Leisure Travelers in the US save American taxpayers $950 a year per household in taxes

Every week I normally have a few guests ask me why aren't there more nudist resorts in the US or Canada. One of the answers I tell them is enough nudists do not support our industry. These people never belong to AANR (American Association for Nude Recreation, FCN or TNS.

They never tell their non nudist friends that they like vacationing at nudist resorts.

They may go to nude beaches or a nudsit place for a short weekend, but they go to the Caribbean or Mexico and vacation at non nudist owned naked places. In short, there aren't more nudist resorts in the US and Canada because there isn't enough support for them.

The Terra Cotta Inn is the ONLY nude vacation resort in the western US. Yet, I would bet 90% of our guests do not belong to nudist organizations. If we had to rely just on card carrying nudists we would be pretty empty instead of one of the most popular of ALL hotels in Palm Springs.

Now we have been open 15 years. We know many nudist places do not deserve support as they do goofy, non business friendly things. I just read online of one place that had DJ's come to play at their nudist resort for free and then the resort charged the DJ's $10 for parking. Obviously, that really bothered the DJ's as they posted they would never do it again and were mad because they played for free and were charged for parking.

Or a few nude resorts are cheap and won't even let you bring your own bottled water to drink poolside. There are no textile resorts that I have ever known of that are that cheap.

I went looking online to try to find out the impact of tourism in the US. I found this press release put out appropriately enough on April 14th, 2010:

"Spending by Travelers Saves U.S. Taxpayers Hundreds of Dollars on Tax Day
Each American Taxpayer Would Owe $950 More in Taxes This Year without Tax Revenues from Travel Industry

According to the U.S. Travel Association, American taxpayers would have to pay an average of $950 more per household on “tax day” if not for the tax revenues generated by travel and tourism to and within the United States.

“Take a moment to extend some friendly hospitality to the tourists in your city or town today – the money they spend has saved you nearly one thousand dollars in personal taxes this year,” said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. “The leisure or business traveler staying at the nearby hotel, eating at a local restaurant, shopping or visiting a local attraction is keeping your local economy vibrant and putting money in your pocket.”

The money travelers inject into the economy often means more money for civic development, infrastructure and state and local jobs such as teachers, firefighters and police forces. In 2009, travel spending by U.S. and international visitors resulted in more than $111 billion in tax revenue for federal, state and local government. Of that total, $77.3 billion came from leisure travel and $34.2 billion was generated by business travel, including meetings and conventions...

Travel is a $704 billion industry that generates tax revenue and jobs across the country. One in 13 American workers is employed either directly or indirectly by the travel industry. In addition to those directly employed by the industry, millions of Americans are indirectly employed as a result of the business generated by travel..."

For the full article click here

Just imagine how much nudism would blossom in the US if people stopped going to non nudist owned naked places in Mexico and the Caribbean.

We probably reinvest into our resort a higher percent of our revenue than any other nudist resort in the US for upgrades and repairs and not increasing our rates. We have not increased rates for 3 years and do not intend to do so next year.

We average a 80% occupancy rate year round. Could you imagine the upgrades we could have if we had a 90% occupancy rate.

So next time you spend money going to an over priced place in Mexico or the Caribbean, where all they care about is your money, just think of what your vacation dollars could be doing to promote nude recreation in the US and Canada.

Support nude recreation. Vacation only at places that are owned by nudists.


Tom Mulhall
Terra Cotta Inn clothing optional resort and spa
Resort site: http://sunnyfun.com
Friend us on facebook at http://bit.ly/TerraCottaInnFBPage

For more information or to make reservations, call us at 800-786-6938.

We hope to see you soon in sunny Palm Springs!

More people need to become aware of nude recreation choices in the US and Canada

The Bare Oaks Blog click here did a very good analysis as too why Glen Echo nudist Park outside of Toronto, Canada closed.

Here are some highlights from their blog:

...The fact is that I am sad that 54 years of naturist history is coming to such an abrupt end...

It has certainly generated a lot of press. See:

Toronto Star August 28
Metro News August 28
Toronto Sun August 29
CTV News September 2

From a business standpoint, the loss of a naturist park in the Toronto area is a bad thing. We are not in competition with each other. There are at least 400,000 people in the Greater Toronto Area, according to a survey by the Federation of Canadian Naturists, who are interested in naturism. If I add up all the clubs in the Toronto area, I only get to less than 5,000 members. Even if I assume that another 5,000 people are visitors and not members, that still leaves 390,000 people unaccounted for. If we assume a huge margin of error (which is unlikely given the methodology) I am still left wondering where the other 90,000 people are.

