The Eunice News Staff Report
The St. Landry Parish Tourism Commission released an annual report Monday.
The marketing plan and year end report stated there were 10,060 visitors to the parish information centers.
The parish tourism organization is led by Celeste Gomez, exeutive director, of Eunice.
“We are really pleased with what we were able to accomplish this year,” she said. “We were really excited about the activity on our website, which was a substantial increase. It shows a lot of the effort that is being put into it is paying off.”
The tourism welcome center on Interstate 49 was inundated during the August flooding. Renovations began this month and Gomez expects operations will resume in April at the building.
A summary from the Monday’s report includes the following.
We put on our thinking caps on, and devised a plan of action for 2017 complete with projects, goals, and a complete marketing plan to share with you, our industry partners.
The report also includes a recap of 2016, and highlights some of our biggest achievements.
2016 at a glance
Promoted St. Landry Parish by placing 216 ads and web banners in over 148 publications and websites, reaching roughly 27,558,117 readers and users. Over $101,113.58 was spent on advertising for a total ad value of $178,173
Aided tourism industry partners by offering a total of seven cooperative marketing opportunities, $15,532 of which was funded by the tourism commission.
Engaged 42,448 users through CajunTravel.com.
Responded to 10,681 reader service leads and travel tradeshow leads.
Funded several projects including the Washington billboard, ISDN line for the Liberty Theatre, visitor center and museum weekend staff, and domain name for SunsetLouisiana.com. SLPTC will continue to fund these projects in 2017.
Awarded $21,386.75 through the SLP Advertising Grant Program. The total ad value of placed media was $241,196.
2017 goals - marketing, promotion, advocacy
Byways, Corridors and Trails: After the release of the new Zydeco Cajun Prairie Scenic Byway sign, brochure, and map, our next step is to build itineraries for individual and group travel. The Bayou Teche Corridor will also get some special treatment, including website redesign.
Sales Leads: SLPTC’s new focus for 2017 includes attracting business meetings, conventions, weddings, and other special events to the area. Through advertising and attendance at conferences and travel shows, we plan to bring more sales leads to our event venues and accommodations. In addition, we hope to build stronger relationships with those partners and request to be notified about any such events taking place in the parish.
Promotional Video: Videos make an excellent content marketing tool. They improve SEO and are one of most engaging forms of media. We hope to create both a parish-wide video and a Mardi Gras video as well.
Travel Writers: In addition to familiarization tours, we hope to attract travel writers through email marketing. Because of our participation in the Society of American Travel Writers 2017 Membership Directory, we acquired contact information for their current members. We plan to send, on a quarterly basis, “What’s New in SLP”, a collection of newsworthy stories and ideas for visiting St. Landry Parish.
Storytelling: Blogs serve as an excellent content marketing tool. Our relationship with the Louisiana Office of Tourism will allow us to submit blog entries. We plan to submit on a quarterly basis.
Exhibits: Implementation of a Chef Paul Prudhomme exhibit will take place in 2017. We plan to begin by seeking grant funding and leads for exhibit artifacts.
Legislators: Just this year, our executive director was appointed to the LACVB Advocacy Task Force. We plan to continue our mission of promoting the importance of tourism to our state’s economy. We’ve clued in our state legislators by adding them to our industry partner mailing list in order provide better insight of the economic impact tourism has on St. Landry Parish.