County Tourism Scores Tops at Governor’s Conference

CREST HAVEN — The Cape May County Department of Tourism earned an award for excellence in the New Jersey tourism industry at the 2008 Governor’s Conference
held recently at Trump Marina Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. The
Governor’s Awards celebrate New Jersey’s third largest industry and
those institutions and venues that have made noteworthy contributions to
the industry in the past year.
Awards of Tourism Excellence were presented to 10 recipients at the
Governor’s Conference for outstanding achievements in website design,
advertising, packaging, partnership development and public relations.
The Cape May County Department of Tourism and the Cape May County Board
of Chosen Freeholders were honored for the development of an iPod press
kit to help publicize the county’s tourism marketing news.
According to the official press release of the Department of State Division of Travel
and Tourism, “Cape May County has been leading the pack in dynamic,
cost-effective marketing initiatives. The iPod press kit reached
Canadian journalists and travel writers, resulting in nearly $1 million
in public relations value at a time when the Canadian Travel Market is
ripe for the picking.”
The Cape May County Department of Tourism, under the direction of
Director of Tourism, Diane Wieland, developed an iPod press kit that
marries the innovation and capabilities of technology with the need for
public relations practitioners to capture the attention of busy
journalists. The 1GB iPod Nano press kit has been distributed to French
and English-speaking journalists containing the official press kit of
Cape May County in a French or English version, a copy of the
department’s official destination guide, Southern New Jersey Vacationer,
and 75 high resolution photographic images that are downloadable to the
users’ computer.
“The iPod Press Kit was designed around a need to inform Canadian travel
writers who were unable to attend a FAM (Familiarization) Trip hosted by
the tourism department, but still wanted to write a story on the
destination,” said Diane Wieland, director of tourism. “Destinations
such as Paris, France and several islands in Hawaii may have offered a
FAM Trip at the same time, but we were not going to lose the interest in
a story about Cape May County, if at all possible.”
“We’ve got to work harder, because getting coverage in travel sections
of newspapers and magazines can mean thousands of dollars in publicity
to help supplement the department’s limited advertising budget in the
most credible way,” she added.
Wieland also served as a panelist at a session entitled Innovative Media
for the 21st Century to present the use of the iPod press kit to the
audience of tourism professionals from around the state gathered at the
2008 Governor’s Conference.
The tourism industry in Cape May County contributed $5.1 billion to the
state’s economy in 2007. Tourism expenditures in the County went up 6.7
percent from $4.85 billion in 2006 placing the destination second only
to Atlantic City in the State in terms of overall tourism expenditures.
Cape May County’s tourism industry combined with the industry of
Atlantic and Ocean counties contributes almost two-thirds of New
Jersey’s total tourism expenditures.