Back-to-school sale signs signal August and one final big push for leisure travel before changing gears to fall. Here at the Ohio Tourism Division, it means 2009 planning is in full swing. I often use this column to either discuss changes in our Industry, or to promote upcoming Division efforts. This month, I will do both.
Continue reading "Thinking about 2009 and Continued Changes in Ohio’s Travel Industry" »
Marketing Assistance Program (MAP) participants should have received their Phase II award letters last week. For those of you who participated in Phase I, your reimbursement paperwork is due by Aug. 31. To find the form, please click here, print it out and fill it out in blue or black ink.
The 2009 Guidelines for MAP will be released in early fall. Please contact Joe Vargo at joseph.vargo@development.ohio.gov or (614) 644-0786 with any questions.
To have your Ohio tourism event considered for inclusion in the printed 2009 Spring/Summer Ohio Calendar of Events (100,000 quantity printed), please submit/update your information in the Buckeye database by 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 5. The calendar will include events that take place between March and August of 2009.
Continue reading "Sept. 5 Listing Deadline for 2009 Spring/Summer Ohio Calendar of Events " »
The Division is hosting several town hall meetings to brief Industry members on marketing partnership opportunities and other ways we can help you promote your tourism destination. Below are the dates for the Division’s upcoming town hall meetings.
Continue reading "New Marketing Partnership Opportunities to be Unveiled at Sept. Meetings" »
The Division will participate in the upcoming Student and Youth Travel Association’s annual conference Sept. 5 – 9 in San Antonio, Texas. Please provide Celeste Krolak with updated 2009 student educational and performance packages, including student images and special exhibit dates, by Aug. 8 to Celeste.Krolak@development.ohio.gov.
Continue reading "Important Group Tour Updates and Deadlines" »
Approximately 20,000 Ohioans have been deployed to war zones and other parts of the world since Sept. 11, 2001. With the Division’s new “2008 Summer/Fall Military Family Promotion” program, you have the opportunity to show your appreciation and help these service men and women enjoy time with their families upon their return.
Continue reading "Ohio Tourism Call to Action for Ohio Military Families" »
Thank you to all the tourism entities that submitted a listing by the July 23 deadline to be considered for the 2009 Ohio Travel Planner, the state’s official travel guide. If you submitted a listing by the deadline, please be on the lookout for an email from Great Lakes Publishing on or around Aug. 25 (or soon after) requesting verification that the listing is accurate before it is printed in the planner. The e-mail will come from webmaster@glpublishing.com, and the subject line will be “2009 Ohio Travel Planner Verification.”
If the publisher does not receive a response during this verification process, the listing will not be published in the planner. We make every effort to include as many Industry listings in the planner as possible within the boundaries of our total page count, so it is possible that some listings may not be able to be included.
The Division is pleased to announce availability of the new 2008-09 Fall/Winter Ohio Calendar of Events. We are continuing the same distribution plan as last year for bulk quantities of the calendar. Initial orders will be limited to one box (100 quantity) of calendars per organization until mid-September. This will allow sufficient time to fulfill a majority of consumer requests before resuming fulfillment of bulk orders. Thank you in advance for working with us on this distribution plan. Calendars can be ordered from the Buckeye Fulfillment Center at www.DiscoverOhio.com/industry; please click on the “Division Resources” tab at the top of the page and then click “Tourism Information” then “Bulk Publication Request.”
Ohio’s new “Livin’ for the Weekend” campaign capitalized on national audiences and media in Cincinnati this year for the NAACP National Convention (July 12-17) and Macy’s Music Festival (July 25-26). Governor Strickland and Lt. Governor Fisher both addressed the NAACP convention delegates to welcome them to Ohio. And throughout the convention, the crowd of 10,000 visitors, including U.S. Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, received a taste of Ohio’s multicultural marketing efforts through a series of message points including: “Livin’ for the Weekend” commercial played on the big screen during the NAACP convention welcome, on the big screen in Fountain Square repeatedly and in guest rooms in convention hotels; a two-page ad was placed in the Cincinnati Herald to welcome guests to Ohio and introduce them to Ohio’s multicultural tourism offerings; and numerous interviews by Lt. Governor Lee Fisher and Asst. State Tourism Director Alicia Reece were conducted with national news outlets including the Tom Joyner radio program, Lincoln Ware radio program and numerous local television and print outlets. Additionally, each convention attendee received on of the new Ohio multicultural event guides in their welcome bags.
On July 8, Ohio Film Office Director Christina Grozik conducted the first Ohio Film Office Advisory Group meeting in Columbus. The group consists of 40 Ohio production industry professionals from various aspects of the film/video industry including production companies, equipment rental house facilities, advertising agencies, Ohio-based corporations, educational institutions, economic development organizations and Ohio’s three regional film commissions. Their task is to provide advice and feedback on how the office can attraction more production and film work to Ohio. During the meeting, Ohio Film Office Director Christina Grozik led brainstorming discussions on how to recruit new production business to the state while retaining and growing industry business in Ohio. The Film Advisory Group will meet quarterly to examine important topics pertaining to building Ohio as a production destination.
Continue reading "Ohio Film Office Hosts First Advisory Group Meeting" »
On July 24 and 25, Amir Eylon and Eric Herzog, along with Adam Sacks from Tourism Economics, hit the road to share the 2007 Visitors Study and Economic Impact Study results and answer questions about the county-level tourism research reports.
Continue reading "2007 Ohio Tourism Research Now Available" »
One of the biggest emerging trends in marketing is the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Businesses are engaging in an Internet marketing and social media world where getting their word out is becoming easier—and more cost effective.
Are you thinking of a Web site redesign? Need more events for your calendar?
DiscoverOhio.com and the Buckeye database offer a data sharing functionality that will allow you to display or download attractions and events that have been submitted and approved in the Division’s Buckeye database. The Division can provide you with HTML code that can be placed on your site to display events or attractions in an iFrame format.
The Division can also provide a raw XML data file that can be imported into your own site database. For more information on this data sharing feature, contact Eric Herzog at eric.herzog@development.ohio.gov or Roger Barker at roger.barker@development.ohio.gov.
Aug. 7: Celeste Krolak visits Roscoe Village, Heini’s Gourmet Market and Tuscarawas County
Aug. 12: Amir Eylon speaking to Greater Columbus Events Council Meeting
Aug. 14: Alicia Reece and Singleton & Partners at the Toledo Zoo presenting the Division’s “Livin’ for the Weekend” multicultural tourism campaign
Aug. 19: Alicia speaking to Mansfield Rotary Club
Aug. 20: Amir, Alicia and Joe Vargo at OTA Focus on Tourism Luncheon on Put-in-Bay
Aug. 23-26: Amir at ESTO Convention and National Council of State Tourism Directors Annual Meeting
