Nebraska Tourism Commission Hits Homerun with Media Tours
LINCOLN, Neb. (February 27, 2014)—In September 2012, the Nebraska Tourism Commission began bringing large groups of journalists to the state on media tours of the state’s most desirable and unique tourism destinations. Since that time, the commission has conducted five tours in all. All of the tours have resulted in fantastic media coverage for the state; however, one recent article has proven to be an amazing illustration of the success of the program. The March 2014 issue of Smithsonian magazine includes a fourteen page article entitled “Flight Club”, which was written by one of the journalists that came on the March 2013 tour of Central Nebraska. Nebraska Tourism Commission Director, Kathy McKillip, commented, “We are so excited because this one article is worth more than $2 million in publicity for the state.”
Some 123 journalists have visited Nebraska on the five previous media tours, resulting in 212 articles or broadcast segments which have appeared in media outlets including Midwest Living, Smithsonian, Better Homes & Gardens, Parade, Saveur, Cowboys & Indians, American Cowboy, Group Tour, Group Travel Leader, Canadian Geographic, Byways, Smart Meetings, Short Escapes, Huffington Post, Texas Golfer, AAA Journeys, National Public Radio, Kansas City Star, Miami Herald, Nashville Tennessean, Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Oklahoman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Toronto Sun, Albuquerque Journal and the Coloradoan.
Some 115,065,752 potential visitors have been exposed to this coverage. If this editorial coverage had been purchased as paid advertising it would have cost $4,474,019. National and in-state tourism sponsors have provided more than $198,160 in goods and services including air transportation, lodging, meals and activities to support the Nebraska Tourism Commission’s media tour program.
Central Nebraska and the frontier trails region will be the featured in the Commission’s next tour from March 23-27, as the state plays host to journalists writing for national and regional media outlets. This will be the sixth media tour sponsored by the Nebraska Tourism Commission. The March tour will include activities in Grand Island, Kearney, Red Cloud, Elm Creek, Minden, Henderson, Aurora, York and other stops in the central part of the state.
"Media tours give Nebraska's tourism industry an opportunity to get their message out to key writers and all of their readers. Travel writers need to experience the destination in order to write about it, and these tours allow many segments of the tourism industry to expose their offerings to these journalists. Earned media has a high degree of credibility with consumers, and the coverage has been extremely positive about Nebraska as a destination,” said Kathy McKillip, Director of the Nebraska Tourism Commission.
"The 14-page article in the March issue of Smithsonian magazine on Nebraska's annual Sandhill Crane migration is a great way to introduce Nebraska as a destination to potential visitors across the country," said Debbie Geiger, president of Geiger & Associates, the public relations firm which has developed the media tours for the Nebraska Tourism Commission since 2012. "A national feature article like this can have significant impact on visitation and has even more credibility than paid advertising."
FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Angela White at 402-471-7755,
or [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nebraska Tourism Commission Hits Homerun with Media Tours
