County’s Tourism Conference Featured Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno

Freeholder M. Susan Sheppard hosted the County’s Tourism Conference, which featured keynote speaker Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, on May 4, 2011. There was standing room only for the annual event that took place at the County Administration Building.
This year’s theme was “The ‘New Normal’ in Tourism…Understanding the Post Recession Customer”. Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno spoke of the importance of putting people back to work in New Jersey. She said, “Transparency, Leadership and Consistency are what this administration is about. A combined $25 Million dollars is being earmarked for Tourism promotion, Culture, Arts and History programs. Thirteen thousand private sector jobs were created just last month. Look at the numbers they speak for themselves.”
Conference speakers included: Assemblyman Matthew W. Milam, who talked about the importance of keeping the $9 Million dollar funding in place at the state level to promote Cape May County’s number one industry and the third largest industry in the state – Tourism. Associate Director of the International School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Professor Donald Hoover, covered new marketing tools to target the traveling public and Richard Higginson, Director of Research at Fairleigh Dickinson University focused on the importance of research in marketing your tourist destination.
Freeholder M. Susan Sheppard introduced the new changes in the Cape May County Tourism Department. She said, “I want the County Tourism Department to be the experts on Tourism and to bring that knowledge to all our communities.” Freeholder Sheppard added, “We plan to continue to market to Canada but also expand our research and surveying. Summer interns will be conducting intercept surveys with specifically crafted questions. Also, the Cape May County Tourism Department will assist any community with marketing research. Additionally, the County will fund educational programs. To this end, the county will host a two-day workshop in October.”
Director of Tourism, Diane Wieland discussed the potential of the 2011 summer season and provided information gathered through the most recent surveys conducted by the Cape May County Department of Tourism.
Freeholder Sheppard concluded, “One of my goals is for the Cape May County Department of Tourism to expand its research services to provide more expanded demographic and qualitative information to aid destination managers and planners in Cape May County with marketing challenges and concerns. ”
For information distributed at the 2011 Tourism Conference visit capemaycountygov.net.
2011 Tourism Conference Materials