I’m a travel nerd. Or so my family says.
When I went to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, I watched the historic documentary about how Gutzon Borglum oversaw the sculpting of a Black Hills mountain into the faces of four U.S. presidents. Then I sat on a picnic bench with my binoculars and slowly studied Borglum’s work.
I wanted to stare longer at this marvel and contemplate the vision and skill it took to precision-carve a granite mountain with dynamite blasts. But the rest of my family favored vacation action over contemplation and pressed me to go.
If you ask me to name the faces of travel in America, I would name Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.
But the nonprofit U.S. Travel Association, which has launched a promotional campaign to find the Faces of Travel in the U.S., wants faces that talk.
The association’s Web site, meetingsmeanbusiness.com, says, “To help protect millions of travel-related jobs, we must show the real Faces of Travel. … As someone who earns your living in the travel industry, you know all about the challenges facing business meetings and events. Business has slowed, and that has likely had a negative impact on your job, your family, your livelihood and your community. … Tell the world how the nationwide downturn in legitimate travel is hurting you – not ‘fat cats’ on Wall Street.”
To enter, the Web site asks nominees to upload a short video describing “why business travel is important to you and why you should be the Face of Travel.”
The winner gets $5,000 and becomes the centerpiece of the association’s campaign. We have only until Friday to enter.
Okay then. Whose face would best represent our region in the contest? For starters, I hope these folks enter videos:
DALE RUSH
Tacoma’s pre-eminent bellhop, doorman, concierge, valet and ever-gushing greeter at Hotel Murano. Rush, a former chiropractor and bottled water business owner, has manned the hotel doors since 2003. You could argue that Rush and his bullish-on-Tacoma disposition have influenced more travelers than any other individual during that span. He even has won awards for it.
Rush once told me, “I love to take a guest’s luggage up to their room and, if they’re staying on this (south) side of the hotel, I always part the drapes and let them get the feel for the view of Mount Rainier. You should see their faces.”
DALE CHIHULY
The native Tacoman and unparalleled glass artist travels all over the world – Venice, London, Macau, Iceland, Jerusalem – spreading the gospel of glassblowing. He not only inspires tourism wherever he goes, he arguably has had the greatest influence over the phenomenal growth in Tacoma’s tourism industry. See: Museum of Glass, Chihuly Bridge of Glass, Hotel Murano.
Chihuly’s gifts keep on giving: Last year, 178,361 people visited the Museum of Glass – 21,300 more than in 2007.
RICK STEVES
Who has a more recognizable face in the travel industry these days than Steves? The Edmonds author of best-selling guidebooks has become the go-to U.S. source for European travel. I carried his books in my backpack during a three-week trek through Italy, Paris and London.
Steves has radio and television travel shows on PBS. But I’ll bet he can pack a lot of good words into a 45- to 60-second video.
MOUNT RAINIER
I know. I’m breaking the rule about real, talking, human faces. But let’s get Northwest actor Tom Skerritt (Sheriff Jimmy Brock in TV’s “Picket Fences”; Rev. MacLean, father of Brad Pitt, in the movie “A River Runs Through It”; Cmdr. Mike “Viper” Metcalf, mentor to Tom Cruise, in the movie “Top Gun”) for the voiceover.
More than 1.7 million people visited The Mountain last year, making it the No. 1 tourist attraction in the Northwest, just ahead of the Space Needle. With the growing popularity of eco-tourism and sustainable travel adventures, what better face of modern travel than the eastern face of our mountain? Our only dilemma would come from the debate about whether to call it Mount Rainier or Mount Tacoma.
Who would you nominate as the Face of Travel?
Dan Voelpel: 253-597-8785
dan.voelpel@thenewstribune.com What: Faces of Travel Contest Sponsor: U.S. Travel Association
Online: meetings meanbusiness.com
To enter: Record and upload a 45- to 60-second video describing why business travel is important to you and why you should be the Face of Travel.
Prize: $5,000 and a central role in travel promotion campaign
Deadline: Friday
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