "cruising" and visiting the Caribbean.

- AirTran Airways Gives Young Travelers a Break from the Books with Low Fares
-

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AirTran Airways, a subsidiary
of AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AAI), has announced that it will open
registration for its third year of the AirTran U standby travel program for
young travelers. Now college students can visit family or friends and still
have money left over for next semester's textbooks.

AirTran U is the best college deal around - all applicants between the ages of
18 and 22 are cleared for travel on a standby-only basis to any of the 58
cities AirTran Airways currently serves (excludes Cancun, Mexico and San Juan,
Puerto Rico) for a fare of just $69* per short-haul segment, or $99* per
long-haul segment of travel. To participate, travelers simply select the
destination, dates and times they want to travel and arrive at the AirTran
Airways counter no fewer than two hours before the scheduled time of
departure. AirTran U passengers can also earn 1/2 A+ Rewards credits** per
completed trip. Visit http://www.aplusrewards.com to become an A+ Rewards
member.

"Whether they are visiting a friend or heading home for the weekend, students
and young vacationers can save money on flights with AirTran U," said Tad
Hutcheson, vice president of marketing and sales for AirTran Airways. "Our
airline understands the tight budgets these young travelers face, and we are
pleased to offer them the same outstanding, friendly service and comfortable
aircraft at an affordable price."

Application Requirements and Fees:
-- Travelers must be 18 to 22 years of age
-- Travelers must present valid, government-issued photo identification
-- For placement on a standby list, travelers must arrive at the AirTran
Airways ticket counter no fewer than two hours prior to the
flight's scheduled departure
-- Reservations cannot be made in advance
-- To earn A+ Rewards credits, travelers must present their A+ Rewards
membership card at the ticket counter
-- Short-haul segments cost $69 per segment (defined as one takeoff and
landing)
-- Long-haul segments cost $99 per segment (Flights to/from San
Francisco,
Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Denver, Seattle and Phoenix are
considered long-haul segments)
-- The per-segment taxes of $3.50 are not included
-- Airport Passenger Facility Charges of up to $18 per segment are not
included
-- The September 11th security fee of up to $10 per segment is not
included

Travel Guidelines:
-- AirTran U travelers are permitted one carry-on item and one personal
item, and luggage cannot be checked
-- The AirTran U program is for coach class only, and AirTran U
travelers' seats are not confirmed
-- If a coach seat is available after the final boarding call, it will be
given to an AirTran U traveler on standby
-- Service to Cancun, Mexico and San Juan, Puerto Rico is not included in
the AirTran U program

Application Tips:
-- Travelers will have better luck getting a flight on off-peak days like
Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday
-- Certain holiday blackout dates apply (see below)
-- All travel must be completed by Dec. 17, 2009

The following dates are blacked out for travel in 2009: January 4; February
13, 16; April 3-5, 9-10, 19; May 22, 25; June 21, 26, 28; July 3, 5, 12;
November 25, 28-30; December 18 - 31. All travel must be completed by
December 17, 2009. Visit http://www.AirTranU.com for additional information.

AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AAI), a Fortune
1000 company, is ranked number one in the 2008 Airline Quality Rating study.
The airline offers coast-to-coast flights, North America's newest all-Boeing
fleet, friendly service and Business Class and complimentary XM Satellite
Radio on every flight. To book a flight, visit http://www.airtran.com.

AirTran U: * All AirTran U fares, taxes and fees are per segment. Fares do not
include per-segment taxes of $3.60, Airport Passenger Facility Charges of up
to $4.50 per segment, and September 11th security fee of $2.50 per segment. A
segment is defined as one takeoff and one landing.

A+ Rewards: ** A+ Rewards seats are subject to availability and blackout
dates. Taxes and fees are extra -- the September 11th security fee of up to
$2.50 per segment is not included. A segment is defined as one takeoff and one
landing. Passengers traveling to/from Puerto Rico are subject to additional
government taxes of up to $32.20. Fares to/from Cancun do not include
additional government taxes of up to $100.

