From Dot to Destination

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From Dot to Destination

• Growing A Community
• Great Valley Center
• May 11 12, 2005

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What is Tourism?

• As defined for research reasons, tourism is the
  travel and/or overnight stay to a destination 50
  miles or more from ones home
• The tourism industry provides increased revenue
  to a destination by increasing visibility and
  visitation

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Tourism VS- Visitor

• The consumer of the tourism industry and its
  products
• Travel to have fun, obtain different experiences,
  advance knowledge base
• Require concise, easy to find information

• The guidance or management of visitors
• Appraises and promotes an area for visitor
  consumption
• Positions and promotes product within the
  industry

Tourism is a proactive industry!
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Why tourism?

• Increase tax base in an area through transient
  occupancy, retail sales, restaurant, gasoline
  taxes and assessments
• Tourism is a clean industry, you neednt build
  anything. A destination can utilize the
  resources immediately available.
• Tourism helps to diversify to further support a
  product i.e. start with agriculture production
  and add farm tours
• Where you have tourism, the city or town looks up
  and its citizen see their town through new eyes

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The Ripple Effect of Tourism

• Trucking industry is affected by thousands of
  tradeshows, marketplaces and conferences. All of
  these events require shipment materials, delivery
  of equipment, etc
• Agricultural industry provides massive amounts of
  food for the hospitality/tourism industry
• Construction industry build conference centers,
  hotels and provide general upkeep of visitor
  related properties, generating millions of
  dollars and resulting in employment of American
  tradesmen

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The Tourism Industry

• Generates 1 million dollars a minute in the
  United States
• Without tourism each American family would pay
  over 1,000 more in taxes per year
• Tourism greatly influences the tax base in every
  community

statistics from Travel Industry Association of
America (www.TIA.org)
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What does a Destination Marketing Organization
(DMO) do?

• Promotes events, activities and attractions at a
  regional and national level
• Upholds the standards set by state and national
  tourism offices, affiliations and programs
• Acts as a clearinghouse for inclusion of all
  area assets in state, regional and national
  publications, advertising and/or marketing
  campaigns
• Effectively brands and markets a destination to
  ultimately increase visitation

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What is the DMO mission?

• Mission statements vary based on the structure
  and primary purpose of the
• Destination Marketing Organization.
• The following is an example of the
• Yolo CVB two part mission statement

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• Part 1
• to stimulate economic activitythrough
  promotionwhile building on the strengths of the
  community and the quality of life
• HOW
• Promote what already exists including festivals,
  events and attractions
• 2) Develop programs designed to manage direct
  visitation by creating partnerships or enhancing
  present marketing efforts
• 3) Create additional programs or itineraries to
  provide visitors with the option of extended stay

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• Part 2
• enhance the visitor experience by facilitating
  the integration of community resources and
  community assets
• HOW
• 1) Collect and assess all destination assets and
  produce brochures, websites and other
  promotional/ informational pieces for
  distribution to the potential visitor
• 2) Develop a comprehensive catalog of
  activity that appeals to a broad audience and/or
  caters to a special interest group (as dictated
  by marketing plan)
• 3) Possess the ability to showcase and
  promote activities, events and attractions that
  would appeal to the visitor, but may not be under
  the umbrella of a promotional agency or has
  limited resources to market independently

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How did we form our DMO?

• A group of businesses, that would be positively
  impacted by tourism generation, united to support
  the creation of a visitor attraction district
• The group effectively demonstrated the value of
  tourism to the city/ region
• Hoteliers created a Business Improvement District
  and allocated 1 of all TOT collected to the
  program
• Both the city and University of CA Davis
  contributed funding for a two-year pilot program
• Established a 501 (c) (3) status for a non-profit
  organization

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Baby Steps - Initial Implementation

• Established partnerships with city, university,
  attractions and hoteliers
• Inventory of assets (i.e. hotels, attractions)
• Addressed challenges (i.e. transportation)
• Studied demand / potential
• Who comes to our area? Why?
• Who does not come to our area? Why not?

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Basic Beginnings

• Created a website to showcase the attractions and
  events in our area and provide accessibility for
  our hoteliers
• Created publications to meet the needs of the
  present visitors which included
• Map Guide
• Calendar of Events
• Restaurant Guide
• Postcards to advertise website

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What next???

