Jan 4, 2006

WalkIcon: Mike Testa ::: He's Discovered Gold

WalkIcons(tm) is the Walktopia interview series that explores the walk universe...people, places and activities of a new walk culture. Our goal is to connect dispersed elements of this dynamic, global walking community through talking and sharing. Here are excerpts from Q&A with Mike Testa, Director of Community Relations for the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

Testa first talked to us pre-blog in the summer of '05. We were in the midst of research about the idea of a walking tour promotion company. Our focus shifted but in this recent exchange it's clear that Testa's wealth of information remains relevant to the subject of walk culture and the walking community.

Mike Testa: I’d like to address your point about the promotion of walking activities in Sacramento. There are lots of different entities in Sacramento that market Sacramento. They include the Metro Chamber, a Downtown Partnership and our organization, the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau. For example, we have a $6.3M budget and all the other groups have sizeable budgets as well. That’s a lot of money being spent to market Sacramento.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau has thought about ways to get everyone on the same page…to market Sacramento with one slogan and one definition of what’s great about our city. When it comes to marketing, we all get more bang for the buck if everyone’s on the same page. So, we’ve developed one tagline: Discover Gold.

Q: Fantastic! One of my interview questions was, ‘where did Discover Gold come from and what does it mean?’ because Discover Gold is such a prominent theme on the CVB site. What is the origin of the phrase?
A: How do you sum up a city that’s 155 years old? We were looking for a unifying concept that would encapsulate the significance of this region. As an organization, we believe that we are defined by where we came from so the history of Sacramento is very important to us. We came up with Discover Gold by taking a look at history.

Also, it was the best theme because of the many literal and figurative meanings contained within it. Sacramento is the birthplace of the California gold rush and we believe there’s still gold here today in the form of things like our great museums, competitive cost of living, new restaurants opening, a revitalized downtown and more.

Discover Gold is a tagline about our history and our future.

Q: In a nutshell, what are the tourism numbers for Sacramento, like number of conventions held, tourists who’ve visited or films made in Sacramento?
A: In 2005, Sacramento attracted 15.3 million visitors who contributed just over $2B worth of gold into our local economy.

That money and the tax revenue from it goes into the general fund for the City and the County. It’s used to pave roads, build parks, hire police officers and otherwise improve our quality of life.

Q: That's impressive and on par with cities larger than Sacramento. But, tell me, are films really being made here?
A: There are! Lucky Numbers was filmed in East Sacramento a couple of years ago. Plus, Sacramento often doubles as another city. Recently our capital doubled as the White House in a soon-to-be-aired Lifetime movie and we’ve been a city in China. We’re in a ton of commercials, too.

Q: Any blockbuster movies we’ve seen recently?
A: Memoirs of a Geisha was partially filmed in Sacramento...in Old Sac.

Q: What’s up with the CVB Gold Card? If you get the card when you check in for a hotel stay, is it just for tourists or can locals reap some benefits?
A: Most cities have a coupon book to help promote tourism. Sacramento’s Gold Card raises the bar on that. Visitors come to town, check into a hotel and ask for their Gold Card in order to get discounts on restaurants and other forms of entertainment.

Locals can benefit from this in a couple of ways. First, if you accompany visiting friends or family (who're staying at a hotel) to a restaurant that offers a Gold Card discount, your meal can be discounted too. Second, I know that many people vacation here even though they already live here. If you’re on a getaway weekend or otherwise enjoying a vacation in-town, be sure to get a card when you check into your hotel and enjoy the benefits.

Q: Got any usage stats for the Gold Card or your site?
A: Out of our 15.3 million visitors in ’05, it’s split pretty equally between business and leisure travelers. The Gold Card is typically used by leisure travelers. We’re in the second year of the program and we know it’s been effective. Our leisure vacations increased 120% from the previous year.

Our Convention and Visitors Bureau website gets 75,000 hits a month.

Q: Mike, what are the citywide events you manage directly, the biggest challenges they present and the secrets to your success with each?
A: New Year’s Eve Fireworks in Old Sacramento – We effectively manage a potentially complex permitting process by paying strict attention to detail.

The Grape Escape (a wine and food event) – We use all modes of communication (letter writing, phone follow-up, dedicated websites, advertising and working with the media) to handle the intensity of coordinating more than 100 winery and restaurant presenters and meeting the needs of the people who attend the event.

Bridge to Bridge Waterfront Festival – We use a clear understanding of our message and an effective pitch. We engage the media in helping us educate the public about the great waterway we have and about the opportunities that are expanding as the waterway is being developed.

Gold Rush Days (showcase the history and the present) – The biggest challenge is dumping 166 tons of dirt on the streets of Old Sacramento! Kidding aside, we meet challenges by involving a wide range of groups who all have input about the events. We create a real picture of Gold Rush history. We provide a platform for people who are authorities about their own history.

I manage 3 internal events: a National Tourism Week luncheon, a Stakeholders Luncheon and a Holiday Party.

Q: What is the number one thing that makes a town most attractive to conventions and visitors?
A: Options.

For conventions considering Sacramento, some of the first questions I’m asked are: how close is the hotel to the convention center, how far is the airport from the city and what is there to do after 5 when my meeting ends? Sacramento has a nice convention center with plenty of space, an IMAX is right next door, there’s a shopping mall at the end of K Street and the airport is within minutes.

Q: Are there any connections to walking in that scenario?
A: Of course. Again, we market history. I think that walking tours give people a great option. Walking tours deliver all of our messages well. There’s tremendous value in educating people about their surroundings.

It relates back to Discover Gold. That slogan capsulizes exactly where our interests lie. Our job is to bring people to town and check them into hotels. Most people are blown away by the fact that Sacramento hosts more than 1 million visitors a month. And, we continue to increase that number through education. Our mission is a civic one.

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