Media Contact: AirTran Airways
Tad Hutcheson
Judy Graham-Weaver
Cynthia Tinsley-Douglas
678.254.7442

SOURCE AirTran Airways

Tad Hutcheson, Judy Graham-Weaver, or Cynthia Tinsley-Douglas, all of AirTran
Airways, +1-678-254-7442

COLLEGE STATION- The third-ranked Texas A&M women’s basketball team (12-0) will look to close out non-conference play on a high note, but will be challenged by the likes of its third-straight 2008 NCAA Tournament participant in Florida State (11-4) on Monday, Jan. 5 in Tallahassee, Fla. Tipoff between the Aggies and Seminoles is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT) at the Donald T. Tucker Civic Center in A&M’s first trip back to the Sunshine State since playing South Florida and Bucknell in the Miami Jam tournament to open up the 2004-05 season. Monday’s matchup will mark the second-ever meeting between the two schools and their last test prior to opening up league play where the Big 12 Conference boasts six of the top 25 teams in the country including four in the top 10 and the ACC with five teams ranked in the top 25. The Aggies are making a quick turnaround after a recent 78-59 win over George Washington on Saturday night. They have found much success on the road this season in unchartered territory with a 4-0 mark at Michigan, Arizona, Pepperdine and Stephen F. Austin combined. A&M is off to its best start in school history and is one of a handful of unbeatens left in the country.
Florida State has won six of its last eight games with two setbacks versus Washington (62-60) on Nov. 19 and No. 1 Connecticut (83-71) on Nov. 21 in the Caribbean Classic in Cancun, Mexico. The Seminoles were previously ranked in the top 25 in November and as high as No. 21 in the nation, prior to dropping out of the polls with a 72-57 loss to then-unranked Florida on Nov. 23. FSU is currently on a two-game win streak including a 61-57 road victory at LSU on Dec. 28 and a recent 82-70 win over Central Florida to improved its home record to 6-1 on the season. They were picked to finish fifth in the preseason ACC poll after turning in a 19-14 overall campaign a year ago. The Seminoles reached the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-straight year in 2007-08, but lost to Oklahoma State (73-72) in the second round.
No. Name 2008-09 Stats
51 Sydney Colson, G, 5-8, So. 4.8 ppg, 4.2 apg
3 Takia Starks, G, 5-8, Sr. 15.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg
22 Tanisha Smith, G/F, 6-0, Jr. 8.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg
55 Danielle Gant, G/F, 5-11, Sr. 13.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg
12 La Toya Micheaux, C, 6-3, Sr. 3.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg
No. Name 2008-09 Stats
10 Mara Freshour, G, 6-1, Sr. 8.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg
20 Tanae Davis-Cain, G, 5-11, Sr. 11.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg
1 Angel Gray, G, 5-9, Jr. 5.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg
50 Jacinta Monroe, F, 6-4, Jr. 14.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg
54 Cierra Bravard, C, 6-4, Fr. 10.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg
Points Per Game 70.8 71.4
Scoring Margin +20.7 +12.3
Rebounds Per Game 42.0 42.7
Rebounding Margin +4.7 +10.2
Field Goal Percentage 42.5 43.2
Field Goal% Defense 31.8 37.1
Three-Point FG% 34.2 35.6
Free Throw Percentage 64.8 66.1
Turnovers Per Game 17.3 19.3
Assists Per Game 15.0 13.3
Blocks Per Game 4.7 4.3
Steals Per Game 13.3 8.7
Texas A&M leads 1-0 in the all-time series with Florida State. The Aggies are 2-3 all-time against opponents hailing from the Atlantic Coast Conference including Wake Forest (0-1), Duke (1-0) and Miami (0-2). This season alone, Big 12 schools have compiled a 1-3 record versus ACC schools.
A combined 53-point outburst by Takia Starks and Danielle Gant contributed to No. 11 Texas A&M’s 81-67 win over 2007 NCAA Sweet 16 participant Florida State on Dec. 6, 2007 at Reed Arena. Starks scored 17 of her game-high 28 points in the first seven and a half minutes of play as A&M (7-1) jumped out to an early 17-6 run with 15:04 to go in the first period. Meanwhile, Gant followed suit with 19 of her career-high 26 points produced in the first half. She returned to the A&M lineup after sitting out the TCU game with concussion symptoms she suffered from a knee to the head against Michigan on Nov. 29. Starks and Gant accounted for 36 of the team’s season-best 50 first-half points as A&M took a 12-point lead into halftime, 50-38. FSU (6-3) started the second half on a 14-8 run to cut the lead down to six as Mara Freshour hit a jumper with 14:59 remaining in regulation, 58-52. It was the closest the Seminoles would get as A&M amplified its defensive pressure which resulted in 24 FSU turnovers in the ballgame. Three players scored in double figures for FSU including a team-high 18 from Shante Williams and 14 from Britany Miller. For the game, A&M shot 47.1 percent (33-of-70) from the floor including a season-high tying six threes. A’Quonesia Franklin also contributed 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range in A&M’s fourth-straight victory.
The Aggie defense has held all 12 of their opponents this season to under 60 points a game including an opponent season-low 36-point production by Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 2. It is no coincidence that A&M’s pressure is one of the best in the nation and in the Big 12 when looking at the stat sheet for scoring defense (50.1), field-goal percentage defense (31.8) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.194).
The Aggies’ current 12-game win streak is tied for the longest unbeaten run in school history next to a 12-game win streak they put together en route to their historic run to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2007-08. Overall, A&M has won 28 of its last 30 games dating back to a 58-51 win at Kansas on Jan. 26, 2008. It is arguably the best 30-game stretch to date.
Up ahead, A&M will travel to Missouri (8-4) for its Big 12 opener on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 5 p.m. (CT) in Columbia, Mo. The Aggies will then return home to host Big 12 South rival Texas Tech (9-4) on Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. (CT) at Reed Arena. A&M will go up against three of the nation’s top 10 in its first six games of league play including No. 5 Oklahoma on Jan. 18 in Norman, Okla., No. 7 Baylor on Jan. 21 and No. 4 Texas on Jan. 28 in Austin, Texas.
