Golf, culture, history and shopping will be the main ingredients for the Atlanta Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (ACVB)’s global marketing campaign this year aimed at enticing international visitors to stay in the city “one more day or longer” before leaving for elsewhere in the Southeast.
Kelly Miller, recently appointed manager of international sales and marketing, said that the ACVB seeks to expand Atlanta’s image “beyond bricks and mortar,” by focusing on what he terms “attraction packaging,” including the city’s many cultural activities as well as sites such as Zoo Atlanta.
He will be traveling to trade shows for tour operators and the travel industry in Berlin, Toronto, Geneva, and London to spread the word.
He also plans to attend major trade shows in Miami and Nashville, and hopes to visit Austria, Germany and Switzerland to promote Atlanta’s cultural events, shopping facilities, the region’s history and, not least, its golf courses.
“One out of four people who came up to me at the show wanted to know more about our golf facilities,” he told GlobalFax, shortly after returning from a tourism show last month in Manchester, England.
Mr. Miller, who was the ACVB’s marketing manager for the Olympics before assuming his new position, also will conduct an in-depth study of the number of international visitors attracts during a year, a figure he estimates is currently about 1.2 to 1.3 million people.
His study will also determine the average number of nights these visitors stay and how much money they spend here.
The ACVB is a member organization comprised of some 1,400 companies and has an annual budget of roughly $13 million.
Mr. Miller may be reached by calling (404) 521-6600; fax, (404) 521-6562.