Travel Insider
November 7, 2008 – Issue 22
1) Nature Tourism Resource Assessment Workshops
2) Sponsorship Opportunity
3) Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 for Winter 2009
4) Holiday Packages
5) 2009 Season Passes
6) Free Publicity
7) Media Lead – Website Link
8) Best Southern Foods
9) Proof on Main Receives Award
10) Attraction Closings
1) Nature Tourism Resource Assessment Workshops: The Department of Fish & Wildlife is hosting four workshops across the state to help tourism officials, local governments and recreation officials maximize profits for their community by targeting wildlife watchers and/or nature tourism visitors. James Mallman, founder and CEO of Watchable Wildlife Inc., will lead the seminars during December. They will be held December 2 at KY Dam Village SRP, December 3 at Rough River Dam State Park, December 9 at General Butler SRP and December 10 at Natural Bridge SRP. Call 502-564-7863 or visit http://fw.ky.gov/pdf/naturetourismflyer.pdf for registration and other information. Final registration date is November 14 and the fee is $75 which includes seminar, lunch and refreshments.
2) Sponsorship Opportunity: The Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail Passport Program rewards trail goers and encourages new visitors to make Kentucky and the trail their destination. Obtain a heritage trail passport map at any Lincoln Trail site or learn more about the trail at www.kylincolntrail.com. Participants present their passport at each location for a customized stamp. Collect 10 stamps from 10 different sites and the passport holder becomes eligible to register for a free monthly prize drawing. Prize drawings take place the 12th of each month. On February 12, 2009, the actual bicentennial of President Lincoln’s birth, all monthly prize winners will be entered into the grand-prize drawing which will include a stay at a Kentucky state park. Best of all, anyone traveling the trail can pick up a free Kentucky Lincoln Heritage Trail window cling for their car or home.
Want to promote your business or destination? Become a Sponsor!
To finish out the contest, the Kentucky Heritage Council is seeking sponsorships in the form of prizes from local businesses and tourist destinations that might be interested in promoting their merchandise or services to travelers visiting our state. Gift certificates to restaurants or shops, T-shirts, books or vouchers redeemable for local products or services, are all great ways to introduce people to your business or destination and encourage visitors to extend their stay in your community. If you are interested, please contact Karen Keown, karen.keown@ky.gov or 502-564-7005, ext. 131.
3) Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 for Winter 2009: Congratulations to Kentucky Crafted: The Market 2009. This event in Louisville held February 19-22, has been chosen as one of the STS Top 20 Winter events. Selection by STS provides a tremendous amount of free publicity for an event. The next deadline for the Summer 2009 events is January 9, 2009. Go to http://southeasttourism.org/top20/top20forms.doc to download the nomination form.
4) Holiday Packages: The Department of Travel is looking for holiday packages that are good through New Year’s for our website. An example would be accommodations and a theatrical production or entrance to an exhibit. We need the complete information in 40 words or less plus a website or contact information. Send information to Mark Hendricksen at mark.hendricksen@ky.gov.
5) 2009 Season Passes: If your attraction or property offers a season pass for 2009, please email information to Mark Hendricksen at mark.hendricksen@ky.gov. We are promoting these as a great Christmas gift on our Discover Your Own Backyard Seasonal section.
6) Free Publicity: If your school or community has a holiday event that you wish to publicize, post your information to
http://www.wkyt.com/blogs/travelblog?showMore=yes, Pat Stipes’ blog for the Department of Travel. Your posting will be up for two weeks. Great way to get free publicity.
7) Media Lead – Website Link: VacationPlanning.net, a web site dedicated to helping visitors plan their vacations, is currently creating links to and gathering data from various CVB web sites. They want permission to use your summary materials and a few photos from your site on VacationPlanning.net. Your materials will appear on a web page dedicated to your destination. Here is an example of a destination page (Lehigh Valley, PA) for which they gathered information from the CVB and then linked to the CVB Website: http://www.vacationplanning.net/destination/default.aspx?id=1145. If you have any questions about VacationPlanning.net, contact their Web editor, Laura Moss, at laura@collinsonpublishing.com or at 678-987-9909.
8) Best Southern Foods: The November cover story of Garden & Gun magazine is "The Best Southern Foods - 100 Things You Simply Must Eat Before You Die" and mentions the following Kentucky foods/proprietors: George's Bar-B-Q (mutton sandwich), Owensboro; Mazzoni's Cafe (rolled oysters), Louisville; Wallace Station (Inside-out Hot Brown), Versailles; Spaldings Bakery (Devil's Food Donut), Lexington and Muth's Candy Store (Modjeskas), Louisville.
9) Proof on Main Receives Award: Congratulations to Proof on Main in Louisville for receiving the “Spirits Hospitality Restaurant of the Year for 2008” award from restaurant industry trade magazine, Sante. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20081101/SCENE02/811010363
10) Attraction Closings: If anyone knows of an attraction that has closed, please notify the Department of Travel so we keep our records up-to-date. E-mail Michael Crabtree at Michaelw.crabtree@ky.gov., who is now in charge of the Travel website Extranet.
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The Kentucky Department of Travel, an agency of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, exists to promote the Commonwealth as a travel destination, to generate revenue and create jobs for Kentucky's economy.
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(The Travel Insider is a bi-weekly publication of the Kentucky Department of Travel.)
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