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is 1-0 lifetime versus Florida State and will make his first trip to Florida’s state capital to play the Seminoles in 24 seasons of coaching on the Division I level.
• Last season following the Aggies’ win over the Seminoles in College Station, Florida State head coach Sue Semrau welcomed Coach Blair on the team’s charter flight home in order for him to attend a funeral in New York for Joe Smith, a close friend and a pioneer women’s basketball journalist who passed away on Dec. 4, 2007. Smith’s reports on the top players led to the formation of the Women's Basketball News Service, a scouting service that branched into awards and all-star teams that were widely recognized by the national media.
• A&M is 3-3 all-time against Division I schools hailing from the state of Florida including Florida State (1-0), Florida (1-0), Central Florida (1-0), Miami (0-2) and South Florida (0-1). Monday’s contest at FSU will mark only the fourth time the Aggies will have played on Florida soil in the 35-year history of the program. They are 1-1 all-time when playing on the road in the Sunshine State defeating UCF (90-54) in its home-hosted SunBank Holiday Classic tournament in Orlando in 1994-95 and falling to Miami (84-58) in Coral Gables in 2002-03. However, it will be A&M’s first trip t It will mark the Aggies’ first trip back to the Sunshine State since playing South Florida and Bucknell in the Miami Jam tournament to open up the 2004-05 season.
Texas A&M 78, George Washington 59
• For the second time this year and second consecutive game, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Sydney Colson, Takia Starks, Tanisha Smith, Danielle Gant and La Toya Micheaux (2-0).
• With the win, A&M picked up its first win against George Washington in three tries (1-2) and Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair his first in five tries (1-4). The Aggies also claimed their 50th win at home compiling an unprecedented 50-4 (.926) record over the last four years at Reed Arena since the 2005-06 season.
• Takia Starks turned in her 21st 20-point game of her career with a game-high 22 points against George Washington to extend her double-digit scoring streak to five games. She has now registered 20-point games in back-to-back-to-back games for the third time of her career.
• With her season-high four three-pointers versus the Colonials, Starks surpassed former A&M players A’Quonesia Franklin (157) and Amy Yates (154) in career three-point field goals made (158) to rank second all-time behind former All-American Lisa Branch (165).
• Danielle Gant recorded her 14th career double-double and second of the season with 17 points and a game-high tying 10 rebounds.
• Tanisha Smith made her fourth career start and scored a career-best 16 points with 10 coming in the first half of play.
• Sydney Colson left the game in the second half with a partially dislocated right ring finger.
• The A&M defense held George Washington to its second-fewest first-half points of the season with 23. The Colonials scored just 22 points at No. 14 Rutgers on Dec. 29 and at Kentucky on Nov. 23.
• The Aggies have held all 12 of their opponents this season to under 60 points and rank among the nation’s and league’s best in scoring defense. It was the fourth lowest point production for GW (59 points) this season.
• A&M shot a season-best 50 percent (7-of-14) from three-point range including four from Starks, two from Smith and one from freshman reserve point guard Sydney Carter (DeSoto, Texas).
• GW tied an opponent season-high with 29 turnovers in the game next to Mercer on Nov. 14 and Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 2.
• A&M had a season-high crowd of 6,892 in attendance at Reed Arena which marked the sixth-largest crowd at Reed Arena in school history. It was the largest crowd for a non-conference regular-season home game ahead of doubleheaders with the A&M men’s basketball team versus Pepperdine (6,443) on Nov. 10, 2006 and Western Illinois (6,389) on Jan. 2, 2007. The Aggies have now drawn 5,000+ fans in back-to-back-back games with its previous season-high of 5,543 versus No. 25 New Mexico on Dec. 30.
“I asked our team how hungry they were to get to 13-0. They (Florida State) are good and have played just as good of a schedule as us. We are going to have our hands full. I want to keep on winning. I don’t think you learn a thing by losing. Look how we played the last five games at home. Each game, we are getting better on certain things. The crowd is increasing and that is important to us.†– Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair on being unbeaten
“Florida State is another good, quality ACC opponent. They have had some quality wins this season and a couple of top 25 losses. They are a much better team than receiving votes in the polls.†– Coach Blair on Florida State
“This trip is going to help us for conference with the quick turnaround. We get bored practicing sometimes. You wouldn’t believe how much we prepared for these last two teams (New Mexico and George Washington). We knew everything about them. I am so proud of our conference. We have some great top 25 wins (around the league) and I am ready to play.†– Coach Blair on the quick turnaround at Florida State on Monday night
“I think our team is realizing the expectations all of our fans have for us and the expectations we have for ourselves. We are enjoying the ride, but we do not want it to be just a ride. We want it to be a destination, where we want to go to. I want to continue to build and that is why we are playing this kind of a schedule.†– Coach Blair on this year’s challenging non-conference schedule
“It is really good to get these type of non-conference games in to help us prepare for conference play. The Big 12 is the best it has ever been in a long time. It is going to be a battle every night. We are excited to start the league. We’ve had a very challenging non-conference schedule to prepare us.†– Senior All-America candidate Takia Starks on A&M’s tough scheduling
All Texas A&M women’s basketball games can be heard via a radio broadcast on the Texas A&M Sports Network. Veteran women’s basketball play-by-play announcer Tom Turbiville returns to the mike and will call the action live from the Donald T. Tucker Civic Center alongside color analyst and former player Katy Pounds on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.

