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In a press release sent out by the organizers of The Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expo they are testing the waters on technology whereby attendees log on via the internet and listen, chat and view speakers as well as check what is available in the exhibitor/ supplier rooms without leaving their office or home. The computer/internet age is upon our industry.

New Berlin, PA – Starting next Monday, November 1st and continuing for 92 more days, the exchange of information for campground owners and the way they purchase their products and services for their facilities will change forever.

It will change because a small group of suppliers has chosen to participate in the First outdoor

hospitality convention to be held entirely on the Internet.

For 63 exhibitors, a few dozen speakers at webinars and Open Forums and the campground owners, resort personnel, the press and other interested parties, the International Virtual Outdoor Hospitality

Continued from Page 1Expo will revolutionize the way business is conducted.

The economy is responsible, in part, for the growth of virtual shows. Expenses for travel, hotels, food and time away from businesses have accounted for declining attendance at physical conventions. On the other hand, the benefits from conducting a show online offer an attractive alternative.

From their homes, businesses or any place with an internet connection, an attendee can spend minutes or hours growing their business. There’s no walking necessary, no scheduling needed and, in the case of the Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expo, absolutely no cost involved.

This Expo is totally green and accessible to the

handicapped. You can view the Expo and still vote on November 2nd without an absentee ballot.

The Expo is the brainchild of a group of well known suppliers to the campground industry and has expanded into the marina, golf resort, dude ranch, paddlesports and ski industries.

Much is owed to Deb Kohls, David Gorin, Peter Pelland, Jim Ganley and Chris Hipple who have supported Art Lieberman and Deanne Bower in producing the event. Lieberman had the expertise to envision the venture because of his 10 year experience in producing several physical events in various

industries. Along the way Tracie Fisher and Evanne Schmarder have contributed a huge amount of time to the project.

There were bumps in the road and dozens of questions that had to be answered. The software provider has added many new customizations to their standard program to accommodate specific requests from the advisory board. It’s all so new and innovative and will be, for all involved, a new experience. But it had to be tried – it is the 21st century – and will be starting Monday of next week.

You can be a part of this new venture by simply logging in to the Expo at

the site:http://pre-show.outdoorhospitalityexpo.com, answering a few questions, and then engaging upon this new experience.

You can view the Directory, which is being sent out this week to over 10,000 individuals by Campground and RV Park e-News, or view it in the Expo Lobby.

By clicking on either a Sponsor’s or Exhibitor’s name you will be magically transported into their booth.

You can attend a Webinar or Live Open Forum or revisit a recorded version of the Expo, anytime within the next 90 days. You can

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chat with friends or associates in the Expo Lounge, or take care of your kids at home while viewing it all! Savor mom’s home cooking or attend the Expo from your favorite Wi-Fi equipped eatery. Order supplies and services for 2011 from vendors you already know, or see new and fascinating items from vendors who have never exhibited at a campground show.

Over 3,000 people will be pre-registered, adding to the several hundred who have already registered.

Exhibitors are polishing their booths and waiting to meet you. The show is about to start. Just relax and enjoy yourself!

Information about the Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expo can be found at their website at www.outdoorhospitalityexpo.com or by calling them at 877-901-EXPO (3976). (Website designed and maintained by Pelland Advertising)

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AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 26, 2010 – The Texas Association of Campground Owners (TACO) has developed a packed legislative affairs agenda for 2011 and is planning initiatives to protect private park owners from everything from higher taxes to cutbacks in tourism funding and efforts to extend the school year.

TACO attorney Casey Erick briefed association members on details of several laws previously put on the books that are RV park-specific, including Theft of Service and Trespass codes. TACO

legislative consultant Ron Hinkle reviewed the 2011 legislative affairs agenda during the “Texas Parks on Tour” meeting at La Hacienda RV Resort in Austin.

