Tourism Commission Meeting July 9
The Gloucester Tourism Commission meets monthly at City Hall to discuss a variety of issues and make recommendations to the Mayor's Office. There is currently one vacancy on the board. The board consists of three members that work in the hotel industry, two members that are hospitality professors, and one with retail background. Adding a member with a strong restaurant background would be very smart. Restaurants in Gloucester are estimated to generate $64,000,000 in sales a year.
Following is a brief synopsis of the meeting so those of you who have never attended can have an idea of what your commission does. Maybe you can help them. I apologize in advance for the sketchy details. I didn't think about doing this until after the meeting.
Brochures - The city pays for the printing and distribution of certain brochures we have seen about town and hopefully in all of our lobbies. Gloucester - Where Past is Present (very nice by the way), an Accommodations rack card, and the Maritime Trail (also one of my favorites) are going to be distributed both throughout Gloucester and in Boston. The Boston brochures will be distributed in different venues from the Discover Gloucester brochures produced by Seaport Gloucester DMO. There was concern that Gloucester was not being represented at the Welcome Center on Rt. 95 in Salisbury, MA. The Tourism Commission will try obtain a space asap for the Gloucester - Where Past is Present brochure.
The Gloucester Visitor's Welcoming Center at Stage Fort Park - More volunteers are needed , especially for Thursdays. The Tourism Commission had produced a training program that was used a few years ago in a seminar offered to front line hospitality employees. This program will be adapted for the volunteers at the Welcoming Center and also offered to individual businesses. I will follow up on this and let you know when it is available. Additional training will begin with the volunteers next week.
A census of the visitors that stopped into the center during 4th of July week was taken. From how many individuals, where they came from and how they heard about us. There were some great numbers there that I am trying to get some exact figures to pass along to you. Stay tuned.
If you haven't seen it yet, the city and Chamber produced the Downtown Walking Guide for Gloucester. Rockport's had one for years and it's about time Gloucester caught up. All the stores downtown, restaurants, museums, galleries, information and a great map - let's build the business for Main St. and beyond. You can pick some up at the Chamber of Commerce or the Welcoming Center. Rockport, Essex and Manchester - this is for you also. Get your visitors to stay another day. Once they have exhausted your downtown, they can spend on Gloucester's.
Sail Gloucester. Unbelievable job for such short notice. I think the final count was 9 ships. The Schooner Festival over Labor Day Weekend was advertised during this event. Let's hope this group continues with the great work.
A joint meeting between the Tourism Commission, the Chamber of Commerce and the DMO is trying to be worked out to compare notes. I am sure none of these organizations want to replicate the same work.
The city's tourism website being migrated to ilovegloucester.com was discussed. I already posted on this previously. Almost ready to go, please check and report on corrections asap. Again, thank you Kathleen and also to Jay Albert of Cape Ann Images and Joe Ciaramitaro of Good Morning Gloucester for their help.
The Tourism Commission is also looking to the Chamber for information on tv advertising costs. This is just fact finding to see if any legwork has been done on the cost and markets of putting an ad, maybe the Cape Ann Is Calling ad, on local cable access tv ( this is not for local Cape Ann, but local for other areas that we draw from, ie. upstate New York, Conn, NJ). There was no Chamber representative at the meeting due to a scheduling conflict but the Chair will contact the Chamber for any help they can provide. If anyone out there has some figures or any experience with advertising through local cable access, your input would be appreciated.
I think that was about it. Quite a lot covered, don't you think.
Following is a brief synopsis of the meeting so those of you who have never attended can have an idea of what your commission does. Maybe you can help them. I apologize in advance for the sketchy details. I didn't think about doing this until after the meeting.
Brochures - The city pays for the printing and distribution of certain brochures we have seen about town and hopefully in all of our lobbies. Gloucester - Where Past is Present (very nice by the way), an Accommodations rack card, and the Maritime Trail (also one of my favorites) are going to be distributed both throughout Gloucester and in Boston. The Boston brochures will be distributed in different venues from the Discover Gloucester brochures produced by Seaport Gloucester DMO. There was concern that Gloucester was not being represented at the Welcome Center on Rt. 95 in Salisbury, MA. The Tourism Commission will try obtain a space asap for the Gloucester - Where Past is Present brochure.