left one person dead Sunday. Orange County firefighters found the 25-foot travel trailer fully engulfed in flames when they responded to the Belvedere Road fire. Firefighters searched the trailer and found that one person had been killed by the fire. The fire was contained within 10 minutes of arrival, the fire department said. Authorities were investigating the cause of the fire and the victim's identity.

The travel agency Travel Leaders (formerly CarsonWaglit) has come out with its annual travel agent survey of trends. Instead of posting all the information in one article, there will be a series of articles highlighting what‘s important to you as a budget minded traveler.
1. Flexible with dates 75.7%
Date flexibility has saved me hundreds of dollars. Last year when my family flew from Nashville to Los Angeles, we saved around $600 by adjusting our departure and arrival dates by one day!
2. Staying at all-inclusives 71.0%
I’ve never been to fond of an all-inclusive resort. The fact that you go to one spot of sand (they’re always at beaches, you never see an all-inclusive resort in a city) and spend all your time doing exactly what the hotel staff has pre-planned for you is not for me.
3. Using frequent flyers miles 63.5%
This is always a good option, especially if you’re flying to a minor destination that is overly expensive to fly.
4. Taking a cruise 56.3%
Once again, not my type of thing, but it can be a good relaxing way to spend a vacation.
5. Booking only if promotion/deal 50.9%
This is my type of thing! Booking promotions and deals for travel always get me excited about travel. Wether it’s a $10/day car rental or half-price hotel room you can’t lose!
So what are you doing to save money on travel this year? Leave a comment to give everyone your favorite tips and tricks.

