Warmest greetings from the Ohio Tourism Division! The children are heading back to school for the start of another year, which means that many of our Industry partners and colleagues are beginning to work on their 2010 budgets and seek out ways to best leverage limited marketing resources into increased visitation and sales.
To that end, I am pleased to announce that our Fiscal Year 2010 Marketing Partnership Opportunities guide will be rolled out around the state later this month in order to help you plan through the winter, spring and into next summer’s marketing efforts. Despite the recent budget challenges, we are presenting you with a robust menu of marketing opportunities that include many program favorites as well as some new offerings to work together to drive more business to your front door!
In addition to these opportunities, we will be sharing with you some of our latest marketing research received over the summer, as well as providing the most current update on Division initiatives, including our transition to a “public/private model” Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) for the State of Ohio. Please see the article below for times and dates and RSVP as these venues are sure to fill up quickly (as they did at last year’s partnership rollouts).
As mentioned last month, we have begun the process of looking at potential options for the future funding and operation of Ohio’s tourism marketing effort. The first phase involves looking at the range of options that other states currently use. This work is a collaboration between the Leadership of the Ohio Department of Development; its Tourism Division; its Office of Policy, Research, and Strategic Planning; and the Executives of the Ohio Tourism Roundtable representing the Tourism Industry. It is important that we first do our diligence and understand these alternative models and evaluate their potential application in Ohio before we can engage both private and public stakeholders in the discussion of creating Ohio’s model. We continue to encourage all of you to share your thoughts and insights with your respective sector leaders or my office directly as your feedback is vital. As always, we will continue to share updates on our process and engage your feedback both directly and via Ohio’s Tourism Industry Leadership as we progress.
Looking ahead to next month, please mark Oct. 21-23 on your calendars for the annual Ohio Conference on Tourism. This is the second year of the Division’s partnership with the Ohio Travel Association that has enabled this conference to put forth an agenda of terrific presenters on the latest trends and best practices in our Industry during a time of change in both our economy and the way consumers are influenced (think social media, niche markets, etc). Beginner, intermediate and even advanced general sessions and breakouts are planned to make this a “must attend” for executives and their core teams. Division leadership and team members will be in attendance to provide additional updates and insights, as well as to network with all of our Industry partners. More information will be included in future Division communications for what promises to be one the most affordable and best professional conferences in recent Ohio Tourism history!
Bottom Line: We have a lot of opportunities coming up to get together and build new partnerships for success in 2010. I look forward to seeing you as the Ohio Tourism Division hits the road!
Safe travels,
Amir
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