I live in Durham, NC and I get tv ads from Colonial Williamsburg, Bush Gardens, and Biltmore House in Asheville, NC, and a promo for some company that will give a pass to Carowinds (Charlotte) if you make a purchase.

Over the weekend I was in Charlotte, and saw ads for Harrah's Casino in Cherokee, along with Biltmore House and maybe a Dollywood (I don't remember it all).

Just wondering what travel ads are shown in your hometown.

Here in Chicago, we are currently inundated with Michigan and Wisconsin ads. In sw Michigan, they get all sorts of Cedar Point ads.

Other than large-scale nationwide advertising, the next good investment has been shown to be for destinations around 300-500 miles away - about the farthest 90% of travelers willing to drive in 1 day. In Albany we're getting many Richmond VA, Quebec City, NovaScotia & Niagara Falls ads.

Niagara Falls casino ads!!!!!

Minnesota tourism board ads and North Dakota tourism ads. The problem with the ND ads is that everybody in the viewing area knows the ND is no place for a vacation unless you like to shoot ducks in the fall!!!!! Most of them come to Minnesota.

Thanks for the responses.

I'm curious about the 300-500 mile range. Harrah's Cherokee doesn't advertise on tv in the RDU market (but do have an ad in the Sunday travel section of the newspaper) but is within that range. They had a number of ads on tv in Charlotte.

And if Albany is getting Richmond ads, why isn't RDU?

We get ads for everyplace you can think of -
from the massive I love New York campaign (unfortunately with the idiot governors' face in all of them) to ads for numerous places in europe, the caribbbean, canada, mexico - and most parts of the US - as well as all the local amusement parks and attractions.

(I guess just because it's the biggest market - with comparatively high incomes and lots of travelers.)

In NY I notice the Ct. casinos (Mohegan Sun) and Pa. tourism or Hershey, Pa has been running a tv campaign.

I live in the West Indies, but our major affiliates are out of NYC, so I get the same ones as that area and there are a lot. As nytraveler suggested, they have a wide market, including areas outside of the US.

I live iin Reno..we usually have Las Vegas and now Hawaii since Aloha has a flight out of Reno that connects in LA for the Islands. Sometimes other eastern destinations...mostly where ever Southwest flies..they are our biggest carrier here.

Last winter I was particularily amused (mostly) that the Florida tourist board choose possibly the coldest, snowiest week in January to park a lovely truck billboard of a warm and sandy beach scene on Chicago's Michigan Avenue. I wanted to hurl at it the wet and dirty snow I was trudging through on my way to the subway to get home.

I'm in Atlanta and we get ads for Florida and Chattanooga. In Nov. Atlanta will be getting an aquarium of its own...Chatt's was the closest one so their really promoting it. I can't imagine they want to lose their marketshare...

In the Los Angeles area:

1. All of the Southern California theme parks and the Aquarium of the Pacific.
2. All of SoCal Indian Casinos.
3. "Whatever happens here, stays here." Las Vegas ads.
4. The most obnoxious jingle award goes to "Let's go Island Hop" for the Hawaiian Cruise (NCL?). This one seems to play every five minutes.
5. Puerto Rico
6. British Columbia

I'm sure there are lots more, but those are all I can think of right now!

It sounds like my area should have more travel ads. Lots of Fodorites in the RDU tv market. But, what would the car dealers do?!?

lvk, I think everybody misquotes the famous Las Vegas tag line. Isn't it "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas"?

BTW Bogart never said "Play it again Sam".

Jorr, You are right, I did misquote. It is "What happens here, stays here" (not whatever happens..) There is currently a lawsuit about it.

http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.c.../0506/23a.html

I watched part of that 100 Best Movie Lines show. My favorite is "You can't handle the truth!", and the monologue that follows by Jack.

This is funny because we are living in two states with a state in between and we get to see it from both sides.

In Michigan we get IL commercials and the big surprise is tons of them for Six Flags in Gurnee which is a killer drive from MI, IMHO. They also run ads for an Adventure Park and also Cedar Point.

And in IL we get tons of Michigan.org which I tend to agree with 100%. Lately we have started to get Minnesota, North Dakota and some intriguing Deadwood ads.
But I've also seen, but rarely, Iowa and Indiana's "There's more than corn in Indiana" again. Also some interesting St. Louis and Missouri ads earlier in the year, but I haven't seen then lately. And of course there are always and forever Vegas ads.

We get one for a casino in WI, near Milwaukee, called Potawatamee- way, way too much. They must make a fortune to advertise so often.

And of course, there are some Chicago ads. I am surprised that there was not any adequate marketing for the new Presidential Abraham Lincoln Museum & Library in Springfield. Everyone who has gone that I talk to comes back raving about it. One reason is that they spent so much money on it that they are keeping it "quiet".

And I do see rarely Florida ads.

Yes, OWJ, we've been getting plenty of Chattanooga ads recently. I've also seen a new crop of Callaway Gardens ads and some for Asheville, N.C.

I can remember a few years ago Atlanta was literally bombarded with ads for Kissimmee-St. Cloud. The overload just about convinced me never to go.

When I lived in Nashville, we got a lot of ads for Harrah's in Mississippi.

Coincidentally this morning for the first time I heard a radio ad in the Indianapolis market for Cincinnati, OH.

JJ5 that's too funny with the "more than corn in Indiana." My thought was always: Sure! There are soybeans, wheat fields, hay...

In Baltimore, there is TV ads for West Virginia, N. Carolina, Colonial Williamsburg, Kings Dominion theme park in VA, & Daytona Beach, FL (see this one everyday).