The Cavs dropped a close one in Washington Sunday afternoon, thanks mostly to scoring just 11 points in the third quarter. But even so, they found themselves down by two with under 10 seconds to play when
went with a signature move to the basket for what would have been the tying layup, only to have the referees whistle him for the rare traveling call, which sealed the game for the Wizards. But was it a travel? LeBron certainly didn't think so; take a look for yourself.
The way I saw it, LeBron definitely picked up his dribble before making the step-through, and watching the replay (at about the :50 second mark) you can count the three steps he takes after he picked up the ball.
Not surprisingly, LeBron disagreed with the call, and
was a perfectly legal maneuver.
"You have your trademark play, and that's one of my plays. It kind of looks like a travel because it's slow, and it's kind of a high-step, but it's a one-two just as fluent as any other one-two in this league. I got the wrong end of it, but I think they need to look at it -- and they need to understand that's not a travel," James said. "It's a perfectly legal play, something I've always done."
Just because LeBron has always done it, doesn't make it necessarily legal. We've all seen LeBron take that hop step many times before, but the question of whether or not it's legal depends on whether or not he terminates the dribble before taking that first step. In this case, it seems clear that the ball was picked up before he made the move, which caused him to take the extra step that resulted in the traveling call from the official.
had the best quotes on the incident, when he mentioned that he was surprised (and thankful) that the refs actually blew the whistle in that situation.
"I definitely knew he traveled, but I didn't know they were going to call it," Butler said about what happened Sunday. "That was one of them situations in which a great player made a move, good officiating, and they called the call. And I was like, 'Oh, man, there is a God.' "
When you're the Wizards and you've lost 25 of your first 32 games, and you beat the team that keeps eliminating you from the playoffs year after year, I guess you can hardly blame Butler for viewing the call on LeBron as somewhat of a religious experience.

Denver ranks No. 19 among domestic destinations that travel agents say they’re booking for 2009, according to a survey released Friday.
The survey by Travel Leaders — which was formerly called Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates — relied on the opinions of 547 of the company’s agents, managers and owners. They were asked to list the five top domestic destinations they’re booking for this year.
The top destination by far was Las Vegas, with 61.4 percent of the vote, and in first place since 2005. Orlando, Fla., was second, also since 2005, with 60.8 percent.
Maui moved ahead of Honolulu to take the No. 3 spot, while New York City was No. 5.
The survey results show 7.5 percent said Denver was among their top booking destinations, putting the Mile High City between San Diego and a tie for Atlanta and Kona, Hawaii.
Denver ranked as low as No. 23 on the list in 2005, improved to No. 19 in 2006, and for the last two years has occupied the No. 21 spot.

• People expecting to arrive aboard charter, church or school buses should make sure the operators have registered their vehicles with District of Columbia officials to ensure a place to discharge passengers and park. Bus operators can get passes and parking spaces by going to
.
• Visitors who decide to park their cars and take a Metrobus into Washington can plot out their trips by visiting the WMATA Web site and using its trip planner. The buses will be operating on a modified Saturday schedule, so most routes to outer suburbs such as Bowie and Odenton will not be running. When using the trip planner be sure to set the date for Jan. 20, 2009.
• Traffic in Washington is expected to be extremely heavy and parking may be scarce. Visitors are being encouraged to use mass transit and to leave early in the morning and late in the evening.
• No passenger vehicles will be permitted to park at the Greenbelt Metro station, which is reserved for charter buses. Visitors from Baltimore may be able to find parking at such stations as Glenmont and Wheaton on the Red Line, New Carrollton on the Orange Line and Largo Town Center on the Blue Line. Parking is also expected to be available at
Field near Largo.
• For return trips, walking to a station farther up the line could increase chances of catching a train before it fills. For instance, Red Line riders heading for Glenmont might want to walk to Dupont Circle. Orange Line riders heading for New Carrollton could board at Foggy Bottom. Green Line riders to Beltsville could walk to the Waterfront station at 4th and M streets S.W.
• Motorists traveling to points south of Washington during the inaugural weekend should avoid the Capital Beltway and instead use such roads as U.S. 301 through Southern Maryland or Interstate 81 through the Shenandoah Valley.
• Travelers heading to the Northeast late Jan. 20 and on Jan. 21 are advised to find alternatives to the Interstate 95 corridor, such as Interstate 83 to York or Harrisburg in Pennsylvania. Travelers to the Philadelphia area may encounter lighter traffic on U.S. 1. Potential backups at the Delaware Toll Plaza can be avoided by taking U.S. 40.
• For travel crossing Baltimore harbor, backups are less likely on the Francis Scott Key Bridge than at the
and Harbor tunnels.

