Tourism in review [July 2002]

Tourism

July '02 in review . . .

Volume 5 July

... Georgia is experiencing real tourism growth in several areas of the State and this trend is expected to continue. According to the latest Smith Travel Report (STR), Georgia room revenue numbers through the first six months of '02, as compared to the same time period in '01, show Southern Rivers +5.1%, Colonial Coast +7.5%, Historic South +5%, Georgia Mountains +1.4% and Atlanta Metro -9.3%. "We are continuing to work on the development of tourism product including linkage and packaging of existing sites and attractions," Janis Cannon, GDITT Deputy Commissioner said. There is a consolidated effort underway to incorporate more packaging of attractions and to offer more incentives to stay and see Georgia for the business traveler as well as the domestic drive market traveler.
... In July, GDITT's Deputy Commissioner of Tourism Janis Cannon, Media Relations Manager Trish Croll and Manning, Selvage & Lee marketing firm representative Maureen Roth, traveled to New York to meet with national publications and pitch Georgia's tourism message. Appointments were held with top national publications including Conde Nast Traveler, Bride's, Travel Trends, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, Maxim, Diversion, Essence and Travel Trade magazines in order to market information about Georgia's new family travel destinations and to spotlight the State's best summer travel options. Although at this time a media value can not be estimated, the tourism team met with consumer and trade publications with a combined circulation of 20,926,322, and are expecting a significant return on investment.
... GDITT was represented at the first Georgia Motorcoach Operators Association (GMOA) Meeting and Marketplace in July. The association encourages travel to Georgia through booking the services of a GMOA operator. GDITT Tourism Sales Manager Laurie Rowe interviewed over 40 operators and travel planners. With each operator booking only one 2- day tour within Georgia the total economic impact would be $960,000. (Economic Impact figures based on research by the American Bus Association)
... Internationally Georgia has had wonderful media success. The State was recently featured by the German Trade publication FVW in an article, which derived from the State's May 7-12, 2002 FTI (German Tour Operator) FAM Trip. The associated media value for the article is $5,461.54 and the article was distributed to 36,700 people. This article was only 1 of 15 German articles published in July. The total media value for July was $90,730.49, with a total distribution of 1,476,200.
... The popular British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) show, Holiday Swap, filmed in Atlanta in July as part of an upcoming episode to be shown to more than 7 million prime-time viewers in the United Kingdom. The show chooses two groups with very different vacation preferences and has them switch vacations for a week. While only in Georgia for 24-hours, the Peach State made a positive impression on the group! They hope to come back soon to do another Holiday Swap in Georgia. The Holiday Swap show may also be shown on the new BBC America network in the US.
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Tourism

July '02 in review . . .

Volume 5 July

... A "Special Offers Section" was launched in July on GDITT's website. The new program offers tourism partners a way to expand their marketing efforts. Special offers will be posted on the www.georgiaonmymind.org website if participants meet the following criteria: - Offers must be for Georgia events, attractions, accommodations or restaurants - Offers must include a discount of at least 25% off retail prices - Offers may be posted for a maximum of 3 months and must include an ending date - Offers for adult entertainment establishments or other offers that GDITT deems inappropriate for the family audience will not be accepted - All special offers must have an accompanying phone number and email address for inquirers to contact - Offers must include a coupon or special code that customers redeem so those offers can be tracked - Participating properties are required to track redemption of the special offer and GDITT will require, within 30 days of the offers end date, a reasonable estimate of the number of visitors who used the discount and the increment revenue generated by the offer - Please email a 150 dpi/jpg image to use with the offer - All logos should be 150dpi/jpg image

... Information on the Brochure Room Program and how you can participate will be on the www.georgiaonmymind.org website sometime after the middle of August, so make a note to check it out.
... Response to GDITT's Co-Op program has been tremendous. Over 80 applications have been submitted and the announcement on which organizations will be granted funding will be made in September. Reaction to the wider options available in this year's program has been very positive.
... The State has also received positive feedback on the Georgia Getaway advertising campaign that ran through July. A huge thank you goes out to all industry partners who donated over 40 trips to help with the promotional side of the campaign. We're interested in your feedback on both the Co-op and advertising campaign, so send your comments to Molly Gilbert at mgilbert@georgia.org.

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