Brian Schaeffer, TACO’s executive director and CEO, said the state of Texas is facing close to a $25 billion deficit and is going to be looking for ways to raise taxes and cut

programs. “We don’t want them coming to us for fees such as occupancy taxes,” Schaeffer said, although the association may support minor broad-based tax increases that are applied to everyone and every industry, such as minor increases in gasoline or sales taxes.

But TACO does not want to see any cutbacks in state funding to promote Texas tourism to out-of-state residents. TACO is also gearing up for a fight to prevent school districts from extending the length of the school year.

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“We obtained legislation a couple of years ago that prevents school districts in Texas from starting the school year before the last Monday of August. But now we’re seeing some creep on school ending dates,” Schaeffer said, adding that TACO would support legislation to govern school ending dates as well.

TACO is also working with the Texas Rural Water Districts Association and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to develop standard billing rates for rural water districts, which have increasingly tried to charge Texas parks residential billing rates.

In other business, TACO members elected several board members for its 2011 term, including Robert Crockett of Spring Branch RV Resort in Spring

Branch; Allan Hughes of Traders Village in Grand Prairie; Joe Moore of The Vineyards Campground in Grapevine; Don Temple of Guadalupe River RV Resort in Kerrville; Doug Shearer of Parkview Riverside RV Park in Rio Frio; Ed Welliver of Oleander Acres RV Resort in Mission. Officers for 2011 will be selected in January.

The meeting also included a tour of La Hacienda RV Resort by park owners Ken and Lydia Butschek. This resort recently expanded from 60 RV sites and a handful of cabins on 5 acres to 240 sites with 15 cabins on 35 acres with majestic amenities and meeting facilities. Fall tour sponsors included Wilcor International, Parkview Riverside RV Park, TengoInternet and Texas Advertising.

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TACO President Doug Shearer with hosts / owners - Ken & Lydia Butschek and CEO Brian Schaeffer

Columbus, Ind., October 25, 2010 – Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced Tuesday that USDA is providing loan guarantees and grants to allow agricultural producers and business owners across Indiana to increase the energy efficiency of their operations. She made the announcement during a tour of the Columbus area farm of Richard O'Neal, one of 52 Indiana producers and business owners selected to receive funding through the USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).

"These awards will improve the energy efficiency of Indiana's farmers and business, making them more competitive in the global marketplace," Merrigan

said. "The funds will help the recipients replace outdated equipment, increase profitability and create new opportunities for jobs and economic growth."

The nearly $2 million in funding announced is authorized through the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Farm Bill) and is administered by USDA Rural Development.

Business owners will also benefit. A campground in Lafayette, for example, has been selected to receive a $17,000 REAP grant to install solar panels to reduce the campground's energy costs by 50 percent.

These programs are designed to improve the

economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers, and ranchers and improve the quality of life in rural America.

REAP funding can be used for renewable energy systems, energy efficiency improvements, feasibility studies, energy

audits and renewable energy development assistance.

More information on the REAP program is available at: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_ReapResEei.html.

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan

CLERMONT, Fla., Oct. 25, 2010 – Like many snowbirds, John Palasek is coming back to Florida this winter, but not in the

41-foot motorhome he used to drive

Instead, he’s driving down in a car and spending the winter in a 400-square

foot park model “cottage,” which he had set up on an RV lot that he recently purchased at Elite Resorts at Citrus Valley.

Having a park model in an RV resort that sells its sites is the most affordable way to have a resort lifestyle in Florida, Palasek said, adding that Elite Resorts provides more amenities, activities and entertainment than he could find in a condominium community – and for a fraction of the price.

“I think, financially, it’s a better way to go in Florida,” said Palasek, a 61-year-old Maryland resident.

He added that since he now owns his own campsite along with his own park model, he can come down to Florida whenever he wants and without having to make reservations or worry about short-term camping restrictions, which in some

jurisdictions prohibit people from staying in the same campsite for more than 14 days.

