The Great American West (GAW), a unique collaboration among five states in the northwestern United States, shows promising results despite challenging times in the travel sector due to the prolonged pandemic.
The Great American West is the brand that brings together the efforts of international marketing of the national tourist offices of Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The consortium works collectively in the target international markets through a cooperative approach both in the tourism industry with travel operators (tour operators, travel agencies) and with consumers, through advertising and public relations efforts. Individually, each State’s tourism office works with its partners to promote and disseminate its own State and the entire region as a whole, through the promotion of products and travel destinations. The GAW (Great American West) collaborates with Rocky Mountain International (U.S. company) to coordinate joint efforts in five international markets: United Kingdom, Germany, Benelux, France, and Italy.
In Italy, the GAW office is entrusted to Thema Nuovi Mondi of Milan, which has been promoting this authentic and majestic America since 1997. The director, Olga Mazzoni, agreed to this interview.
Summary
Olga, what vision, mission, and values does Great American West aim to promote to the international traveler?
The vision of the Great American West is to inspire international travelers to visit the region by organizing and enhancing distribution in the travel specialist sector, and gaining recognition from consumers for the unique and authentic experiences offered by the region.
The mission of the Great American West is to stimulate travel and expenditure among international travelers by leveraging the collaborative potential of the region through creative alignment and cooperative marketing programs, which exploit economies of scale.
The value of the Great American West is to provide inspiration and expertise – through relevant and engaging content – to travelers seeking adventure and favoring the region because it is the homeland of the most epic icons of American nature.
How has the Great American West faced these 18 months of pandemic regarding target international markets?
The behavior of great tenacity and loyalty by GAW and the five states since April 2020 and during the 18 months of the U.S. border closure is exemplary. In fact, despite travel restrictions still in place and changing almost daily, as well as the decision of many destinations to cancel their international marketing plans and inhibit their international representation in the market, GAW has redesigned the cooperative program without disrupting its core.
For the first time, it obtained various levels of investment from the states, in a program that has traditionally been fully equitable. Despite budget challenges, GAW maintained the brand with vigor and visibility, enabling states with higher financial investments to capitalize on individual promotions under the “umbrella” of GAW. While the states have become increasingly stronger, uniting thanks to the GAW consortium system, the formula has allowed the GAW brand to continue cultivating the five main European markets, while maintaining a “light on” approach in Scandinavian and Australian markets. This adjustment or compromise was made during the pandemic period. Now, the GAW program is fully and equally reallocated in seven international markets, just as it was pre-COVID.
What was the strength?
Flexibility was the key: the GAW program had to learn to adapt quickly during the fiscal year from July 2020 to June 2021, literally throwing out traditional programs and norms and trying new ideas. GAW and the states remained engaged with commercial partners and established connections both through virtual sales missions and ongoing cooperation programs, to keep potential travelers inspired to visit the Great American West region. They relied on resilience, rolled up their sleeves to overcome difficult times, and looked to the future, not abandoning decades of commitment due to a temporary, albeit long, setback.
GAW had to cancel the International Roundup (IRU) in May 2020 – for the first time in the consortium’s over twenty-year history – and the 2021 edition as well. Recognizing the importance of international travel for the region, GAW provided a free Virtual Suppliers Seminar – IRU – to keep international travel at the forefront of regional American suppliers’ minds. GAW monitored updates from its representatives in foreign markets – for Italy, Thema Nuovi Mondi of Milan – and hosted a live panel of tour operators addressing COVID-19 challenges and invited DMCs to discuss contracts and pricing. The International Round-Up is an example of teamwork, which becomes creative and finds ways to stay positive and maintain the relevance of international travel even with borders closed.
During the pandemic, it is difficult to talk about ‘success,’ especially in the travel sector. What positive results has GAW achieved?
Certainly, victories look different in pandemic times, but GAW has some successes to boast.
Here are some examples. The GAW websites in each market saw continuous growth, while people searched for information and dreamed of traveling in the near future, viewing the Great American West as a safe and desirable destination once borders reopen.
Product development continued with 158 new itineraries created for the region. The GAW Annual Report shows that Tour Operators weathered this storm quite well, with very few companies closing and GAW product offerings only slightly decreasing.
GAW is well-positioned for a strong rebound. The consortium is confident that the region will be rewarded for its perseverance through the loyalty and support of international partners. Thanks to the commitment of the five regional states in the partnership, GAW looks forward to “riding together” in the post-COVID travel industry!
The Great American West
The travel world, so experiential, also feeds on numbers. Can you give some for GAW?
The achievements in 18 months are remarkable. Between July 2020 and July 2021, in the five overseas markets, 428 tour operators offered overnight stays in the Great American West, a 17% decrease from the previous year, which had 515. The market share was not as negative as expected, and this will help the region recover quickly.
The five international markets added 158 regional itineraries and 1,338 overnight stays to their product offerings. The United Kingdom added the most itineraries with 62, followed by Italy (43) and Germany (30). The region remained connected with major tour operators through virtual sales missions, hosting 23 sales meetings with 31 operators and training a total of 38 people. These meetings generated 48 new travel itineraries in the region.
The Great American West generated $3,910,892.80 in earned media coverage, reaching nearly 309 million readers with 248 published articles. Earned media is among the most difficult to obtain and manage; it also includes traditional PR coverage, such as editorial articles written by the media following proactive pitching. This result is achieved through wise management of the company’s relations externally or through a highly engaging offer capable of triggering an extremely positive user experience.
The five GAW social media channels saw 460,024 participations. These pages reached 7,622,117 users, generated 9,241,494 views, and accumulated 124,902 followers. Regarding the most engaged audience, the average age for GAW is 65+ (50% women, 50% men).
Most reached page: Italy reaches the largest “audience” (2,815,042), followed by France (1,860,318).
Engagement rate: the Facebook page with the most conversations, comments, and likes stimulated by the shared content in 2021 was France (165,896), followed by Italy (160,131), and Benelux (52,972).
Of the 124,902 followers of the Great American West social media by the end of June 2021, France had the largest following with 34,401, followed by Italy with 32,754, and Germany with 25,802.
Follower demographics: on average, 47% of GAW followers are men and 53% are women aged between 45-54, with a younger trend on Instagram (25-34), in Italy (35-44), and in Germany (25-34).
Great American West manages a website in each target foreign market. The majority of web users of the eight Great American West international sites were new visitors (90%) compared to returning visitors (10%). The peak of visitors: the highest number of returning users originates from France (20.8%), followed by Germany (20%) and Italy (14.8%). New visitors: more users from the United Kingdom (93.2%) visited the site for the first time compared to other markets, followed by Benelux (92.5%) and Italy (85.2%).
Users generated 99,936 page views across nine websites of the Great American West. Italy had the highest number of page views with 27,633. Top sites: more regional materials (GAW Guides and maps) were downloaded from the French website than from any other international site (1,324), followed by Italy (812).
Most contacts: France sent the most Great American West newsletters to contacts with 18,232, followed by Italy with 9,738.
Some previews of the new fiscal year just started in July
We can conclude by previewing that GAW already has the International Round-Up 2022 scheduled in Fargo, North Dakota, and will start organizing various promotions across the seven international markets, simultaneously celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park shared by Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. The adventure and discovery of this vast northwestern American region can only become more exciting, appealing to eco-conscious travelers who know how to appreciate its multiple and diversified aspects within interconnected natural and social ecosystems.
Pubblicato in Destinations
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