Lee VCB takes off with Lonely Planet
To the editor:
Once again, the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau is setting the pace for other destinations as the first and only bureau in the country to forge a strategic partnership with global travel leader Lonely Planet.
The tourism mega-brand is the world’s largest travel publisher with an unmatched range of global coverage. In our multi-platform partnership, Lonely Planet is creating and producing a customized destination guidebook for The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, a digital/online version of the guide, a mobile application of the guide and other digital solutions that will expand our marketing reach exponentially. As a result, the partnership allows the VCB to respond more effectively to social media that have created a demand for more content in more places.
There’s no better global marketing partner for our destination than Lonely Planet. Their commitment to sustainability and responsible, respectful travel is the same as ours when it comes to protecting and preserving our beaches and other natural resources. Plus, the audience for its products closely matches the psychographic profile of our visitor; and its demographic includes a younger audience, so it gives us an opportunity to introduce our brand to new potential visitors.
Besides producing the destination guidebook, an e-guide and mobile application of the guide, Lonely Planet will create and house a microsite for our destination on its website with versions for the U.S., U.K. and Germany and then drive traffic to the microsite by advertising it to visitors on other areas of its website. The company also will produce eight, two- to three-minute videos hosted by Lonely Planet authors showcasing various aspects of the destination, two of which will be translated into German. The videos will air on Lonely Planet’s website and its YouTube channel, as well as on syndication partner outlets currently under negotiation.
Lonely Planet also will provide our destination guidebook as a gift with purchase from the destination’s top feeder markets on www.LonelyPlanet.com, and it has finalized a deal with Books-a-Million in which the retailer will provide our new guidebook as a gift with purchase in its 41 Florida stores during the first and third quarters of 2011.
In addition, as part of this exciting new marketing alliance, the destination receives six, full-page advertisements in the U.K. edition of Lonely Planet magazine with a distribution of 45,000 in Europe. And all of the content that Lonely Planet creates for the destination will be available to the VCB for use on our consumer website and in other marketing initiatives through a licensing agreement between our two organizations.
Lonely Planet has published more than 100 million travel guidebooks since 1973 and sells more than 6.5 million each year. The organization employs 365 authors who live in 37 countries and speak 70 languages. In the online world, www.LonelyPlanet.com boasts more than 8 million website visitors each month and 1.8 million online community members. The site generates new online posts every 12 seconds.
In addition to its renowned destination guidebooks and website, Lonely Planet’s global products include: Lonely Planet magazine; photo books; travel literature; social networking outlets; customized mobile applications; content licensing for its guidebooks, maps, images, custom articles and feature stories; Lonely Planet television; custom videos; and expert travel authorities oftentimes featured on the speaking circuit and quoted in international media outlets.
The new partnership with Lonely Planet allows the VCB to leverage an association with a respected international travel leader that provides the bureau with an unmatched range of global coverage. It also affords the destination unparalleled marketing exposure from a trusted third-party source. To review more details of our partnership, click here.
This new marketing alliance stemmed from an analysis of the VCB’s marketing needs, consumer travel trends and changing marketplace conditions. That analysis also guided the development of our organization’s 2010-2011 sales and marketing plan, which we unveiled at our annual Team Tourism Summit held in October at Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa.
Despite the economic challenges of the last year, the VCB is projecting for 2010 a year-over-year increase in visitors staying in paid accommodations for the second year in a row. Given this success, we will stay the course in the coming fiscal year, with some adjustments and refinements to our marketing efforts.
In addition to pursuing proven markets, the VCB plans to court market segments that are not as deeply impacted by economic conditions and motivate potential visitors in the decision-making mode to choose our destination. We also intend to strengthen our sales efforts and hone our messaging as we place a special emphasis on the state of Florida, established international markets, and the group motorcoach market. Furthermore, with the increasing influence of the Internet on consumer travel, digital marketing will be another VCB emphasis for the year. To read details of our new fiscal year plans click here. Please note that we share our marketing plan with industry partners on the password-protected portion of our website, so you will need a username and password to access the marketing plan. If you don’t already have a user name and password, please contact our office at 239-338-3500.
When reviewing our Lonely Planet partnership and our 2010-2011 sales and marketing plan, we think you’ll see why there’s no doubt that other destinations will copy our lead. As always, it’s great to blaze a trail for others to follow!
Tamara Pigott
Executive Director
Lee County VCB