Destination Media

PROGRAMS IN PLACES: DESTINATION STEWARDSHIP

Thirteen self-funded Geotourism MapGuide projects have been completed or are underway in six countries; four more are pending. Typically, each requires convening a local Geotourism Stewardship Council and eliciting grassroots participation with extensive local media coverage over the course of a year. Recent examples include:

Appalachia (2005)

1.3 million MapGuides were printed; 900,000 ran in Traveler’s April, 2005 issue, and another 400,000 were distributed to targeted consumers through the 13 State Tourism offices distribution network.
200 Press announcements (newspapers, TV, radio, newsletters and magazines)

North East Kingdom Vermont – (2006)

150,000 maps distributed.
45,000 + hits on the NEKTTA Website.
400,000 indirect contacts through newspaper, television, radio, and magazines.

Baja California, México – (2007)

200,000 mapguides printed
NG Traveler magazine insert
354 sites nominated
1,000 local participants in the nomination process either by attending one of the 20 plus geotourism forums conducted during the project or by sending in nomination forms or nominating on the project website.
Radio and television coverage (Dion, TV Azteca 2006) and interviews in Baja California and at National level in Mexico.
6 newspaper articles on file

Sonora Desert Region (Arizona, USA and Sonora, Mexico) – (2007)

300,000 maps printed / 200,000 maps inserted in the Latin America edition of NGM
100,000 plus hits to Arizona website since launch.
17 newspaper articles on file for Mexico / 15 on file for Arizona
Extensive local radio and TV and reports
18 Geotourism forums in Arizona with 350 attendees / 25 forums in Sonora, Mexico with 500 attendees
850 site nominations received
Project has won two awards
10,000 monthly visitors to the geotourism mapguide on the Arizona Office of Tourism website. The Geotourism web map is currently being redesigned and improved.
62,000 increase in visitors to Sonora, from approximately 228,486 visitors in 2006 to 290,052 visitors in 2007 (the year the MapGuide was published and distributed)

Greater Yellowstone, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming (2009)

250,000 mapguides printed
30 public forums held in the tri-state region
1,200 site nominations.
40 print media hits reached over 1.4 million readers, including the London Daily Telegraph audience. NBC Today Show and MSNBC reported the project in national television broadcasts in the US.
www.YellowstoneGeotourism.org
April 8, 2009 to Jan 24, 2010 – 21,648 unique visits – 1352 subscribers
148 local content contributors providing 103 active content for website entries
63 newspaper, web, radio and TV reports on file

Crown of the Continent, Montana, Alberta, B.C. (2008)

200,000 mapguides printed

65 community workshops held
850 site nominations received
www.CrownOftheContinent.net
Nov 26 2008 to Jan 24, 2010 – 107,304 unique visitors – 21,835 subscribers (people signing up with the site) = 20% conversion (anonymous visitor to subscriber)
192 local content contributors providing 480 active content for website entries
90 newspaper, website, radio, magazine and TV reports on file
The creating GSC was named recipient of the Montana Tourism Partnership of the Year award in March 2009.

Guatemala: (2009)

15,000 mapguides printed

2,500 people attended 47 community forums
1,100 unique site nominations received
1,500 people attended the project launch event
75,000 coffee growers in villages and hamlets throughout the country are represented in our partnership with the Guatemalan Coffee Association (ANACAFE)
28 TV, radio, and print articles on file. Estimated outreach over 4 million

Central Cascades of Washington and Oregon (2009)

50,000 mapguides printed
MapGuide to be inserted in May western US edition of NG Traveler
1,400 site nominations
40 geofourms held in the region
37 newspaper, TV, radio and web media reports on file

Redwood Coast California (2010)

First website only project
Strategic partnership with Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation providing $70,000 in funding for NG to create the website and the Federal Geotourism MOU partners a $70,000 match to implement the project locally
Over 850 unique site nominations received between January and May 2009.
Over 3,000 people engaged in public meetings in the region
Media coverage in every major newspaper from Crescent City to Fort Bragg
www.visitredwoodcoast.org - Soft launched January 21^st 2010
372 local content contributors providing 223 active content for website entries entries
Official roll out event on March 11^th in Scotia, Cal. Mike Fay featured speaker

Sierra Nevada California (2010)

3 paper mapguides and a four- part mapguide initiative

Project launch in Yosemite byway region in August 2009
9 local newspapers and 3 TV stations covered launch events
23 geotoruism forums held in the region
1,400 site nominations received
www.SierraNevadaGeotourism.org launched March 2010– public site still in development
722 local content contributors providing 823 active content website entries entries
Sierra Nevada is the first site a complete online nominations process was followed using GeoConsensus. On the other sites the nominations process was offline and then transferred online. It appears the online process brings in significantly more nominators and active content entries.

City of Montreal, Canada (2009)

100,000 mapguides printed
15 community forums
350 site nominations received

Vilcanota Valley of Peru (2009)

30,000 mapguides printed
51 geoforums held covering virtually all the municipalities in the valley
2,300 site nominations received
4 newspaper articles on file.
Extensive regional radio coverage in both Spanish and Quechua.
10,000 copies of “Geotourism for Your Community” have been given out to schools and libraries in the region; approximately 33 schools have 3,000 copies of NGS “Kids” (in Spanish).
Strategic partnership with the World bank as primary project funder

Destination Media

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