Now You Know - Issue #8

An occasional e-newsletter from the Governor's Council on Tourism and the Wisconsin Department of Tourism

In this Issue:

The News From Lake Wobegon

In late April the Minnesota legislature voted unanimously to "reposition" that state's Tourism Office. The office is currently a Division of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Starting July 1 tourism will become a separate state office called Explore Minnesota Tourism. The repositioning is intended to maximize private sector involvement in promoting the state.

Explore Minnesota Tourism will retain state tourism director John Edman and his staff along with $7.8 million in state promotion money but, as a separate entity, Explore Minnesota Tourism will "pursue a more entrepreneurial approach" by using private sector partnerships to bring additional revenue and resources to the task of marketing the state.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E Tourism

Many of you are familiar with the Disney Institute and "The Disney Keys To Excellence" professional development seminars. Some of you may have even attended the Disney program in Orlando or elsewhere and know the value of the training to travel and hospitality managers.

Now, Madison Area Technical College (MATC) has become the exclusive sponsor of Disney seminars for Wisconsin and intends to bring the program to about five locations in our state each year.

Disney seminars this year will be held in Madison on Tuesday, September 14 and in Milwaukee on Wednesday, September 15. The one-day program is composed of four, 2 hour sessions. Topics include Leadership, Management, Service and Loyalty. You can attend one, two or all of the sessions. The cost is $100 per session and MATC may be able to offer a discount to those who register for all four.

Bienvenidos Chicago!

The Hispanic travel market is one of the fastest growing nationwide. Chicago has the fourth largest Hispanic market in the country, since one out of six Windy City residents are of Hispanic descent.

In an effort to reach this expanding market, the Department of Tourism will be running a series of television ads on Chicago's Telefutura channel. The 30-second spots will begin May 31, and air 80 times over a period of 5 weeks. To complete the campaign, 10-second spots will air on Chicago's WMAQ and WFLF stations in July and August.

The ads will invite potential travelers to visit Wisconsin and direct them to travelwisconsin.com/bienvenidos. This landing page (which will later expand to a "micro site") will offer information on attractions and events of interest to Hispanic travelers.

The television ad campaign follows up the Department's current banner advertising presence in Hoy, Chicago's Spanish-language daily newspaper.

Great Potatoes; Tasty Destinations!

As you know, the Department is working with our advertising agency, Boelter + Lincoln, to develop a new slogan and ad campaign theme for the state. (All of your advice and good ideas are warmly welcomed, by the way.)

We thought you might be interested in knowing of some new tourism slogans recently selected by other states.

Many Wisconsin communities have memorable slogans or tag lines for their ad campaigns. How many of them do you know? (Match each community with the correct slogan!)

Blair	We Grant You Serenity
Brookfield	You Can Get There From Here
Clark County	The Unexpected Wisconsin
Columbia County	Where All The Seasons Come Alive
Eagle River	Lake. City. Lake.
Eau Claire/Chippewa Falls	Where Memories Are Made
Forest Junction	The City In The Center
Grant County	Perfectly Natural
Iron County	Worlds To Discover…Room To Explore
Madison	The Place To Be
Omro	Good Times Come With The Territory
Marshfield	Where You Are Always Welcome
Sayner	Close To The City. Far From The Unexpected.
Two Rivers	It's All About You
Walworth County	Come Follow Your Heart
Watertown	For A Leisure Time Or A Lifetime
Wausau	Where The Big Fish Bite

Actually, this list looks pretty good just as it is. Do you think we could convince everybody to switch?

Where Our Travelers Come From

New figures from the D.K. Shifflet research firm show that in 2003, 58% of those traveling for leisure in Wisconsin are Badger State residents. 22% come from Illinois, 7% from Minnesota, 3% from Michigan, and "about" 1% each from Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Florida, Texas, California, Ohio and Colorado.

Chicago's leisure travelers visit Illinois (33%), Wisconsin (19%), Michigan and Indiana (8% each), Florida (6%) and "Other" (34%).

Minneapolis/St. Paul leisure travelers hit the road to Minnesota (58%), Wisconsin (15%), Iowa (4%), Florida and Missouri (3% each) and "Other" (17%).