I’m really happy when I see campaigns aimed at promoting the specific attractions of a given place, so it was with pleasure that I discovered that Missouri Tourism and advertising agency-of-record Hoffman/Lewis unveiled “Enjoy the Show” theme in their promotional campaign. This new theme is part of the long-going advertising campaign with the motto “Show-Me State”.

The Polish carrier introduced a new Premium Economy class of service on its Dreamliner flights. LOT is in fact the first European carrier to operate the Dreamliner and will offer special fares for the new class. Customers booking on lot.com. will benefit the special “Premium Club” roundtrip fares that start at USD 1777 from Chicago and USD 1677 from New York to Warsaw.

On Tuesday Croatia Airlines management and the CA pilots’ union mutually agreed on a collective agreement dispute we previously reported on. While pilots may now go back to flying, the airline authorities and flight attendants still are at odds over their issues. The bottom line is, Croatia Airlines has fliers now, but no support on board for passengers, planes will probably remain grounded.

In a period of international crisis, it is good to hear that some areas are performing really well, and tourism seems to be one of these areas. International tourism receipts hit a new record in 2012, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer and reached a total of USD 1075 billion (euro 837 billion) worldwide. That is up 4% from USD 1042 billion (euro 749 billion) in the previous year.

Organizers of the World Lithuanian Economic Forum (WLEF), Global Lithuanian Leaders and the Lithuanian Business Confederation, recently chastised ex-pat Lithuanian business people for having forgotten the way back home. This story in the Lithuania Tribune reveals a Lithuania set on garnering all its human and other resources to attract interest and investment in the Baltic country.

People want to travel – I mean, who wouldn’t want to discover new places, see famous cities or go to lesser known towns? Either wanting to see famous sights, or a more of a off the beaten path type of traveler, people are driven by curiosity and the desire to relax and take a break from their daily activities. A participant poll made before the City Fair 2013, ETOA’s European B2B workshop taking place 24th June 2013 at Wembley Stadium, London, shows that representatives have reasons to believe 2013 will be a year with growth in tourism compared to 2012.

Croatian Culture Week opened up last Saturday, and is scheduled to run through this coming Sunday in Darmastadt, Germany. To mark the forthcoming entry by Croatia into the EU, the German city is previewing Croatia’s music and arts to the local German citizenry.

Kerzner International Holdings Limited, a leading international developer and operator of destination resorts, has just annonced an agreement with Al Khozama Management Company to develop in collaboration with Saudi Oger, the One&Only resort in Jeddah on the Red Sea.

With this move, Google rendered SEO useless. Frommer’s, Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, Nileguide, Virtual Tourist, Igougo and so on are now buried. They still can compete as apps, but the Google search results are no longer enough to drive traffic and readers.

Every week we spotlight great hotels and destinations you may not come across via TripAdvisor or other travel portal. Sardinia is just such a vacation wonderland, often overlooked in favor or more visible and populist destinations. And, Port Cervo’s Grand Hotel Poltu Quatu is a double shot of sometimes undiscovered travel bliss. Here’s how come.