Visitation grows in past year despite challenges
To the editor:
When I took the helm of the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau last February, I vowed to make innovation one of our cornerstones; and we’ve done just that. Our milestone achievements over the last year contributed to a positive economic performance by the local travel industry in 2010, despite the challenges of a sluggish economy and public misperceptions regarding the Gulf oil spill that negatively impacted our destination.
Specifically, visitation rose 2.3 percent from calendar year-end 2010 to calendar year-end 2011. And, despite an increase of 0.8 percent in available room nights due to a rise in room inventory for the year, we achieved a 0.5 percent increase in occupied room nights and a 1.7 percent increase in ADR.
In addition, at year-end 2010, overall inquiries for the destination were up a significant 24 percent over 2009, despite a slight dip by 1 percent in web activity. Additionally, the new www.FortMyers-Sanibel.com website that launched in spring 2010 has generated a 180 percent increase in accommodation searches and a 50 percent increase in the average time spent on the website.
We intend to continue this momentum with our ongoing first-of-its-kind strategic partnership with Lonely Planet, the world’s largest travel publisher and certainly one of the most respected. The third-party endorsement and unprecedented global marketing reach of this marketing alliance should help us to sustain and build upon last year’s success in 2011.
Our innovative marketing in 2010 also included a multiple-phased “Still Pristine” integrated marketing program executed in response to public misperceptions regarding the Gulf oil spill. The effort generated more than 81 million media impressions, more than 17,000 promotional entries and nearly 13,000 consumer votes in our “Bring Back Dan” contest — not to mention it earned recognition from the New York Times and other national media outlets.
We followed the successful “Dan” campaign with Manatee Message, an innovative online viral campaign to shore up tourism’s high season and foster brand evangelism by harnessing the power of social sharing networks. The ongoing campaign features Hugh Manatee, an animated Manatee who serves as a brand ambassador for the destination in a series of light-hearted e-cards that can be customized by senders. More than 5,000 visitors already have sent an e-card.
And we’re not the only ones who are touting our results. In late January, the VCB received one of only 23 platinum Adrian awards presented by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International for outstanding achievement. The annual competition drew more than 1,100 entries from around the world, and the platinum Adrian awards were selected from the 2010 competition’s 154 gold winners. Gold awards were presented to entries the judges determined best met the criteria for each award category.
So you can see why I’m proud of our achievements during my first-year tenure, and you can be sure our commitment to innovation continues unabated.
Tamara Pigott
Executive Director
Lee VCB