Making plans for the real millennium's eve

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, the world was in a frenzy as people everywhere were making plans for year-end events they hoped for or feared would happen.

The prospect of greeting the New Year's first sunrise someplace special certainly spurred many notions of romantic travel, and the travel industry (and travel press) turned its full force on providing a flood of varied, often wildly expensive and exotic, opportunities to satisfy those notions.

As it turned out, the predicted New Year's Eve travel boom turned out to be something of a bust, like other Y2K cyber and spiritual panics. Most people stayed home.

Perhaps they were among the millions of calendar savvy observers who realized that, no, the 20th century wasn't coming to an end simply because the year's final three digits were turning to zero. Despite the pronouncement of media and tourist bureaus everywhere, the 21st century was always scheduled to begin a moment after midnight this Dec. 31.

Cautious travelers may have been fearful of the chaos the coming computer crisis was predicted to cause. Others might have been deterred by the prospect of joining the mass migration of humanity that was expected to spend the holidays in distant destinations. Any remaining prospective pilgrims were probably put off by all the hype.

Whatever the reason, rather than hitting the highways and airways en masse, folks stuck close to the home fire.

Few of the travel organizations that dreamed up special packages to entice millennial visitors came close to fulfilling their expectations. Far more found themselves with even more empty beds, tables and airline seats than normal.

What a difference a year makes.

Year to date, I can't recall having received or read anything regarding travel opportunities specially designed for this Dec. 31. Nothing has emerged out of the deluge of press materials and travel literature that crosses my desk or flows into through my computer. No midnight cruises or safari sunrises, no trips to antipodal places on private jets.

That deafening silence can't be a coincidence. Is it a global case of once burned twice shy? Or worldwide ennui? It's hard to believe that travel market forces have overlooked an opportunity to promote themselves, even if they may feel a bit sheepish about last year's efforts.

This much we do know. Regardless of how intensely you may have celebrated the coming of the year 2000, posterity will remember 2001 as the first year of the new millennium.

Airports are likely to be as packed as usual during Christmas week, especially since the 24th happens to be a Sunday, as is the 31st.

But people haven't been rushing to make reservations for special New Year's Eve trips; those who do are finding plenty of vacancy signs and even some early bargains.

Given this relative media silence on a subject that generated so much energy last year, we're curious. Have you made travel plans to be somewhere special this New Year's Eve for the dawn of the new millennium? If so, where? Drop us a line -- we'd be interested to know.

And if you operate an inn or B&B within 150 miles of Pittsburgh and have special packages planned for this New Year's, we'd also be interested in knowing that.

Visitpittsburgh.com

Now if you, or any of your out-of-town friends and relatives are contemplating enjoying the Pittsburgh area this New Year's Eve, or anytime, here's a Web site to bookmark.

Last Tuesday, at near enough to 5:30 p.m. for government purposes, County Executive Jim Roddey clicked a huge computer mouse mounted on an auditorium stage at the Carnegie Science Center and launched the long-awaited and massively renovated Web site of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Definitely designed with the future in mind, Visitpittsburgh.com (www.visitpittsburgh.com) is an innovative site that lets potential visitors from anywhere in the world preview some 50 of the area's cultural and entertainment crown jewels, complete with current schedules, streaming video and impressive 360-degree panoramas. What's more, site visitors can put together personalized itineraries, reserve and purchase significantly discounted tickets to museums and events, and even make dinner reservations at nearly a dozen restaurants. Even better, the online bookings are made and confirmed by real people. Taking advantage of the discounts, however, does require booking at least a one-night stay at a participating hotel.

Like most new Web sites, Visitpittsburgh.com is still under construction and will require considerable maintenance. Some obvious attractions remain to be added, especially some of the free ones. Where, for example, is there any mention of the city's great public parks or bike trails? What about Kennywood? How about some mention of the remarkable number of golf courses in the area? I don't know how many golfers might make a special trip to Pittsburgh simply for the golf, but many, especially foreign visitors, may be surprised by our wealth.

It's easy to think of other Web site enhancements, such as some translation features to enable foreign speakers to use it.

Of course, all of Visitpittsburgh.com's sophisticated wizardry does require considerable computer power. Users will want a minimum of a 56 K modem connection and to be able to load both Quicktime and Flash Player programs. Cyber visitors whose computers lack that power will find access slow-going or even impossible.

Like many out-of-towners who tried to get to a Pirates game this summer, they'll find Pittsburgh an enticing place to see, but frustratingly difficult to get around. We hope some directions are provided to enable even cyber slugs and slackers to have a good visit.

These are minor complaints, however. Considerable thought and investment have gone into this Web site. As local tourism sites go, Visitpittsburgh.com constitutes a snazzy cyberbridge between Pittsburgh and the rest of the world. Well designed, highly functional and certainly sales savvy, it packages the area's diverse attractions in a whole new way.

Let's hope this flashy platform attracts sufficient attention and gets the on-going maintenance needed to keep it a world-class site.