Arizona to Spend $250,000 on PR to Stimulate Tourism

To stimulate travel to the Grand Canyon State, Arizona should launch a public relations campaign to reassure potential visitors that it is "a safe and welcoming destination," according to a volunteer committee of state tourism leaders, which will have $250,000 to spend on the campaign courtesy of the Arizona Department of Commerce, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer announced last week.

Brewer met with the committee in May when states, organizations and individuals began announcing travel boycotts of Arizona in response to its new immigration law, which will go into effect later this month. Citing those boycotts and other "challenges," including the national economy and the negative perception of meetings and events, Brewer asked the committee to develop a series of recommendations that would help Arizona stimulate tourism.

"We want to do all we can to protect our hard working families in the tourism industry and make sure Arizona's real story as a welcoming, one-of-a-kind travel destination is resonating," Brewer said in a statement. "Despite threats by some to Arizonans because of misinformation about immigration law enforcement, I am confident that Arizona's reputation and brand remains strong and that the truth is prevailing."

Comprised of members from the Arizona Office of Tourism, the Arizona Department of Commerce and the Arizona Mexico Commission, as well as the Arizona Tourism Alliance and the Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association — which has committed $30,000 to tourism marketing on top of the state's $250,000 — the governor's tourism task force released its recommendations last week after meeting in subgroups devoted to targeted subjects such as research, advertising, public relations, grassroots communications and corporate group travel.

To be administered under the direction of the Arizona Office of Tourism, the planned campaign—beginning immediately—will include:

• An in-state travel campaign focusing on summer travel deals

• An immigration law fact sheet that will be distributed to media in key markets such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

• A public relations campaign that targets travelers and meeting planners with the message that Arizona is a "safe and welcoming destination," and that changes the conversation to focus on the tangible effects of travel boycotts on tourism employees

• Dialogue with association and corporate meeting planners, who will be invited to Arizona for tours and personal interactions with the governor

• A research initiative that will study the potential loss of business based on Arizona's immigration law

"Arizona's tourism industry is a vital component of our state's economic development," said Dan Cardon, director of the Arizona Department of Commerce. "The state's business development leaders and tourism industry leaders will be working together at the direction of Gov. Brewer to create a long-term solution to the issues that we face going forward."

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus