Office of Tourism’s strategic plan discussed at Aroostook County Tourism summit

   PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The marketing of tourism in Aroostook County and the state of Maine highlighted the annual Aroostook County Tourism (ACT) Summit held May 28 at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle.
About 40 people, representing all different aspects of tourism, gathered to hear from state and local tourism officials, about efforts to bring more visitors to Maine.
At the top of the agenda for the half-day summit was an overview of the Maine Office of Tourism’s (MOT) five-year strategic plan from MOT Director Carolann Ouellette.
“The five-year plan is shaped to drive a shared vision,” she said. “It is a blueprint for action that is measurable and built upon four key pillars: develop the tourism pipeline, grow off-season visitation, protect Maine’s tourism assets and make tourism a shared imperative.”
Ouellette also touched on the state’s tourism marketing plan for this year, which will feature some media buys in markets like Albany, N.Y. and Hartford, Conn., greater emphasis on experiential tourism and focus on storytelling to attract visitors.
“For all of us in the tourism industry, the message is clear — the consumer must be at the center of everything we do,” she said.
Also on the agenda was an overview of the changes to VisitMaine.com. The new state tourism website has been updated to allow for greater participation from organizations and businesses. Greg Gadberry of the MOT provided detailed instructions on how to utilize the site to attract visitors and grow a business.
“The new VisitMaine.com is a wonderful, and free, resource for tourism-related businesses and organizations in Maine,” he said. “We’ve been traveling the state to encourage those businesses and organizations to use this new website and help us attract more visitors to the state.”
Gadberry also highlighted some of the improvements made to the site.
“We’ve made VisitMaine.com easier to use than our old site,” he said. “It includes many new features that help businesses and organizations attract readers. People can now add photos and videos to their listings and fine-tune the maps that lead people to their doors.”
He added that any business or organization that updates or creates a new listing on the site will automatically be migrated over to the new VisitAroostook.com, which is scheduled to go live in November.
Also on the agenda was an update on the World Acadian Congress, a presentation on the Nordic Heritage Center as an important component in bringing tourists to the region, and a look at the regional marketing plan for 2014-15.
“The Tourism Summit is also an opportunity for individuals in the tourism industry to network with each other and discuss similar issues and concerns they are experiencing in their business,” said Jon Gulliver, tourism developer at Northern Maine Development Commission. “Communicating with others in the industry creates new ideas and encourages people to work together to resolve some of the challenges and obstacles that many are faced with every day.”