Southern Living Readers Name Savannah a "Best Southern City"

Southern Living Magazine announced its 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards in their January issue naming Savannah as its #2 Best Southern City.

Others on the list included:
1. Charleston, SC
2. Savannah, GA
3. Atlanta, GA
4. New Orleans, LA
5. Nashville, TN
6. Orlando, FL
7. San Antonio, TX
8. Ashville, NC
9. Destin, FL
10. Austin, TX

Thousands of Southern Living readers voted in the competition scoring destinations, restaurants, festivals and beaches, among others, for ranking in the magazines top honor.

“This is truly outstanding news for all of us here that live and work in a place that we all love, said Joe Marinelli, president of the Savannah Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“This recognition completes the “Travel Triple Crown” for Savannah. We have had a tremendously year for public relation with being named a top ten travel destination in Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler magazines. Now with the accolades from Southern Living, we can truly stand proud as a destination of choice among the most discerning travelers.”

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Dollywood Claims Best Christmas Event at 2008 Golden Ticket Awards

T2F Note: As the fall approaches, trips to the mountains increase. Gathering apples, admiring the leaves changing color, and visiting Dollywood all make a great weekend getaway from Fayette, Coweta and the rest of Georgia.

BUSINESS WIRE --Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas festival won Best Christmas Event during the 2008 Golden Ticket Awards on Sept. 3, 2008, at the Give Kids the World Village, in Kissimmee, Fla.

Dollywood was a finalist in eight categories, more than any other park in the world.

Dollywood received 38 percent of the votes in this new category created for the 2008 Golden Tickets. Dollywood’s Thunderhead, twice named the number one wooden coaster in the world, placed second in the rankings of Top 50 Wooden Roller Coasters in the World. Dollywood also captured second place for honors for Best Food, Best Shows and Friendliest Park. Dollywood took third place honors for Cleanest Park 9 (a tie with Magic Kingdom), and fourth place for Best Landscaping. In the Best Park category, Dollywood ranked tenth place.

“We commend the Golden Ticket Award winners and all of the finalists for their varied achievements,” says Gary Slade, publisher and editor-in-chief of Amusement Today. “These awards are the pinnacle of honors in the amusement industry, and it is nice to recognize parks and attractions around the world who are striving for excellence each and every day.”

The Golden Ticket Awards are presented to the “best of the best” in the amusement industry and calculated from an international poll conducted by Amusement Today magazine. Surveys were sent to a database of experienced and well-traveled amusement park fans around the world–in balanced geographical regions–asking them to rate the “bests” in 25 categories such as amusement parks, roller coasters, shows, friendliest staff and water rides.

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Delta’s Domestic First Class Service, Worldwide Airport Lounges and Frequent Flyer Program Rated the Best

Readers of Executive Travel magazine rate Delta Air Lines’ (NYSE:DAL) domestic first class service, worldwide Crown Room Clubs and SkyMiles frequent flyer program the best in the 2008 Leading Edge Awards. Readers also said they prefer to fly Delta more than any other U.S. airline when they travel to Africa, the Middle East and Canada.

“Delta’s more than 45,000 employees worldwide are committed to offering our global customers a world-class travel experience when they fly with us,” said Richard Anderson, Delta’s chief executive officer. “Their efforts, along with investments we continue to make to improve our product and service offerings, both on the ground and in the air, are clearly resonating with our passengers. We’re thrilled to be recognized by the readers of Executive Travel magazine, many of whom are our most loyal and frequent flyers.”

Honors Delta received include:
Best Domestic Airline for First Class Service;
Best Frequent Flyer Program - Domestic;
Best Airline for Airport Lounges in the world;
Best U.S.-based Airline for Flights to Africa, and No. 3 in the world;
Best U.S.-based Airline for Flights to the Middle East, and No. 3 in the world; and
Best U.S.-based Airline for Flights to Canada, and No. 2 in the world.

Since 2005, Delta has continued to improve the customer experience by:
Adding new international service. With the summer 2008 schedule, Delta operates more than 450 weekly flights to 47 destinations in 31 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, India and the Middle East;
Completing cabin refurbishments with comfortable all-leather seating and brighter interiors on all aircraft;
Offering customers hundreds of hours of movies, HBO, TV programming, music and video games through the airline’s world-class, in-flight entertainment system, Delta on Demand, available on more than 70,000 seats daily on nearly 140 aircraft;
Providing convenient Breezeway boarding lanes for elite customers in gate areas;
Offerings premium wines selected by Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson and meal selections from celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein for international BusinessElite customers, as well as introducing fully lie-flat seating for BusinessElite customers on its Boeing 777 fleet and announcing a new lie-flat product for its Boeing 767 fleet beginning in 2009;
Expanding the airline's popular EATS food for purchase program to domestic flights of 750 miles or more and offering a selection of signature cocktails;
Providing more unique ways for SkyMiles customers to easily redeem miles, like a new online award calendar, three-tier award program and new pay-with-miles option for American Express Gold and Platinum cardholders;
Maximizing self-service technology for customers by offering more languages on delta.com and more self-service options to speed travel, such as online baggage check, mobile check-in and more; and
Providing one of the broadest airport lounge networks in the world giving Crown Room Club® members access to nearly 100 lounges thanks to Delta's global SkyTeam alliance partners.

In total, the publication’s readers ranked Delta among the top three in more categories than any other airline in the world. Second place honors include:
Best Domestic Airline;
Best Airline for Flights to the Caribbean;
Best Airline for Flights to Central and South America; and
Best Airline Customer Service – Domestic.

Delta received a third place nod for “Best Domestic Airline for Business Class Service” and “Best Credit Card Rewards Program” for the Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express.

In other categories, Executive Travel magazine readers named Delta’s global hub – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – the No. 2 domestic airport. Delta AirElite® earned the No. 2 spot as Best Private Jet Service and was the only wholly-owned subsidiary of a commercial airline to rank in the top three.

Subscribers to Executive Travel magazine are senior level executives at Fortune 1000 companies who fly almost once each week. Established in 2006, the publication was created for the frequent business traveler and addresses issues unique to his or her lifestyle. With a circulation of more than 125,000, the recently BPA audited magazine delivers information to help frequent business travelers live life on the road as well as they do at home.

The award-winning Delta SkyMiles program offers members multiple mileage-earning opportunities when flying Delta, Delta Shuttle®, Delta Connection® carriers, Delta AirElite® and other SkyTeam® airlines. Additional mileage-building opportunities are offered through more than 100 partners such as the Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express, SkyMilesShopping.com, participating hotels, car rental companies, telecommunication services, restaurants, retailers and more. Now in its 27th year, SkyMiles is one of the longest-running and most successful loyalty programs in the travel industry. It was named “Best Frequent Flyer Program” for 2006 and 2007 by Business Traveler magazine and received top honors for “Best Bonus Promotion” from InsideFlyer magazine at the 2007 Freddie Awards.