Still relatively unknown to most consumers, “park models” are 400-square foot factory built cottages, complete with full size bathrooms and kitchen appliances. Typically upscale in appearance, they often include hardwood floors, bay windows and lofts as well as cherry, oak or maple cabinetry. And since they are technically classified as recreational vehicles, they can be placed on campsites in RV parks and resorts and used as vacation cottages.

And while growing numbers of RV parks and resorts in Florida are selling their campsites, Elite Resorts at Citrus Valley is one of a select few that make their sites available to owners of park models as well as towable and motorized RVs, said William Garpow, executive director of the Recreational Park Trailer Industry Association (RPTIA), the trade association that represents park model manufacturers.

This makes Elite Resorts particularly enticing to people like Vic Horvath of Ontario, Canada, who is

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leaving his fifth wheel at home while he spends the upcoming winter in a new park model he sited on a campsite he owns at the resort. “We like the park and having a park model there gives us the convenience of not having to pull the trailer,” Horvath said, adding that he plans to keep his fifth wheel in Canada for use on summer trips.

Originally built 40 years ago as Citrus Valley Campground, developer Ed Mayer of Elite Resorts of America purchased the park two years ago and completely rebuilt it.

“We bulldozed everything,” Mayer said. “We redid the water, sewer and electrical connections and created campsites that are much larger and code conforming.”

Mayer also built new amenities, including a 3,000-square foot swimming pool, a 1,200 square foot recreation hall, a 6,000-square foot

lodge as well as a putting green, a horseshoe pit, an enclosed dog run and a playground for children. The resort, which sells its RV lots for $50,000 to $70,000 has an activities director and offers numerous organized activities, including arts and crafts classes and water aerobics, as well as live entertainment.

Palasek said he thrives on the opportunities for social interaction that Elite Resorts of Citrus Valley provides. “They make it easy for you to meet new people,” he said, adding, “There’s always something going on.”Palasek also likes the

resort’s proximity to Disneyworld, which is less than 20 minutes away. “I love Disney, and since it’s close by that works out well for us and our grandchildren,” he said, adding that his sister likes the park model concept so much she purchased a unit, too.

Horvath, for his part, said he enjoys the security of owning his own RV lot. “The problem with the industry is the number of campsites is shrinking and reservations have to be made so far in advance that it makes things kind of difficult. But this way,” he said, “we don’t have to worry about where to spend the winter.”

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HOUSTON, Oct. 26, 2010 – Gov. Perry today thanked the Texas Association of Campground Owners (TACO) and other travel industry associations for endorsing him in the upcoming Nov. 2nd election.

The Texas governor formally thanked the association’s leaders during a press conference Monday at the Omni Riverway Hotel in Houston. Gov. Perry was introduced by former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, who also endorsed the governor’s re-election.

TACO board members Gwen Craig and Robert Crockett and the association’s legislative

consultant, Ron Hinkle, joined members of the Texas Travel Industry Association (TTIA) and other tourism associations at the press conference.

TACO Executive Director and CEO Brian Schaeffer is a member of TTIA’s board of directors.

“Rick Perry has exhibited great leadership during his tenure as governor and helped the campground industry thrive in the process,” Schaeffer said. “It is a pleasure endorsing Gov. Perry, who has done an excellent job attracting more people to Texas than ever while keeping taxes and fees low.”

Ron Hinkle - TACO Legislative Consultant; Gwen Craig - TACO Board Member from Rayford Crossing RV Resort; Gov. Perry, Robert Crockett - TACO Board Member from Spring Branch RV Resort; Billy Craig from Rayford Crossing RV Resort.

CROWLEY, Texas, June 21, 2010 – Since it was launched six months ago, AccessCamping.com has gone from literally being the “new kid on the block” to being one of the top 10 most frequently searched websites with campground lists, according to the latest Google analytics reports.

“We’re quite pleased with the traction we’re getting, not only in the U.S. but in Canada as well,” said Brian Schaeffer, president and CEO of Texas Advertising, adding that AccessCamping’s growing popularity not only reflects its rich database content, but the fact that it is readily accessible to anyone using a mobile communication device, whether it be an iPhone, Android or Blackberry.

