Given the sticky economic climate (not to mention that swine flu), I couldn’t help but wonder what extremes companies in the travel industry are taking to incentivize consumers to break into their piggy banks this summer season.

According to OAG FACTS, April 2009 marks the ninth successive month of declines in flight schedules, specifically reflecting a drop of more than 136,000 flights and 9 million seats. Ouch!

What are companies doing to stay afloat in these turbulent conditions? Here’s a snapshot of current promotional and marketing efforts:

USA TODAY and DiscoverAmerica.com recently collaborated on the “Picture America Contest” campaign where visitors to pictureamerica.usatoday.com were encouraged to submit photos that capture the essence of America and best represent the country to international travelers; deadline entry was May 8th. Professional photographers will select the top 10 and USA TODAY readers will vote for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. The 3 winners will receive trips to American cities through Travelocity, along with a $500 American Express voucher credit toward airfare.  Discover America will also use the images from the 10 finalists as part of their marketing campaign geared at promoting U.S. travel to international tourists. What a great way to incorporate interactivity and validate consumer generated content.

Wyndam Hotels are implementing a “Save Summer” promotional campaign which runs through September 10; the cute program title is accompanied by a cute graphic of a life ring to drive the point home. The campaign focus is on the Wyndam Rewards program, discounts, and the chance to win loyalty club points for free nights. The promotion lives on the hotel group’s brand websites and can be downloaded as a widget to share on Facebook, MySpace and other profiles. The widget is also available on many social media sites, including Digg, Reddit, del.icio.us, and StumbleUpon to name a few.

Why would a consumer care to download a widget once they’ve already registered? Every time a friend enters the promotion, the originating consumer automatically gets a chance to win loyalty points. Winners chosen from a widget entry also earn points for friends they get to register. Points worth up to 750 free night stays will be awarded throughout the summer. Clearly a job made for social networking influencers and point system lovers

Seattle and Philadelphia tourism leaders are taking a different route (pun very much intended) and are focusing their efforts on niche target marketing. Both cities are looking to target lesbian, gay, and transgender travelers. A smart move considering LGBT travelers make up 10% of the consumer travel market share and tend to have more disposable income than the average traveler.

Seattle’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau has partnered with the Greater Seattle Business Association–the largest LGBT chamber in the country - to help in promoting Seattle as an ideal destination for LGBT tourists via cooperative advertisements and travel packaging. The effort has already produced Seattle’s first-ever LGBT travel guide, published by Seattle-based ‘mo magazine.

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation is taking a very creative approach with their new “With Love, Philadelphia XOXO” campaign. The campaign just launched on May 18th and includes niche outreach to the LGBT community; the first time this target demo is included in a mainstream campaign in Philadelphia. The LGBT geared ad flirtatiously reads:

“Dear guys who like guys and girls who like girls … We’re into that in Philly. In fact, we have a place affectionately referred to as the Gayborhood. Heck, our street signs even shout, ‘We love everyone — gay, straight and not exactly sure.’ So come hang out with us and bring your favorite guy or girl. It’ll be fabulous.”

The conversational and informal approach is definitely fun and attention-grabbing.

From the looks of it, what may help the hurting travel industry “save summer” – in addition to a sweet deal of course – are engaging interactive campaigns and some clever niche target marketing efforts.

Hmm…who knew?! The 2009 Colloquy Loyalty Census sheds some hope in its finding that travel and hospitality loyalty reward programs have seen an increase of 556 million in memberships.

So, although most consumers may not have tons of financial wiggle room to travel at the moment, a ready-and-willing wanderlust audience is out there…it’s simply a matter of finding and captivating them.