Disney Vacation Club has signed a multi-year contract with the timeshare exchange company Group RCI.

The deal, which goes into effect Jan. 1, means RCI will become the exclusive exchange provider for Disney Vacation Club members, which allows them to use their DVC "points" to rent rooms at non-Disney resorts around the world. At the same time, RCI's more than 3.6 million members will now be able to trade into DVC timeshares.

Disney had previously contracted with RCI competitor Interval International of Miami. A Disney spokeswoman said Disney will no longer work with Interval once the RCI contract kicks in.

In a statement, Disney's Celebration-based time-share division says the pact with RCI, a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide Corp., will provide members with "a significantly broader range of resort experiences," including access to destinations across six continents and 25 countries.

"Group RCI has the management depth, technology resources and global marketing infrastructure to align with Disney Vacation Club’s strategic growth plan,” Disney Vacation Club President Jim Lewis said in the statement. “This relationship will provide our member families with the most diverse experiences possible beyond our signature Disney Vacation Club resorts.”

The moves comes with Disney Vacation Club working to lure new buyers by convincing them that it offers more than access to Disney's own resorts and theme parks. The company has made the exchange feature the centerpiece of a television-advertising campaign it launched earlier this year. (More on that here: Download DVCcampaign.doc.)

Orange County's resort-tax revenue was down for a fifth straight month in October, logging the largest percentage drop so far this year. 

The county said Tuesday it collected $12.2 million from hotels and other short-term rentals, 9.1 percent less than in October 2007. Collections were running $1.5 million, or 10.8 percent, below budget, according to a report from the Orange County Comptroller's Office.

"The recession is certainly beginning to take a toll on our resort tax collections,” said Comptroller Martha Haynie.

Traffic at Orlando-based AirTran Airways sank 6.6 percent in November, as the country's deteriorating  economy continues to erode air travel.

AirTran said that in November it flew about 1.3 billion revenue passenger miles, a key industry gauge of traffic. That was down from more than 1.4 billion RPMs in November 2007.

AirTran isn't the only airline experiencing softening demand. Southwest Airlines, the busiest carrier at Orlando International Airport, said earlier today that its November traffic sank 8.3 percent in November to 5.3 billion RPMS.

Two years ago, Florida's tourism industry -- with a little help from thousands of angry parents across the state -- scored one of its most significant political victories in recent memory: A new law ensuring that children don't go back to school too soon every summer.

Now, tourism operators across the country are helping spearhead campaigns for similar laws in other states, in hopes of preventing anxious school districts from undermining the profitable summer-travel season.

The issue is significant enough to the industry that the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions scheduled a session during its recent annual convention in Orlando to share strategies for lobbying state legislatures to set later school-start dates.

More here.

A new report from the federal government shows that Canadian travel to Florida climbed 18 percent in 2007.

Just under 2.8 million Canadians visited Florida during the year, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. That made Florida the No. 2 destination for travelers from the Great White North, behind only New York state. Florida ranked ahead of New York in total number of nights spent by Canadian visitors.

Altogether, Florida drew 14 percent of all Canadian traffic to the U.S. but 33 percent of the total number of visitor-nights spent in the U.S. by Canadians. Not surprisingly, the vast majority (86 percent) of Canadian travel to Florida was for either vacations or conventions.

Following this autumn's plummet in oil and fuel costs, Disney Cruise Line announced this today that it is dropping its fuel surcharge for all new cruises booked starting today.

For cruises that have already been booked, the company is willing to offer a rebate in the form of an onboard credit, depending on market circumstances.

Face with what had been $120 per barrel fuel costs, Disney first started charging fuel surcharges in April. The surcharges  of $8 per day were levied on the first two passengers in a stateroom, up to a maximum of $112 per person per vacation. In addition, any additional passengers in each cabin were charged $3 per day, up to a maximum of $42 per person per vacation.

Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. also tacked on fuel charges. Carnival announced in October that it would eliminate fuel surcharges for 2010 sailings.

Today Disney was willing to offer the onboard credits for previously-booked cruises, under circumstances that were spelled out like this:

If the closing price on the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) of West Texas Intermediate fuel is below $70 a barrel two weeks prior to the beginning of the calendar quarter (dates specified below), the company will refund fuel surcharges paid in the form of an onboard credit.

The quarter that the cruise falls in will be based solely on the sailing date.  The entire cruise will be considered to be part of the quarter that the sailing date originates in.

