Last
Thursday, the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau and Erie County
Executive Chris Collins announced that it has begun the implementation of its
five-year strategic plan. Drafted in partnership with the hospitality industry,
County of Erie and an array of community volunteers, the plan will serve as a
blueprint for successfully marketing Buffalo and Erie County as a compelling
visitor destination.
“The
diverse collection of tools and tactics contained in the plan will allow the
CVB to focus our efforts on the markets and opportunities that demonstrate the
greatest potential return on the investment the community is making in
attractions, infrastructure and marketing,” said CVB Board Chair Jennifer
Parker. “In drafting this plan we have made every effort to enhance the sales
and marketing strategies of the Convention & Visitor Bureau.”
The
Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau sells and markets our assets
and attractions to visitors outside of the Buffalo Niagara region as a
convention, tourism and leisure destination for the economic benefit of the
community. In 2008 the CVB booked over 130,000 hotel room nights and 286
conventions, meetings and events, which resulted in $70 million dollars in
purchases in Buffalo-area restaurants, shops, and attractions.
The
strategic plan clarifies the CVB’s role in the community as an external
marketing organization, and focuses on helping bureau staff to establish
priorities, solve organizational issues, define metrics and build teamwork and
expertise. The planning process included the solicitation of input and analysis
from visitor industry partners, private and public stakeholders and the
community at large. Focus groups, surveys and interviews were used to ensure
that the information gathering process was reflective of the community’s
diversity.
Several
key action steps were identified as priorities by the CVB Board during the
strategic planning process. These include:
•
Creation a Convention Concierge Program to better promote our attractions and
cultural venues to visitors and convention delegates.
•
Establishment of an Amateur Sports Foundation to further develop our sports
marketing and to allow for the development of sponsorship programs to increase
revenue opportunities.
•
Determination and implementation of the best and most effective sites in the
region for Visitor Center operations to maximize visibility and customer
contact.
•
Exploration of creative marketing approaches that utilize new types of
research, technology, media and innovative marketing concepts.
“We
take our role as Buffalo and Erie County’s destination marketing organization
very seriously,” said Richard Geiger, President of the Buffalo Niagara CVB. “Tourism
is a very big business and we intend to grab as big a piece of that pie as we
can. This plan will help us to reach our goals.”
Geiger
noted that “Green” meetings, amateur sporting events, Canadian visitors,
cultural and heritage tourism, fishing tourism and multicultural travel are a
few of the targets that the CVB intends to hit in coming years.
“In
a world that is being transformed nearly every day by new media and social
technologies, the Buffalo Niagara CVB is committed to being an active, aggressive
participant in listening to, talking with and energizing potential customers,”
he added. “We’re thrilled to have this road map that will help to revitalize
the Erie County economy.”