“We believe AccessCamping is compatible with more mobile applications than any other camping industry website, which makes the website incredibly user friendly for camping enthusiasts, since they are often on the road,” Schaeffer said.

AccessCamping.com provides links to more than

500 campground databases across the U.S. and Canada. The website also has links to more than 40 RV clubs, ranging from brand-specific groups, such as the Coachmen Owners Club, Gulf Streamers International, the Jayco Travel Club, the Vintage Airstream Club and the Winnebago-Itasca Travelers Club, to clubs that cater to specific demographics, such as RVing Women, the National African American RVers Association and the International Snowbird Travel Club.

AccessCamping.com also includes links to online databases of the major campground industry directories, including those provided by the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, the Trailer Life and Woodall’s North American Campground Directories, as well as the websites of campground chains, such as Kampgrounds of America Inc. (KOA) and Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts.

Schaeffer said AccessCamping.com is needed because most websites have limited campground listings. “With a handful of exceptions,” he said, “most websites only give the camping consumer a partial view of what’s out there in terms of potential camping venues. The government run

websites, for the most part, list only government run parks while the websites for campground industry associations typically limit their listings to parks that are members of their associations. But with AccessCamping.com, we

provide links to both categories of campground, whether they’re government run or privately owned and operated.”

Social networking giant Facebook shrugged off the negative Hollywood spin in "The Social Network" and made important inroads with Bing and Skype deals.

Bing users who are on Facebook can see the “likes” and preferences of their friends reflected in search results. It's not a surprise that Microsoft would make such a deal with Facebook, as it bought a 1.6% stake in the startup three years ago, and the companies collaborate on ad sales, according to PaidContent's Joseph Tartakoff.

A handful of marketing experts told MediaPost’s Laurie Sullivan that social search optimization will become the foundation of any online marketing push. “Say good-bye to siloed advertising campaigns,” Sullivan writes.

Microsoft and Facebook were careful to note at the launch of the “Liked Results” feature that only publicly available data would be used by Bing, and search queries would not be shared with Facebook. The feature can also be turned off. Yet the Wall Street Journal, which recently broke a story about how some of Facebook’s third party apps were illegally sharing

personal information with advertisers, still warns that “the sharing of personal data between the two giants could raise privacy concerns.”

Privacy concerns have not stopped Skype from integrating Facebook in its latest update. The Internet calling company has added a Facebook News Feed tab to its software. Now Skype users can call or text their Facebook friends directly from the new tab.

Geo-location businesses might also move to counter the Bing-Facebook tie-up, if they aren’t already. As ClickZ’s Christopher Heine notes, the Bing deal "could be seen as a shot across the bow to Foursquare and local businesses that have been staying loyal to it and other geo-social platforms instead of migrating efforts to Facebook Places. Now, getting people to check in on Places will extend the reach of such an action beyond Facebook.com and to Bing's search share."

Bing’s powerful search

competitor Google moved to update its social algorithms and the presentation of the results.

While it has been drawing real-time status information from Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook for months, it now displays

this below relevant hyperlinks as well as in a social box at the bottom of the page. But Google still lacks the complete access to Facebook’s deep data of users' "likes" -- for now.

North Hollywood, CA, October 25, 2010 - RV Buddies has re-launched with the third version of their online software, and is now LIVE at RVBuddies.Net. "After a working summer vacation, RV Buddies is better than ever," says Mark Summers, Executive Producer. "The new site is familiar, but with many subtle upgrades."

The graphics follow the RV Buddies theme and navigation remains similar to the old site so it's easy

for users to find their way around. There are many programming upgrades making web searching easier (SEO/SEM). In addition, the new site offers phone friendly versions for iPhone, Blackberry and Android. The old URL, RVBuddiesOnline.com, automatically forwards to the new website location. New episodes shot recently at the California RV Show will begin airing soon.

