Destination Marketing Today 7/27/2022
Great morning!
- Festivals Draw Crowds. The Sillier, The Better
- Recognize Local Hospitality Workers
- A Pop-Up Visitors Center Responds to the Market
A SILLY FESTIVAL STILL DRAWS A CROWD
The Silliest Festival I’ve Ever Heard Of
The Great Texas Mosquito Festival is taking place in Clute, Texas this weekend.
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“This started as a way, kind of tongue in cheek, to celebrate our favorite summer pest, the mosquito, and get folks to come to Clute and see what’s all going on here,” Clute Parks and Recreation Director Will Blackstock said. “It’s kind of our signature even, that helps to get people into town and to let them see some of the other stuff we have going on. So it really is a tourism driver.”
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The three-day festival opens Thursday and offers a slew of events each night through Saturday, including vendors, live music, a carnival and plenty of food options. Activities include a horseshoe tournament, a washer tournament, a cornhole tournament, a 5K run, a barbecue cook-off, karaoke contest, and a mosquito calling contest.
Will you see the ads?
“People are definitely attracted to the festival; we advertise all over the state,” Mosquito Festival Committee member Angel Cowley said. “We advertise all over the state of Texas to attract people to come down for the weekend. It’s a way to get out-of-town guests to come in and stay in the hotels, eat at our restaurants, shop in our shops.”
Although the festival is relatively local, the mosquito theme piques curiosity from people well beyond the destination. Silly? Yes. But, it sure does draw a crowd.
The email address for more festival information is buzz@mosquitofestival.com. Brilliant!
SHOW APPRECIATION TO THE HOSPITALITY WORKERS IN YOUR DESTINATION
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Happy Valley Adventure Bureau Launches Campaign to Recognize Local Hospitality Workers
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The DMO has launched a special campaign to show support and appreciation for the people working to keep places like hotels, restaurants and bars a vital part of the local economy. The campaign recognizing hospitality employees works in concert with efforts to highlight job and career opportunities.
The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau’s “Happy Valley Hospitality” campaign will include components such as profiles of local hospitality workers, a dedicated webpage and messaging in visitor guides and other publications distributed to guests.
The campaign’s “Profiles in Hospitality” — featured at HappyValley.com/hospitality and other platforms — highlight the stories and experiences of individuals working in a variety of jobs at businesses around the county.
The goal is to showcase the “great personalities” who are passionate about working in hospitality, their career paths and how the industry can be rewarding.
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“The hospitality industry was devastated by COVID, both financially and from a staffing perspective,” HVAB President and CEO Fritz Smith said. “Given the challenges of the past few years, and those that remain for many of our establishments, the HVAB Board of Directors felt it was important to recognize those who have chosen hospitality as a career or who are working in the industry in some capacity, and let them know that the work they do matters.”
“We want visitors to remember that when they frequent a favorite Happy Valley dining spot, or attend an event or performance, or stay at a hotel or B&B that there is a team of talented, dedicated employees working hard behind the scenes to provide them with excellent service and great memories,” Smith said. “We want our visitors to appreciate our hospitality employees and what they have been through as much as we do.”
See the video series below.
POP-UP VISITOR CENTER GOES WHERE THE VISITORS ARE
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The Winchester-Frederick County Convention and Visitors Bureau will open a pop-up visitors’ center within the next few weeks on the Loudoun Street Mall.
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“It’s based on the strategy of putting the visitor information where the people are, not trying to get people to come to where the visitor information is,” said Justin Kerns, the bureau’s executive director. “We market for people to come here. Once they’re in-market, we try to get them to stay longer, experience more and ultimately spend more money in our community.”
Details
The Loudoun Street Mall is one of the top destinations for people who visit Winchester. The DMO plans on opening the pop-up visitors’ center every fall and, depending on how well it is utilized, in the springtime as well.
With the pop-up visitor center, people can more easily find out about the farm markets, the wineries, the cider works, the meadery, things that are going on throughout the destination.
A pop up location in a high traffic area is a smart approach, especially during the fall season when the destinations has many people just walking around the mall, who may not go any further into the community.