The Williamsburg Area Destination Marketing Committee covered a number of topics at its Monday meeting: Historic Triangle tourism numbers for the first quarter, website and booking engine views for the first quarter, merging WADMC’s website with the Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance’s website and seeking applications for new advisory groups.
First Quarter Tourism
Overnight occupancy in the Historic Triangle – shown through the number of nights visitors stayed in hotel rooms or time shares– increased 10.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013 over the same time period of 2012. The average daily room rate increased from $99.73 to $107.06 and room sales revenues increased by 18.3 percent. Meal sales revenue was up 3.5 percent.
In the City of Williamsburg, overnight occupancy increased by 10.5 percent, by 22.6 percent in James City County and by 2.9 percent in York County.
“While this looks great and it is encouraging, we have to be aware we may see some numbers that will start to level this out. If we see these numbers in December, that will be the time to celebrate,” said Alliance Senior Vice President of Tourism Bob Harris.
Read a previous article on first quarter occupancy numbers compiled by Smith Travel Research, Inc.
Website and Booking Engine Views Through April
From January to April 2013, visitors to VisitWilliamsburg.com increased by 1 percent over the same period last year, but website visitors viewed fewer pages for a shorter amount of time.
There were 19 percent fewer visitors to the booking page on VisitWilliamsburg.com in the first quarter compared to the same time last year, but the average time spent on the booking page increased by 25 percent. Transactions were up 7 percent, resulting in a 17 percent increase in revenue, from $623,472 to $731,288.
In April 2013 compared to April 2012, overall booking engine revenue increased by 28 percent, from $228,374 to $292,398.
Website Merge
WADMC and the Alliance set out to merge their two websites –VisitWilliamsburg.com and ExploreWilliamsburg.com, respectively—and the switch was flipped today.
The new site will be available at VisitWilliamsburg.com once it has finished populating. The site is still active, but doesn’t have all the new features yet.
VisitWilliamsburg.com will be device-responsive, so it will recognize the device accessing it – tablets and other mobile devices like smart phones, laptops or desktops – and adjust the view accordingly. Attraction pages will give users the option to share it on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Users will be able to create site logins and save attractions to their favorites, for easier access in the future.
Attractions’ pages will include a link to the attraction’s Facebook and will also have a map feature. This required an address overhaul because some attractions were using post office box addresses rather than physical addresses.
For businesses and attractions, user names and passwords will be provided so they can maintain their own pages and make changes as needed.
“We look forward to adding more to have more dynamic access,” said the Alliance’s Bob Harris. He suggested users keep checking the site for changes.
Advisory Groups
WADMC will be using four new advisory groups –Booking Engine and Call Center, Advertising, Public Relations and Website—to help with different aspects of marketing. The groups will support new WADMC Director Corrina Ferguson. Applications have been sent out and are expected no later than May 31 so the groups can be formed by mid-June.
Each group will have a specific function:
- Booking Engine and Call Center: will bring together lodging and booking professionals or those with call center management to help develop and manage VisitWilliamsburg.com.
- Advertising: will comprise marketing professionals who will advise on creative campaigns, media planning and placement, target markets and vendor management.
- Public Relations: will comprise public relations and communications professionals to assist in public relations and communications campaigns, media targets, vendor management and supporting research.
- Website: will comprise digital media professionals who will advise the Alliance on the VisitWilliamsburg.com site.