In my opinion, they are not visiting naturist clubs because of a lack of awareness. When I talk about Bare Oaks to my neighbours I frequently get a surprised reaction that "there are places like that in Ontario." ...If we managed to get another 10,000 people participating in naturism, we would all be completely overwhelmed!

...each club is truly unique. While we all share the naturist/nudist label, the application and interpretation of the philosophy varies greatly in each club. Some clubs offer a more urban experience while others are more nature-oriented. Some are passionately naturist while others are more clothing-optional."

The blog makes many good points. First is awareness. We got an e-mail from a couple who said they just got back to England after a 3 week long holiday in Palm Springs. They just learned that we were in Palm Springs and were so sad that they didn't know there were urban naturist resorts in the US. They thought they were only in Spain and France.

I spend so much time promoting nudism as does FCN and AANR, yet this couple didn't know nudist resorts exist in the US.

Sadly because marketing budgets are small in the nudist world, we don't have the marketing power that the big hotel chains have.

The Bare Oaks Blog says if they had another 10,000 people participating in Toronto, they would be overwhelmed. I figure if we had another 50 couples booking a week long stay, then I could afford to put a big flat screen TV in every room and not raise rates. That's just an additional 4 couples a month staying for a week.

I bust my butt on marketing our resort, but I know it's definitely not going to happen this year getting 4 additional couples a month. This year we probably have the highest occupancy rate of ALL hotels in Palm Springs, but it will probably be only our 2nd or 3rd best year of our 15 years in business. However, if next year we averaged an extra 4 couples per month booking rooms for a week or longer, then our guests would really be happy as we reinvest more money as a percent of sales in our resort than probably any other nudist resort in the US.

But, it sure would be nice though if 4 additional couples a month decided to support nudism in the US and stayed at our resort instead of supporting non nudist owned overpriced places in Mexico and the Caribbean.

Now if you want to take a fun vacation, give us a call at The Terra Cotta Inn clothing optional resort and spa located in sunny Palm Springs, CA.

We are the most mainstream nudist resort in the US and are perfect for couples trying topless or nude sunbathing for the first time. You don't even have to be a nudist to vacation with us.

Become our Facebook friend at http://facebook.com/terracottainn

Visit our site at http://sunnyfun.com

Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/nudist_resorts

Hope to see you soon in sunny Palm Springs!

US Chamber of Commerce encourages people to vacation in the US this year

I've been saying since last year that Americans and Canadians should only book at US and Canadian nudist resorts this year.

All the time I hear from people asking me "why aren't there more places like Terra Cotta Inn in the US." And then they proceed to tell me how they just spent like $5000-7500 in Mexico or the Caribbean on vacation.

We had one guest this spring stay with us for 3 weeks. They said this year they could afford 3 weeks at our resort for the price of 1 week in St. Martin.

Now our business has been pretty good this year. April was the busiest month in our 14 years of business. However, for instance, June has been slower than usual as it has been cloudy and cool in San Diego and Los Angeles. Many people who live in those cities don't know that it is sunny and warm just 100 miles away in sunny Palm Springs. As an example we only have 1 couple at our resort tonight from Southern California. We have more Canadians here than Californians. So we can always use more guests from out of state and out of country booking their vacations here.

American and Canadian nudists need to support our own. They need to join AANR and FCN to protect our nudist rights. They need to join nudist clubs and vacation only at US And Canadian nudist resorts. When nudists go to the Caribbean or Mexico, they are lining the pockets of non nudists who charge nudists more to go nude, than they charge textile guests. (Club O is an exception. It is very, expensive, but it is a naturist owned and managed resort).

I know more and more people are tired of being overcharged to go nude in the Caribbean and Mexico, but they need to completely stop going and support our own country and our own hard working nudists and nudist organizations.

I am surprised that more nudists have not said the same thing as I do. I know many nudist resorts in the US and Canada are hurting financially this year. They need the money much more than Jamaica or Mexico. Americans in the hospitality industry are being fired and yet people spend their vacation dollars not in their own country? It does not make sense unless you just don't care what happens to our country.

Now I see the President of the US Chamber of Commerce is finally saying people need to vacation in the US to help spur the economic recovery.

