Beach Resorts Quarrel Over Google Ad

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., May 25, 2008 -- Local tourism officials say their counterparts at a South Carolina resort crossed a line in the sand with an effort to steer Internet surfers' vacation dollars toward the beach some 350 miles down the Atlantic coast.

A Web ad that greeted Google users looking for information about Virginia Beach touted fellow resort Myrtle Beach, S.C., as a cheaper, more relaxing and yet more thrilling alternative.

Unhappy with having sand kicked in their faces virtually, Virginia Beach tourism officials demanded the ad be taken down.

The ad broke an unspoken rule in the travel industry: Tourist sites don't attack each other, said Jim Ricketts, director of the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"This is unethical, unfair and frankly beneath the dignity of a major resort like Myrtle Beach," Ricketts wrote in a letter May 2 to Brad Dean, president and chief executive of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

A Virginia Beach convention bureau employee discovered the ad in late April. When "Virginia Beach" was typed into Google's search engine, a link titled "Escape to Myrtle Beach" popped up as the top sponsored link.

The link led to an ad on the website for the Myrtle Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, a division of the city's chamber of commerce.

"Thinking about a Virginia Beach vacation?" the ad says. "Allow us to offer a wonderful alternative that's more relaxing, has more thrills and is easier on your wallet. Escape to Myrtle Beach ... ."

While the link to the ad was spotted on Google as recently as May 15, it didn't turn up with the Virginia Beach search later that afternoon. Dean, other chamber officials and the city's mayor didn't return messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.