Fuel Price Determination Date   Quarter of Possible Fuel Surcharge Refund      
December 18, 2008       First Quarter 2009    
March 18, 2009  Second Quarter 2009   
June 17, 2009           Third Quarter 2009    
September 17, 2009      Fourth Quarter 2009   
December 18, 2009       First Quarter 2010    
March 18, 2010  Second Quarter 2010   
June 17, 2010   Third Quarter 2010    
September 17, 2010      Fourth Quarter 2010   

The elimination of the fuel surcharge for new bookings applies to sail dates through the end of 2010.  The company will continue to closely monitor fuel prices.  Reinstatement of a fuel surcharge may be necessary in the future.

Declaring that they are continuing to develop a program for Cypress Gardens season passholders who lost their autumn and winter seasons to an unexpected early park closing, Rob Harper, co-owner of the Winter Haven amusement park, announced a deal Monday allowing them to attend Silver Springs for free.

In an announcement jointly made by Silver Springs General Manager Terry Turner, Harper said that Cypress Gardens season passes will be honored at the Silver Springs front gate for that attraction’s 16th annual Festival of Lights. The festival runs November 28, 29, December 5,6, 12-24, 26, and 27.

Cypress Gardens passholders will be able to visit the Traveling Vietnam Vets Wall on December 5, 6, and 7 and attend three concerts. Diamond Rio, December 6, The Temptations featuring Dennis Edwards, December 12, and Ronnie Milsap on December 20.

Silver Springs is an amusement park built around a natural spring near Ocala and featuring river cruises, wildlife exhibits, botanical gardens, rides and shows.

Cypress Gardens, a 72-year-old park that had a similar mix of attractions, closed with a one-week warning last month. Owners said the park would undergo extensive changes, reinventing itself as primarily a botanical gardens and water park with a water ski show, and would reopen this spring. However, season ticket holders were left in limbo, with only assurances that the park’s owners would find ways to compensate them for the lost seasons.

“We continue to formulate a program for our season pass holders, and feel this opportunity at Silver Springs is an immediate benefit for the holiday season,” Harper stated.

From our Political Pulse blog:

Orange County Commissioners are going in slightly different directions on how to handle any kind of extra publicly-funded marketing assistance to a beleaguered tourism industry.

This month top executives from Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando met with Orange County’s tourist tax watchdog, Comptroller Martha Haynie, to see if there is any revenues from that levy available for a tourism marketing campaign.

Tourism leaders already collected $100 million the last two years for an expanded marketing campaign after Orange leaders voted to add a penny to the five-cent resort tax. The proceeds were split in half, with the other revenues put toward paying off debt on a downtown arts and sports venue plan.

But among all the revenues, Orange leaders set aside some for running and repairing the convention center. Haynie said there could be anything from nothing left in those convention center baskets, to somewhere less than $2 million in unspent tourist tax revenues at the end of the year.

Will tourism boosters get whatever scraps are left?

Commissioner Mildred Fernandez said she would likely oppose such a request. But Commissioner Bill Segal said that the vital industry could use some help, and he would likely favor freeing up any available funds for good advertising.

Commissioner Linda Stewart said she would only consider giving out any funds found in the couch-cushions if the agency that runs the marketing campaign – the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau – opens it books more on how its public and private money spent. The bureau has recently had a problem in this area.

All three sitting commissioners are pondering a run for mayor when term-limited Rich Crotty leaves office in 2010. Former Commissioner Teresa Jacobs and former state Sen. Dan Webster are also considering a run.

An electrical power technican working for a Walt Disney World utility company has died from injuries sustained in a power maintenance accident earlier this month.

Douglas Howell, 54, of Rockledge, died earlier this week from injuries sustained in a Nov. 5 accident at a substation near the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. The Orange County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration were notified at the time of the accident, and OSHA has opened an investigation.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family," said Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger.

FastPark & Relax -- an offsite parking facility at Orlando International Airport -- is putting the emphasis on relaxation this holiday season. 

The company said it hired two instructors from Yoga Matrix Studio to ride along with holiday travelers on its shuttles for two hours Wednesday morning.  They'll provide passengers with yoga techniques to help maintain peace-of-mind despite relatives, lost luggage and any airport delays they might encounter.  To help people riding planes or buses, the techniques can all be done sitting down.

Orlando FastPark & Relax is located at 7855 North Frontage Road.