CAPE MAY COUNTY – The Cape May County Department of Tourism was honored with an Excellence In Tourism Award for the implementation of a geocaching program to market the Jersey Cape’s attractions. The Department, under the direction of Director of Tourism, Diane Wieland, was honored for the eighth time from a record number of award entries for the innovative treasure-hunting game employed by the Department of Tourism as a cost-efficient marketing tool.
The awards were presented to 10 organizations that exemplify the best of the state’s tourism industry at the 2010 Governor’s Conference held recently at Trump Marina Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.
Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is currently being employed by the Department of Tourism as a way to get visitors moving from Cape May Point to Ocean City along the shorefront and inland to communities offering arts, history and cultural attractions in an attempt to introduce these—sometimes “off the beaten path”— sites to visitors.
The game is a high-tech version of treasure hunting called geocaching. Geocachers — people who seek out hidden treasures utilizing GPS coordinates posted on the Internet – hide a cache — treasure usually hidden in a weather proof container – and then post its longitude and latitude coordinates on a site geocaching.com where most cache sites are listed.
“This treasure hunting game is the perfect promotional tool. The game costs nearly nothing to set-up and maintain. It is a cost-effective way to get visitors moving toward attractions in the county that they may have overlooked on a traditional travel itinerary,” explained Diane Wieland, director of tourism for Cape May County.
The tourism industry in Cape May County contributed $5.06 billion to the state’s economy in 2008. Tourism expenditures in the County placed 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.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
