New workshops designed to maximize destination’s marketing effectiveness

01/2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACTS: Nancy Hamilton, Lee Rose, Katie Meckley (239) 338-3500; Jackie MacKay, BVK, (407) 814-0014 or (407) 496-1770

LEE COUNTY, FL – To help maximize the return on destination marketing efforts, the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau (VCB) is hosting a series of quarterly Team Tourism workshops during 2009 to impart the latest information on market opportunities and travel trends for local tourism marketers.

Launched in October 2008, the VCB’s new Team Tourism initiative is a year-round informational program to bring together the VCB staff, travel industry partners and community leaders for two purposes: 1) to strengthen teamwork throughout the destination, and 2) to empower travel industry leaders to maximize marketing opportunities available to them. The program is designed to help maintain the destination’s reputation for long-range vision, strategic thinking and innovative leadership.

Team Tourism also is an outgrowth of the VCB’s new leadership platform, which stresses a collaborative style that unites diverse constituents based on two simple cornerstones – teamwork and a customer-centric approach.

“Our destination is facing challenges from shifts in supply and demand and room inventory as well as the tight economy and increased competition. That means we have to be more customer-centric than ever before to win our share of visitors, and it means we need to work together at new levels,” said VCB Executive Director Suya Davenport. “We’re planning our Team Tourism workshops to help foster these overarching goals.”

The first quarterly Team Tourism program is scheduled for Jan. 21 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Crowne Plaza Fort Myers, where the VCB will present the destination brand and how industry partners can piggyback their efforts onto the VCB’s for greater collaborative marketing outreach to target audiences. Tourism industry members can register for the event by visiting www.LeeVCB.com before Jan. 14. Early registration is $15 per person and payment at the door is $25.

A second Team Tourism workshop is scheduled for May 1 during National Tourism Week and will consist of a full-day program from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. focusing on the value of tourism both from an economic and quality of life standpoint. The third workshop in the series will take place on July 15 from 8:30 a.m. to noon; and the final 2009 presentation is set for Oct. 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., when the VCB will present a full-day Team Tourism Summit featuring an outlook for the travel industry and the rollout of the organization’s annual sales and marketing plan.

Davenport says the Team Tourism workshops will provide increased information from expert sources – all to make the day-to-day jobs of industry marketers more productive. She welcomes input on potential speakers and topics for future Team Tourism programs from members of the area’s tourism community. Suggestions may be sent to her at sdavenport@leegov.com or at (800) 237-6444.

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