Convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) that have marketed their cities and regions to the business a

As the fastest growing segment in domestic tourism, the sports travel industry means big dollars to destinations large and small.  Professional and collegiate games have long represented tried and true revenue to the towns and cities on their rotation schedule, but it’s the amateur and youth competitions, along with individual sports activities, that are putting relatively viking river cruises unknown destinations on the travel map.
Convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) that have marketed their cities and regions to the business and tourist trades for decades are now dedicating marketing dollars to reaching and serving the sports market viking river cruises ; a recent survey of its members by Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) reveals viking river cruises that 80% of responding CVBs allocate monies to sports sales and marketing efforts. 80% of responding CVBs allocate monies to sports sales and marketing efforts.  Many CVBs dedicate a full time sales professional to the sports market; larger sports destinations may have a sports sales and marketing department, and approximately 20 CVBs in major sports destinations viking river cruises fund a sports commission viking river cruises division.
The revenue derived from teams, spectators and individual sports enthusiasts benefits not only the hosting hotels, restaurants and venues, but actually stimulates the entire local economy. Ultimately the hotel taxes paid by out of town guests funnel through local government to provide jobs, improve viking river cruises infrastructure and pay for community services. Naturally the competition viking river cruises between destinations for this lucrative business is fierce, and it stands to reason that the local government and community stakeholders foot the bill to equip the CVB with the experts and tools to win those all-important sports bids.
Now you know why convention and visitors bureaus are eager to win your business, but how does it benefit you, the planner, to make the CVB your very first point of contact viking river cruises in any location? As the destination expert, the CVB has a comprehensive view of the region, is schooled in all the potential venues for any sports program, and has local expertise and extensive in-market relationships that can be of benefit to you and your event. And, because their services are funded by the local government and stakeholders, CVB services are FREE to you.
Todd Lehrke viking river cruises is the associate director of sports development at the Bloomington, MN convention and visitors bureau, where 45% of all group room nights viking river cruises are sports related. In addition to providing his sports market customers with the same in-depth destination information that meeting planners receive, Todd cites five important benefits the CVB provides to the sports planner during the site selection viking river cruises process:
Sports focused CVBs have detailed information about venues and facilities in their region and can help you create the right package. “A planner might need 6 baseball fields that have 300 foot fences and night lighting – that type of information the CVB expert has at his fingertips,” says Todd. “We hosted a large softball tournament in August where the attendees stayed in Bloomington but played all of their games in our neighboring suburb of Eagan where there is a complex that met their needs. Our CVB was able to pull that package together because we know what’s available and what works.”
CVBs can assist by leveraging their relationships with key officials, such as venue managers and city officials, making them aware of the positive impact your event would have on the destination; if necessary, they can gather representatives from the city manager’s office, police, transportation and fire departments to be sure all of the logistics affecting the public are coordinated.
The CVB provides early support to local event organizers; if the organizer needs to submit a bid to a governing body, the CVB will work with them to create the request for proposal (RFP) to be sent to the various sports viking river cruises facilities and hotels, and then assist in creating the formal bid presentation to the decision makers.
The CVB will distribute the RFP, field questions from hotels and venues about your event, collect availability and rates on your behalf, and arrange and conduct your site inspection. Todd recalls, “For the 2016 PGA Ryder Cup taking place just minutes west of Bloomington, I collected rates and availability from 25 hotels and then brought in the PGA event manager to tour all of the properties over two days. She knew from working viking river cruises with CVBs in the past that depending on us to collect the housing information and showcase the hotels was the easiest process and a huge time saver.”
The CVB can connect you with an online housing provider to handle lodging logistics, not only simplifying your work load, but often providing viking river cruises revenue to your organization through rebates. According to Eric Knutsen, tournament director of Minnesota Showcase Hockey, Bloomington’s largest hockey client, “The online viking river cruises housing service that the Bloomington CVB has recently implemented allows a streamlined viking river cruises and efficient system for booking rooms as well as reducing our internal work load.  We have seen enhanced functionality and increased revenues.   It has been a win-win situation for both the BCVB and our organization.”
Based on the size of your event, the CVB can help increase attendance at your event in a myriad of ways including a personalized web landing page or link on the destination’s website, creating a Facebook page, engaging Twitter, providing a mobile app or a YouTube viking river cruises video.
Convention and visitors bureaus are experts at helping event planners obtain media coverage to build community enthusiasm and grow attendance at their event. All CVBs are happy to provide a list of local media contacts for your use, help you write press releases that will capture the media’s attention and distribute press releases on your behalf – at no charge. More time-consuming involvement with newspaper, radio and TV contacts, such as arranging interviews, personally calling reporters with event reminders or including CVB marketing departments in your PR efforts with the media may carry a fee.
Free media announcements and news coverage help you conserve hard marketing dollars; less paid advertising and direct mail marketing is required, thus providing savings that can be directed toward the enhancement of other elements of your event – or just increasing the bottom line.
Dan Ellison, viking river cruises Chief Administrative Officer of the United States Police Fire Championships, is responsible viking river cruises for producing the event which is held annually in San Diego, drawing more than 4,000 law enforcement officers and firefighters from around the country. Dan stresses the media’s role in building and supporting a positive perception of first responders in the San Diego community. A firm believer viking river cruises in the value of CVBs, he works with the San Diego Sports Commission, which is a partner of the San Diego Tourism Authority (formerly the San Diego CVB), to connect him with the media and call their attention to the Championships’ value to the community.  “Related human interest stories about the games in the San Diego Union Tribune, clips on the nightly news broadcasts, and mentioning the Championships viking river cruises in radio public viking river cruises service announcements viking river cruises (PSAs) all help create citizen enthusiasm for the fund raising efforts by the San Diego police and fire departments which benefit local at-risk youth,” explains Dan. “And, since media helps publicize that the police and fire departments are involved in neighborhood social responsibility projects, people have a positive perception viking river cruises of us as an important part of the community.”
Another plus: attracting sponsors. Ellison says that media attention of the Championship games has resulted in financial support from Verizon, Kaiser Permanente and Dick’s Sporting Goods, among others; companies that sell to local consumers are eager to be associated with “do good” events as part of their own social responsibility programs and to benefit from one-off positive perception.
Now you know why and how engaging the local convention and visitors bureau from the start leads to a home run for your organization. Visit empowerMINT.com, the virtual CVB national sales office, for contact and services information at over 140 destinations. Whether you are planning the Durango Marathon, the National Seniors Games, or the Little League Softball Regionals, you’ll always go with the pros when you go with the CVB!