The Glacier Country Regional Tourism Commission (Montana), Costa Mesa Conference & Visitor Bureau (California) and the Fairbanks Convention & Visitors Bureau…
The Glacier Country Regional Tourism Commission (Montana), Costa Mesa Conference & Visitor Bureau (California) and the Fairbanks Convention & Visitors Bureau (Alaska) were recognized with 2005 Destiny Awards for Marketing Programs and Special Projects, respectively. The Destiny Awards are awarded by the National Council of Destination Organizations (NCDO), an industry council of the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA). All three destination marketing organizations received their awards during the August 16 closing ceremony concluding TIA`s annual Educational Seminar for Tourism Organizations (ESTO) in Coeur d`Alene, Idaho.
MARKETING PROGRAMS – SINGLE, TARGETED PROMOTION: Faced with the age-old problem of building traffic in the off-season, the Glacier Country Regional Tourism Commission in western Montana addressed the issue head-on by creating the Winter Blast – Glacier Country Winter Sweepstakes program. Targeted to winter sports enthusiasts in 11 states, the campaign was designed to make past and potential visitors aware of the many activities Montana has to offer in the winter months. By utilizing a direct mail piece, an e-direct mail message and an online sweepstakes featuring two active winter getaways, the promotion generated a 41% increase in inquiries about the area over the previous year. In addition, over 40,000 visits were made to the sweepstakes page and Glacier County added over 6,000 new subscribers to its database.
MARKETING PROGRAMS – FULL CAMPAIGN: The Costa Mesa CVB had four distinct goals: to increase awareness of the area as a prime drive-to or fly-to Southern California destination, gain a greater share of the summer travel market, increase overnight stays at hotels and to increase sales in retail and restaurant establishments. To achieve that goal, the CVB launched a cooperative marketing effort with seven luxury hotels, participating restaurants and major shopping venues. A key element of the campaign was to provide an irresistible lure-in this case, it was attractive hotel rates at high end hotels, $30 gift certificates for dinner and a $30 reimbursement for gasoline. The combination of paid advertising and high-profile media placements generated a 600% return on the $150,000 co-op investment. Nearly 2,300 room nights were booked as a direct result and over 1,600 restaurant certificates were redeemed.
SPECIAL PROJECTS CATEGORY: In order to increase visitation by Japanese visitors to Fairbanks, Alaska during the slow winter months, the Fairbanks CVB worked with the Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation Airport Marketing to secure direct non-stop flights from Japan and to promote the area as the world`s premier aurora borealis viewing destination. The coordinated campaign, using community and personal relationships, resulted in three rotations of chartered nonstop flights to Fairbanks, bringing an additional 895 Japanese winter visitors (with a load factor of 98%) during the slower winter months and had an impact of approximately $1 million on the Fairbanks economy. In addition, JAL scheduled three summer flights with five itineraries for 2005 and is planning between 5-10 additional flights for the 2005-2006 winter season.
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