• Once we addressed the needs of visitors that were
  already coming to our destination, which were
  primarily conference attendees, we assessed other
  tourism markets and began to reach out to them
• We encouraged and nurtured tourism development
  through the following 4 steps

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• 1. Identification
• 2. Visibility
• 3. Interest Generation
• 4. Distribution

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1. Identification

• Identifies the destination appeal by completing
  an inventory of area assets
• Develops and showcases attributes that are unique
  and expressive of the area
• Identifies target markets geographically,
  demographically and psycho-graphically.

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How does the DMO create the destination identity?

• Continually sculpt existing assets to meet the
  needs of the visitor
• Create partnerships with area assets to broaden
  the destination appeal
• Segment and construct the tourism product to
  match the needs of the target market and special
  interest groups

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2. Visibility

• Seeks visibility within the tourism industry by
  establishing and positioning the destination
  within the confines of its region
• Presents the destination attractions and events
  to the larger tourism industry organizations
  (ie California Tourism) for inclusion and
  promotion
• Caters destination appeal to obtain visibility
  from potential visitors in each target market

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How does the DMO maintain visibility for the
destination?

• Continually presents the destination assets to
  the tourism industry through networking with
  constituency
• Travel Industry Association of America
• Western Association of CVBs
• CA Travel Tourism Commission
• CA Travel Industry Association
• Central Valley Tourism Association or your
  regional representative as designated by CTTC

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• Obtains visibility from potential visitors by
  presenting the destination assets at travel
  marketplaces, tradeshows and cooperative
  programs, such as
• General consumer / Travel agents
• Bay Area Travel Show
• Motorcoach Operators
• American Bus Association
• Conference / Meetings
• Meeting Planners International
• Youth Sports Tournaments/ Competitions
• Amateur Athletic Union

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3. Interest Generation

• Generates interest within the given community
  highlighting the benefits of tourism and the
  special attributes of the destination
• Generates interest within the tourism industry by
  uniquely representing and positioning the
  destination
• Generates interest with potential visitors and or
  residents by providing a unique destination or
  experience

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How does the DMO generate interest in the
destination?

• Within the community
• Initiate programs such as photo contests to
  enlist members of the community to contribute to
  the branding campaign.
• Offer educational seminars on tourism issues
• Educate the general public on the benefits of
  tourism
• Solicit participation from community members
  (restaurants/attractions/events)

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• Within the tourism industry
• Initiate relationships with other tourism engines
  on a regional level
• Lodi CVB
• Bring the product to all industry functions
• CA Conference on Tourism
• Establish a presence at regional and national
  tradeshows
• LA Times Travel Show
• American Bus Association
• Affordable Meetings

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• To the potential visitor
• Provide easily accessible information catered to
  the visitors interest and needs
• Place general information at CA Welcome Centers
  or associate visitor bureaus
• Participate in consumer tradeshows sponsored by a
  local/regional/national entity ( LA Times,San
  Francisco Chronicle)
• Provide supporting/ collateral information to
  scheduled conferences and groups that are already
  coming to your area
• Establish a presence at regional festivals and
  events

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4. Distribution of Information

• Distributes destination information in response
  to interest generated (proactive marketing) to
• Present visitors
• Potential visitors
• Tourism industry
• Media
• Community members
• Supporting businesses

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How does the DMO know what sells and who is
buying?

• Aggressive follow-up to trade show participation
  in all target markets
• Creating promotional items that link the brand
  and consumer and careful monitoring of response
• Extensive tracking and research, sometimes with
  other DMOs as partners
• Constant media solicitation
• Solicitation of involvement from local businesses
  to contribute to and track promotional specials

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General tourism rules (with some exceptions)

• Always look at your destination from another
  perspective
• There is always something to see or celebrate a
  country path, cool farm equipment, a historical
  event, a unique local festival
• Tourism can not survive in a place that is
  inhospitable
• While the North Pole will be visited by a niche
  market group, destination marketing is limited.
  Know your limitations.
• In addition, if your community members are not
  friendly and welcoming, chances are visitors
  wont return

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• Tourism needs an image within its given community
• Residents must be comfortable in the fact that
  the tourism effort will support visitation
  without negatively impacting their quality of
  life
• The tourism product must be true to the integrity
  of the community in which it exists
• A visitor expects a gunfight in Tombstone
  Arizona, but not in Napa California

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Brochures

• When you create a brochure, be sure to have a
  strategy for distribution.
• Brochures are not useful unless they are working
  for you
• Brochures are not working for you unless they are
  in the hands of the visitor

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Customers

• Listen to your visitors
• What they liked
• What they didnt like
• And remember
• People always forget what you said, but they will
  never forget how you made them feel