Pinnacle Park Homes has seen a 15% increase in sales for 2010. With the increase in sales we have added to our workforce twice this year to keep up with demandsays owner, Randy Stewart Jr.

This increase in sales and employees is even more astronomical given the strong 2009 Pinnacle Park Homes had as well.

Unlike so many other manufacturers we did not eliminate jobs or need to restructure. In fact Pinnacle Park Homes was actually profitable in 2009, but has certainly seen an even better 2010 with no sign of a slow down coming.

Owner Randy Stewart, Jr. says that by being dedicated to building a quality park model for so many years has encouraged his satisfied customers to order again and again as well as referring other parks and resorts to Pinnacle Park Homes for quality long lasting park model cabins and cottages.

This year we have developed new floor plans, put rebates in place, and obtained new financing sources to be able to give our clients exactly what they need. The

campground industry has certainly seen an increase in demand for park model homes and camping cabins.

This year we have seen an increase in the number of parks that are adding cabins for the very first time states sales manager, Andy Davis.

When they see just how simple it is to add rental cabins combined with how quickly they pay for themselves, campground owners are asking why did they wait so long!!!

Some campground owners are also planning ahead for next year and taking advantage of possible tax deductible purchases for this year. We have some clients that are placing their order now but are requesting next year delivery, states Davis. Planning ahead is the key and we are definitely seeing a lot of that going on right now.

Pinnacle Park Homes is always working on new programs and floor plans to remain a viable source for park model homes and camping cabins. You can reach them at 866-574-5159 and visit them on the web at www.pinnacleparkhomes.com

Every so often there comes along an astonishing piece of information that environmental writers simply cannot pass up. Ben Barber, who has reported for 30 years on the Middle East and South Asia, provided such information in a recent syndicated column. It is this: two billion people burn biomass to cook their daily meals!

Biomass is material we burn in woodstoves, campfires and cooking fires: stuff such as wood, peat, twigs, corn husks, dried cow dung, whale oil and leaves. Because there is no other affordable fuel, a third of the people on earth covering almost half of the globe cook their daily meals with biomass.

This has the effect of gradually removing minerals, nutrients and fiber needed to regenerate new fuel, an example of using up what otherwise would be a sustainable resource. Biomass absorbs rain. Reducing biomass means that rain increasingly washes away

soils and silts up rivers. Cutting down trees indiscriminately increases flooding and promotes drought where there are no longer enough trees to absorb moisture and then give off moisture that helps promote rain.

The scary part about this is twofold: biomass is the only affordable fuel for one third of the human race. Secondly, the world’s population is expected to expand from 6 billion people to 9 billion people during the next few decades.

Here’s the challenge: there is ample knowledge and know-how to produce food and affordable fuel for everyone on earth but this cannot happen unless the knowledge is applied, taking account of specific conditions. Folks need to eat every day and cooking food will likely be necessary for quite some time.

Ben Barber email is: benbarber@hotmail.com

By Larry

November 4-7: 47th Annual CONY Conference and Trade Show, Syracuse,New York. For more information contactDonald G. Bennett at 585-586-4360 orDon@nycampgrounds.com

November 1-3 Virtual Outdoor Hospitality Expowww.outdoorhospitalityexpo.com or by calling them at 877-901-EXPO (3976).

November 7-10 KOA convention in Savannah, GA Vendors interested in the Expo or Convention sponsorships can call 406-254-7435.

New York's 47th Annual Conference and Trade Show 11/4/2010 - 11/7/2010 New York's 47th Annual Conference and Trade Show- Syracuse, NY

December 1-3: InSites Convention andOutdoor Hospitality Expo, Rio All SuitesHotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. Formore information visit www.arvc.org

December 6-8: PCOA Conference,Wyndam, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Formore information contact Beverly Gruber at610-767-5026 or info@pacamping.com

To post your upcoming events please email the editor at admin@industryenews.com

mailto:admin@industryenews.com