The Gloucester Visitor's Welcoming Center at Stage Fort Park - More volunteers are needed , especially for Thursdays. The Tourism Commission had produced a training program that was used a few years ago in a seminar offered to front line hospitality employees. This program will be adapted for the volunteers at the Welcoming Center and also offered to individual businesses. I will follow up on this and let you know when it is available. Additional training will begin with the volunteers next week.
A census of the visitors that stopped into the center during 4th of July week was taken. From how many individuals, where they came from and how they heard about us. There were some great numbers there that I am trying to get some exact figures to pass along to you. Stay tuned.
If you haven't seen it yet, the city and Chamber produced the Downtown Walking Guide for Gloucester. Rockport's had one for years and it's about time Gloucester caught up. All the stores downtown, restaurants, museums, galleries, information and a great map - let's build the business for Main St. and beyond. You can pick some up at the Chamber of Commerce or the Welcoming Center. Rockport, Essex and Manchester - this is for you also. Get your visitors to stay another day. Once they have exhausted your downtown, they can spend on Gloucester's.
Sail Gloucester. Unbelievable job for such short notice. I think the final count was 9 ships. The Schooner Festival over Labor Day Weekend was advertised during this event. Let's hope this group continues with the great work.
A joint meeting between the Tourism Commission, the Chamber of Commerce and the DMO is trying to be worked out to compare notes. I am sure none of these organizations want to replicate the same work.
The city's tourism website being migrated to ilovegloucester.com was discussed. I already posted on this previously. Almost ready to go, please check and report on corrections asap. Again, thank you Kathleen and also to Jay Albert of Cape Ann Images and Joe Ciaramitaro of Good Morning Gloucester for their help.
The Tourism Commission is also looking to the Chamber for information on tv advertising costs. This is just fact finding to see if any legwork has been done on the cost and markets of putting an ad, maybe the Cape Ann Is Calling ad, on local cable access tv ( this is not for local Cape Ann, but local for other areas that we draw from, ie. upstate New York, Conn, NJ). There was no Chamber representative at the meeting due to a scheduling conflict but the Chair will contact the Chamber for any help they can provide. If anyone out there has some figures or any experience with advertising through local cable access, your input would be appreciated.
I think that was about it. Quite a lot covered, don't you think.
Posted by Innkeepers of Cape Ann at 7/11/2009 2:57 PM 
Categories: Gloucester Tourism Commission, How We Can Help Each Other
Categories: Gloucester Tourism Commission, How We Can Help Each Other
Welcoming Center: Visitor Report: Friday July 3rd - Sunday July 5th
Total Visitors: Monday, June 29, 2009 through Sunday July 5th 1013
Date Guests Signed In Guests Recorded
July 3rd 18 203
July 4th 8 183
July 5th 39 240
How did you hear about us
Internet 4
Movies 6
Brochure 0
Family-Friends 5
Live Nearby 7
Gloucester Event 1
Newspaper 0
Referral 2
AAA 1
Return Visit 4
It's Famous 1
No Comment 36
Number of Days Staying in Gloucester
Survey from 7-1 - 7-6
1 48
2 5
3 or more 13
No Comment 20
This small sample illustrated the need to have the volunteers be more proactive in obtaining responses and adapting the questionnaire to be more user friendly. How many of you ask your guests "How did you here about us?"?
Small crisis at the hotel, having to do with sewer, ugh, but as soon as possible, I will post my %'s of referrals. If anyone else keeps track, please post. This can help all us to see what drives tourists to Cape Ann.
Also, Julietta House expressed an interest in forming a coop to take out a large ad that can be broken down into $200 increments for individual properties. We need any information on SUCCESSFUL publications, anyone interested in taking part, and suggestions. I would really like to see an ad that shows a drop-dead gorgeous picture that is quintessentially Cape Ann with smaller listings around or underneath it. But I will start skimming through my collection of travel brochures for ideas.
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That's it for this article begin to read this blog. Plus, a subscriber:)
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