While most New Year's resolutions fall as flat as a day-old glass of Champagne, those that revolve around travel can have a more lasting influence — not only on travelers, but on those they encounter along the way. USA TODAY asked readers to share a life-changing journey. The responses may inspire your own trip in 2009. Bon voyage!
It was the eve of 1999, and I made three New Year's resolutions. I can't remember two of them, but the third resolution was to do something I was always afraid of doing — taking a vacation by myself.
Sitting alone on a beach seemed lonely, so I applied with Global Volunteers to work in a day-care center for indigent, handicapped kids in Quito, Ecuador. I packed my bags — alone — that July.
The entire course of my life changed after those two weeks. For the first time in my life, I felt useful — and realized that each of us is born with an inherent desire to serve. If each of us can tap into what type of service we are born to do, we will clear space in our life to do it — and ultimately leave this world better than when we found it.
Since then, I have done much to sustain and promote that belief. In 2002, I developed, produced and hosted a public-access television show for Fairfax County, Va., called Get Out and Give Back that aired for 18 months, featuring volunteers from various non-profits in the greater Washington, D.C., area. In January 2005, I began writing a blog and newspaper column called "Get Out and Give Back" (getoutandgiveback.com), where I encourage readers to find their service passion.
— Jane Hess Collins, Alexandria, Va.
My wife, Jan, and I were part of a 26-person team committed to helping a small orphanage on the outskirts of Cape Haitian, Haiti. It was the first time we had been outside the USA. I had no idea of the need; after all, the evening news doesn't provide the smells and gravity of being in a Third World country.
We were at the orphanage for nine days. We built an outhouse. I helped a well driller in Sainte-Suzanne put in the first freshwater well in the history of the small mountain village. We carried a dying man with AIDS to a local American nurse in the middle of the night.
We had hoped to make a difference for the kids, but there was so little we could provide.
Sunday morning, all the children put on their best clothes and make their way to a local church. The same kids who have one meal a day of rice and peas, who sleep on concrete or broken-down bunks, who have no mother, no father, and no apparent future — these kids were singing in four-part harmony: "We've got so much, so much, so much, so much to be thankful for! We've got each other to be thankful for. We got our Jesus to be thankful for. We've got so much, so much, so much, so much to be thankful for!"