Here's the story:

"Travel and Tourism Can Help Spur Recovery

By Tom Donohue, President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
June 23, 2009

Hundreds of cities and tens of thousands of small businesses depend on travel and tourism for their very survival, including the city I work in, Washington, D.C. In fact, travel and tourism is a $740 billion industry that employs 7.5 million people. It's been hard hit by the economic recession...

One thing we can do to stimulate the economy is to promote the vital travel and tourism industry. We can start by making America a more inviting place for international travelers to visit and conduct business. Passage of the Travel Promotion Act would be a huge step in the right direction...

In addition to attracting international visitors, we need to remove impediments that make it difficult for our own citizens to travel within our borders. Highway congestion, airport delays, and other inconveniences are increasingly causing many Americans to rethink travel plans. If we invest in a modernized infrastructure, we could create jobs during the recession as well as encourage more domestic travel when times are better.

Attracting visitors to our country is a lot like attracting capital--they go where they feel welcome, safe, and can get their money's worth. We want the United States to be the travel destination of the world, while making it easier for our citizens to get from point A to point B. Passage of the Travel Promotion Act would help achieve this at no cost to U.S. taxpayers."

For the full story click here

This is a story that all nudist blogs need to repeat and it should be reposted everywhere. Actually all blogs should be reposting this.

Everyone is more than welcome to repeat this post.

Tom Mulhall
Terra Cotta Inn clothing optional resort and spa
Palm Springs, CA
http://sunnyfun.com
1-800-786-6938

Naturism award presented to Edmonton Journal writer

Our resort, The Terra Cotta Inn Clothing Optional resort and Spa is a business members of FCN which is the Federation of Canadian Naturists. They do the same great work in promoting naturism in Canada that AANR does in promoting nudism in the US.

It is funny, since Canadians are a little bit more British oriented, they use the words naturist and naturism, where most Americans use the worlds nudist and nudism. Oh well, it is like the song "You say potato, I say potato...

Anyway, An Edmonton Journal writer won an award from the FCN and other Canadian naturist organizations (of course they have to have a french speaking organization).
She writes she is very proud of her award.

Here is what she has to say:

"Salad Daze
More Journal blogs
Meet the best nudism writer in Canada

Happy Nude Year!: When winter makes nudism a bit too nipply, nudists get their fix with a dip at the pool

I wanted to let you know, dear readers, that I have won a very special sort of writing prize. Not a National Newspaper Award, or a fellowship, or a grant. No, no, those are soooo overrated. The prize I've won is a specialty award, an exclusive sort of award that not just any old writer with a keyboard and a pocketful of trendy adverbs can claim.


Read it and weep: I have won the prize for: the best article about naturism in English to have appeared in the non-naturist print media in Canada during 2007. This award is presented by the Fondation naturiste du Québec in association with the Fédération québécoise de naturisme and the Federation of Canadian Naturists.


Yes, that's me! The Edmonton Journal's resident nudism beat reporter, Elizabeth Withey!

Note this prestigious award comes with a certificate and a $150 cash prize. Far out.


Honestly, winning this prize has made my WHOLE SUMMER. It truly has. I remember, shortly after I wrote the article so so long ago, that someone emailed me and said they'd entered my story in the contest. At the time, I thought, now wouldn't THAT be a hoot...and then I promptly forgot about it. Now, 18 months later....victory!...

Perhaps you've detected a trace of silliness, even mockery, in this posting. It is all affectionate teasing. I am actually quite proud of this win (and I'm not just saying that because I haven't yet received my prize money). It's an honour to be recognized with a writing award of any sort...even the Grade 10 writing award in rural Saskatchewan (yup, I nabbed that one too). So, thanks, FQN/FCN. Truly. I am chuffed. I love it. I mean, how many people can put "award-winning nudism journalist" on their CVs? It's terrific.


To read her story: click here

It is nice that this reporter actually participated in the nude swim and had a fun time. Ms. Withey, if you are in Palm Springs, you are invited to come spend a fun day at our resort. Earlier this year, Canada.com picked us as one of the best places in the world to go nude sunbathing. So I hope to meet you someday.

And if you have always wanted to go topless or nude sunbathing, give us a call at 1-800-786-6938 (toll free US and Canada). Visit our site at http://sunnyfun.com

We have been written up at least three times already in the Edmonton Journal as Canadians love to vacation at our nudist resort.

Hope to see you soon in sunny Palm Springs!