Santa Cruz Tourism Council Sets Out Strategy for Economic Development
At the Santa Cruz Tourism Council Strategic Planning Session held on February 26th, the council acknowledged the importance of tourism as a leading economic development opportunity, discussed the benefits of regional marketing, and adopted an action plan. In the action plan, priority is given to obtaining regional “buy in” for the development of the Tour Santa Cruz travel planner and on-line publication, a community outreach campaign utilizing A Sense of Place methodology, a CD-Rom tour featuring the bird sculpture loop, as well as the continued regional marketing campaign, As the Birds Fly South (2004 Tourism Project), which includes advertisements and articles featured in official visitor guides.

The Santa Cruz Tourism Council will contract with WestWordVision to publish and disseminate 60,000 copies of the 48-page Tour Santa Cruz guide. The project portfolio will integrate a Sense of Place working model and focus on benefiting the travel destinations in Santa Cruz. The tourism council will synthesize the unique essence of the region, bringing to bear a detailed understanding and sensitive development of the elements of locale: the physical landscape, living nature, and human culture that create a unique, attractive, and compelling destination.

This project reflects the Santa Cruz County Tourism Council’s commitment to first understand the market and then craft strategies to attract tourism to the area. Through our experience with leading media companies and our information technology expertise, the council will be able to offer made-to-measure solutions that allow Santa Cruz to become recognized as a destination of choice. The focus of the campaign will be to unite the region under a marketing identity that has support and buy-in.

Our objectives are as follows:

1. Execute a competitive marketing campaign featuring the As the Birds Fly South program that promotes Santa Cruz County and highlights niche travel opportunities within each community. (Niche categories include: Cultural & Heritage, Golf & Sports, Nature & Adventure, Resorts & Ranches, and Shopping & Entertainment.)

The idea of integrated regional cooperation underlies the plan of work for the Santa Cruz Tourism Council and its partners. The council seeks to maximize potential and existing resources; coordinate activities with other community tourism related organizations in Santa Cruz County; increase visitors to the Santa Cruz Valley; and economically benefit local businesses through regional efforts.

As the Birds Fly South is one example of the council’s regional efforts. The Nogales Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Cruz Tourism Council, and the Tubac Center of the Arts in 2004/2005 sponsored a large-scale regional marketing campaign, which features fine art bird sculptures, made by local artists that will guide conference participants to distinguished destinations and attractions in the Santa Cruz Valley. In 2005, we have added 10 strategic partners to the campaign.

The regional partnership will continue the niche marketing and advertising campaign that promotes the region’s competitive edge in the tourism market and focuses on visitation to the many destinations and attractions in the Santa Cruz area. These destinations that represent the niche marketing categories are showcased through the As the Birds Fly South Campaign.

The project will include Public Relations and Community Outreach for As the Birds Fly South. The Santa Cruz Tourism Council will lead and develop 2005 programs for the regional partners, The Nogales-Chamber of Commerce, Patagonia Area Business Association, and Arizona Watchable Wildlife Tourism Association. The program will continue to package and link the area as a destination by attracting in-state driving tourists to the area through a series of public art statues that mark activities and attractions.

Activities:
• Develop, print, and distribute 50,000 12-panel full-color Santa Cruz Visitor Center Brochures, (As the Birds Fly South) that are regional in scope and highlight niche marketing categories within the individual communities in Santa Cruz County.

• Distribute brochures to other visitor centers and chambers of commerce throughout the state, including the Arizona Office of Tourism Welcome and Visitors Centers. Additionally, we will target and distribute the brochures to tour operators.

• The Tubac-Santa Cruz County Visitor Center will distribute brochures to the 100+ tourists that visit daily.

• Develop a media tour that promotes the ten BIG BIRD destinations and includes significant activities at each location that reflect the unique character of that particular locale. Prepare a national media list, an invitation, and a press release. Disseminate invitations and press releases and follow up with the national media. This would include Media Tour Planning, Copywriting, Media Research, Media Follow-up.

• Coordinate a culture and nature festival in May of 2006 that celebrates the unveiling of the (3) additional bird statues and partners for As the Birds Fly South.

2. Develop a bi-lingual Nogales brochure for travelers that features the city’s unique recreational, cultural, and historical activities.

This brochure will be marketed to the international traveler with special emphasis on capturing the Mexican traveler that currently passes through Santa Cruz County. The brochure will be printed in two languages.

Activities:
• Develop, print, and distribute 30,000 6-panel full-color Nogales-Santa Cruz Visitor Center Brochures, highlighting marketing opportunities that attract the international traveler entering through the Nogales Port.

3. Increase visitors to Santa Cruz by using the Internet and Technology-Implement a Dynamic E-Based Tourism Force and CD-Rom Tour

The Tour Santa Cruz project will include contracting with Digital Brushstrokes to create a website component and CD-Rom tour that will target the “online traveler.” The website will have at its core a platform to promote and market tourism packages based on the themes developed by the Sense of Place process. The site will accomplish this through a variety of interactive means that include the use of Flash, Streaming video, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and slideshows dynamically loaded content. The videos will be streamed using the latest Flash video technology, and versions of the materials for non-broadband users will be readily supported. The project will make the best use of the current technologies available for information delivery.

Activities:
• Expand the Tour Santa Cruz Website to include travel itineraries and packages.

• Produce a CD travel package with a Virtual Tour that features the As the Birds Fly South “loop” and other significant destination points related to the tour.

For more information on the upcoming strategic plan, contact the Tubac-Santa Cruz Visitor Center at 520-398-0007.

"The Birds Fly South" is sponsored in part through funding from the USDA RBEG grant program.