2013 Tourism Update

Birding Festival
JUNE 7, 8 and 9
• Banner advertising aimed at tablet owners (iPads, etc.)
• Facebook ads -- top producer last year –
• Past month: 1000 visits, up 118 percent over same period last year

Summer Television Campaign
Adirondack Regional Tourism Council
Mid-May through 1 st week in August
Cable TV Markets:
– Rochester
– Buffalo
– Albany
– Metro NY http://youtu.be/-0ezOiuD6mU

Summer Electronic:
• Geo-targeted YouTube channels reaching into Ottawa and Montreal (key word targeted links - PPV)
• Also: Mobile Media in NY Metro Market,
Rochester, Buffalo and Albany (32,000 clicks)
• Total spend (includes TV): $180,000

Fall Campaign
• Region-wide this year
• Markets not yet chosen
• Bigger spend than previous
Hamilton/Franklin co-op

Snowmobile Campaign:
Cable TV buy:
• Rochester
• Central Pennsylvania
• Hudson Valley/NJ

Also:
• Print advertising (Keystone and NY
Snowmobile)
• Printing of regional snowmobile map
• Facebook ads
• 2,130 inquiries last winter, up 16 percent over previous year

Search Marketing www.AdirondackExperience.com
• Paid Search: keywords
• Organic Search: optimization
• Mobile, Tablet and PC

Search Marketing
June 21, 2012 mobile site went online to end of year compared to the same time period in 2011:
• Overall visits increased 55 percent (to 37,093)
• Unique visits increased 53 percent (to 30,692)
• Organic visits increased 60 percent (to
21,263)

Paid keywords:
• Adirondack Camping had most clicks: 1,712 over 134,000 impressions
• Adirondack Adventure #2 with 880 over
24,646 impressions
• Adirondacks Snowmobiling #3 with 283 clicks over 9,196 impressions

Dependent on time of year:
• Activated Adirondack snowmobiling, snowshoeing and ice fishing with December snowfall.
• Birding, fishing, rafting activated in spring.
• Costs per click between $.98 and $1.34

Paid Search Results:
• 87 percent were new users
• Paid search traffic visited 20 percent more pages than the site average (2.84 vs. 2.37)

Organic Search
• Added fresh content
• Optimized headings, re-wrote meta descriptions
• Re-built navigation

Results:
• 21 percent decrease in bounce rate
• Current bounce rate 46 percent
• 10 percent increase in time on site
Still to be done: get rid of flash and increase download speed

In the works for 2014:
• Considering a motorcycling campaign for spring/fall
• High disposable income
• Looking for “real America”
• No longer marginal citizens, but doctors, lawyers and retirees
• What do YOU think?

Spotlight: Hamilton County

2013 Adirondack Challenge
Sunday, July 21 in INDIAN LAKE!!!!
• Governor’s Invitational Whitewater
Race
• 15 – 20 mile Flat Water Race on Indian
Lake
• Festival in Byron Park
• Adirondack Artisans and vendors all over town

Adirondack Challenge Festival Week
• July 12 – 21
• Events Park-wide to be listed
• Opportunity to highlight events and businesses

Organization
• I Love NY and Empire State Development
• Steering Committee
• Hamilton County Economic Development and
Tourism
• Town of Indian Lake
• Indian Lake Chamber of Commerce
• NYS Association of Whitewater Rafting
Guides
• Brian McDonnell (Flat Water Canoe Race)

Invitational Whitewater Race:
• The Governor’s event, participation by invitation only
• On the Indian River to confluence of the
Hudson River
• Early afternoon, time not confirmed
• About 25 rafts, each with licensed guide

Flatwater Race:
• On Indian Lake, course to be around 15 miles
• Professional and amateur classes
• Cash prizes
• Morning race, time to be announced

Festival in Byron Park
• Large tent, continuous live bands
• Children’s activities
• Food vendors featuring NYS food, wines, beer
• Demos by paddlecraft artisans
• Race winners to be announced under tent

Festival Throughout Indian Lake
• Chamber of Commerce will need volunteers!
• Need Adirondack artisans
• Need food vendors – particularly
NYS foods

Things Considered:
• No parking at Byron Park
• Dispersed parking around Indian Lake
• Busing
• Porta-johns already ordered/ budgeted!
• County Sheriff and NYS Troopers on board

About Festival Week
• Events from 12 – 21 st eligible for listing
• Kinds of events: new and existing
• Hamilton County website will have
Adirondack Challenge web node at www.AdirondackExperience.com
• HamCo tourism will submit county events to
I Love NY
• The sooner the better!

What Kind of Events?
• Festivals
• Performances
• Lectures
• Sidewalk Sales with ties to Adirondack
Challenge
• Adirondack Challenge Ice Cream Socials, barbecues or ???? to benefit local organizations
MUST FIT THE TIME FRAME

How to Submit Events
• E-mail to: info@adirondackexperience.com
• Include title, time, date, place, website
• Two line description of event
• Emphasize unique elements
• Free or fee and how much
• Contact name and phone # so we can ask questions if necessary

Volunteers
Indian Lake Chamber of Commerce will be the clearing house for local volunteers

This Power Point presentation will be posted on
HamiltonCounty.com
on the Economic Development page
Thank you all for making
Hamilton County a wonderful place to visit!