signaled more than a milestone in American politics. It also reverberated across the ocean, where the beleaguered tourism industry of
is hoping that Obamamania will result in a resurgence of visitors to the ancestral homeland of the president-elect.
And there could be no better time for that wave of visitors to come, as Kenya’s own presidential election in December 2007 was accompanied by an outbreak of violence, including widespread killing, that brought tourism in the country close to a halt. On top of that, the State Department (
) continues to warn potential travelers about the risks of violence by criminals and terrorists in Kenya.
Now, the Kenyan government is predicting that Kogelo, the small farming village near Lake Victoria where Mr. Obama’s father lived and where his step-grandmother, Mama Sarah, still resides, will draw Americans looking to trace Mr. Obama’s roots and seeking a gateway to western Kenya.
In preparation, the government is literally paving the way for visitors to reach it. Already, the road to Kogelo is done, the airport in nearby Kisumu is being expanded, and a museum telling the story of the Obama heritage is under construction and set to open late this year. A delegation from the Kenya Ministry of Tourism traveled to Kogelo after Mr. Obama’s victory to see if the infrastructure there could support a hotel, and the minister of tourism will attend the
on Jan. 20 to promote business. Delta Air Lines will begin four weekly flights from
in June.
In expectation of a surge of travelers — perhaps including some of the thousands who read “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama’s 1995 memoir, in which Kogelo plays an important role — several outfitters are devising itineraries around the village. Mutua Kivuitu, director of Intrepid Travel’s Kenya division, knew the time was right to plan a tour when he visited Mama Sarah’s home and flipped through the guestbook. “You can see that quite a bit of visitors from all over the world came to see the house,” he said.
), based in
,
, has planned an eight-day Roots of Obama tour, which will traverse the popular game parks of Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara but will also include two nights in Kisumu and the intervening day in Kogelo. Once there, visitors will meet Kobilo Roy Obilo, one of Mr. Obama’s many cousins (a claim so common that cars now sport bumper stickers with statements like “Obama, first cousin”), who will show them the town center and a school named after the president-elect and will take them into Mama Sarah’s home. Some visitors might even meet her. (Prices start at $2,750 a person, excluding airfare.)
Mr. Kivuitu believes many itineraries will begin in Kisumu and head west, opening up regions of Kenya heretofore untouched by tourism.
) of Brea, Calif., now offers two trips that spend a day in Kogelo. Travelers from
will stay in a Kisumu hotel. Prices start at $4,780 a person, including airfare, for an 11-day safari.
BUT some tour operators question whether a small, nondescript village will be enough to draw visitors.
“Our position is that you’re going to Kenya to see the wildlife and to meet the people, and the trip to Kogelo would be anticlimactic,” said Dennis Pinto, managing director of Micato Safaris (
. “It’s relatively difficult to get there. You’d have to fly to Kisumu, which is not terribly close to anything, and then you have to drive 40 miles just to see a village.” For that reason, Micato is not planning to offer an Obama trip in 2009.
Likewise, no formal Obama itinerary has been developed by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (
), based in
, which manages three properties in Kenya, none particularly close to Kogelo. “There’s not a lot of attractions you’re going to get to at the destination,” said Sean Billing, managing director of Fairmont in East Africa. “Going to see Mama Sarah’s house is not going to be the kind of attraction that pulls people there. The expense associated with that would far outweigh the value.”
Mr. Kivuitu of Intrepid Travel agrees that Kogelo only contains enough of a story for a day trip. “There’s not a lot apart from the home, the town and the school,” he said. “It’s just a quiet town.”
Other tour operators will offer Kogelo as a side trip upon request. For example, the luxury outfitter Abercrombie & Kent (
) of Downers Grove, Ill., will add it as an optional day trip by helicopter from Lake Nakuru nearby for $7,410 a person, based on two people traveling together.
), a company based in
, Del., that devises private safaris, is happy to take guests to Kisumu and Kogelo as an extension to, say, a 10-day, $3,410 trip to Masai Mara for an additional $553 a person. The company had originally planned to promote its own Kogelo itinerary, but the influx of expected demand for the new destination has not materialized.
“No one has actually mentioned Obama when booking a Kenya safari,” said Gabrielle Nijdam, senior East Africa consultant for Kensington. “They care more about getting a less expensive tour than they do about Obama.”
But whether or not people will flock to Kogelo in 2009, tour operators are still hopeful that Mr. Obama’s election and the publicity surrounding his father’s hometown will bring back the tourists who have disappeared since the violence of early 2008.
To some extent, that has begun to happen. In October, the most recent month for which the Kenya Tourist Board has tabulated statistics, American travel to Kenya was down only 6.4 percent from the same month in 2007. In the first quarter of 2008, when the violence occurred, travel was down over 43 percent. Calls to the reservation line at Micato increased 12 percent in November over November 2007, and Web traffic spiked 17 percent. There was so much interest in Kenya at the Luxury Travel Expo in
last month that Micato ran out of brochures. “Given the prevailing economic conditions,” said Mr. Pinto of Micato, “we can only attribute this to the Obama factor.”
For the Fairmont hotels in Kenya, although interest from travel agents and tour operators increased in the final months of 2008, bookings for the year were still down about 22 percent from 2007. “It’s very difficult to gauge whether there’s been an uptick or whether that’s a bit of wishful thinking,” Mr. Billing said. “But Obama’s win gave us an additional story to tell.”
Mr. Kivuitu remains optimistic about the appeal of Mr. Obama’s past. “We have yet to feel it,” he said, “but we believe it is coming.”