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Gunnison-Crested Butte is Colorado Pure and Simple

Greetings from the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association (TA), the official marketing organization of beautiful Gunnison County! Every other month our goal is to bring you news about the TA and other useful information. Your feedback is invited and welcomed! Read on!
TOURISM ASSOCIATION 2007 ANNUAL REPORT
We trust most of you read the two page spread that was featured in all four of our valley's newspapers on May 22nd. Some brief highlights included:

  • a 5.56% increase in the Local Marketing District tax over 2006 collections
  • in total, over 900 group contacts received our destination's information
  • over 1800 media contacts received both our winter/spring and summer fall press releases totaling 59 separate featured stories
  • 13,697,000 people received email broadcast information about our air service and, winter and summer events/packages
  • Web site traffic was up 57% over 2006 and,
  • the TA completed a Crisis Communications Management Plan to assist local officials in the event tourism related issues need to be addressed with the media

To see the complete Annual Report please visit www.GCBTA.com

PUBLIC RELATIONS NEWS
Media Visits

  • Fox 21 TV - Colorado Springs visited Gunnison and Black Canyon of the Gunnison for a story about "trips within a tank of gas." Resulted in a 3-minute story.
  • Hosted Australian writer Sarah Curtis-Fawley for a night in Crested Butte and a night in Gunnison, where she biked, toured the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, toured towns, dined, etc.
  • Greeted six German journalists and the Colorado Tourism Office's German PR rep as they passed through Gunnison on motorcycles. Outdoor picnic hosted by Water Wheel Inn and 5 Bs Barbecue.
  • Assisting Globe Trekker with plans to visit in June and July to film a TV show/documentary.

Recent Media Hits 

Local Awareness Committee – Local awareness articles about the TA and "Voices of Tourism" columns continue to be submitted to local media every 4 - 6 weeks. Thank you to our media partners for supporting our educational efforts.
Summer/Spring 2008 PR - All summer/fall 2008 press releases are loaded in the media room at www.GunnisonCrestedButte.com/media and are being distributed individually. Please keep PR Director Beth Buehler informed about any changes in event schedules and details by calling 349-1168 or emailing bethbuehler@qwest.net.
Winter/Spring 2008/2009 - Please submit all winter/spring event information to Beth Buehler by July 28. The winter/spring media kit CD will be mailed in early September.

INTERNET NEWS
2008 "unique visitors" to the TA's website continue to grow. In 2008 the Tourism Association will continue to focus efforts on qualified leads rather than simply more leads (or traffic) to the site. Our two new tracking scripts are helping us measure our successes on the web. One tracks lead conversions from ads and links, and the other is for overall site traffic statistics. Stay tuned for those new reports in our August E-Newsletter.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work is ongoing and helps keep us current on industry trends. This is just one part of the strategy to help our site be found organically in searches. Paid-for advertising (PPC) on major search engines like Google, Yahoo, Alta Vista, etc. are also used. Currently these top search engines provide over 50% of our site traffic up from 35% in 2007. An emerging search term for our web site is "Gunnison Airport" where we link guests directly to United and American Airlines as well as provide a flight map and detailed schedule. We are also working tirelessly to improve our organic rankings for some broader Colorado terms which will take some time to accomplish however the effort will be worth it in the long term.

GunnisonValleyRTA.org: The RTA web site has a new logo design, and is currently featuring the FREE BUS schedules. Schedules, route maps and other RTA marketing materials are available for individual and business use to help promote the RTA's programs... Check it out! www.GunnisonValleyRTA.org The bulk of their traffic is coming from related transportation pages on GunnisonCrestedButte.com

Community Calendar Update: (www.GCBcalendar.com.) Special thanks to all who have participated and loaded events to date. And remember NOW is the time to load your fall and winter events. If your event is not loaded, do it today... it's easy! Visitors are coming to the site looking for summer information and locals are looking to plan their events so be sure to get your event loaded as soon as you have the dates. You can always go back and add more details as you learn them. We continue to develop new tools to make things easier for our partners. There are also a number of ways we can help you and your business better utilize and understand what the calendar can do for you. Just let us know and someone from the committee will gladly meet with you.

ADVERTISING NEWS:
Recent Gunnison-Crested Butte advertising:

  • Print: 10 AAA Travel Magazines, Frontier Airlines and United Express Inflight magazine, Texas Monthly, Oklahoma Magazine, Austin Monthly, Kansas City Magazine, Group Tour, Colorado Meetings & Events, High Country Anglers, American Cowboy & True West, Colorado Springs Gazette and many other state papers Summer Guides; direct mail postcard for June in the Rockies to 10,000 interested individuals.
  • Web/Electronic: Colorado.com, DiscoverColorado.com, ColoradoInfo.com, KansasCity.com; TravelAgentPromos.com, TravelInformation.com, Go-Colorado.com, 24-7Vacations.com, Dunhill Vacations, Diversions and several more.
  • Other: .60 second summer video on all Frontier Airlines flights, a 4 x 5 foot scrolling summer ad located in the Montrose Airport and two back-lit ad boxes 2' x 3' in the Denver 16th St. Mall Visitor Center.

UPCOMING JUNE EVENTS

14 - 15 Bayou in the Butte, Crested Butte Center for the Arts Outdoor Stage
18 - 22 Crested Butte Fat Tire Bike Week
18 - 20 Ride the Rockies, Overnight Stays & Day Off in Crested Butte
20 - 22 Readers in the Rockies & Crested Butte Writers Conference, Crested Butte
20 - 22 Gunsmoke-n-Gunnison, Fred R. Field Western Heritage Center
21 A Morning with the Breeding Birds of Gothic, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Gothic
21 Taylor Park Marina Fishing Derby, Taylor Reservoir
21 FREE Concert by Western Chamber Music Institute, Western State College, Gunnison
21 - 22 Wildflower Rush Cross Country & Downhill Bike Races, Crested Butte Mountain Resort
21 - 22 Bridges of the Butte (24-hour townie tour), Crested Butte
22, 29 Crested Butte Farmers’ Market, Elk Avenue, Crested Butte
26 ArtWalk Evening, Crested Butte Galleries & Studios
26 Gothic to Mt. Crested Butte Fun Run, Crested Butte Mountain Runners
26 Trail Work Day with Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association, Location to Be Announced
26 - 28 "Into the Woods" Presented by Crested Butte Mountain Theatre, Mallardi Cabaret
26 - Sept. 10 Tour de Forks, 18 Gourmet Dining Events Presented by Crested Butte Center for the Arts
27 FREE Concert by Western State College - Colorado Brass Band, Quigley Bandshell
28 9th Annual Breeding Bird Census, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Gothic
28 Gunnison Farmers' Market, Virginia & Main Street, Downtown Gunnison
28 - 29 3rd Annual AWEfest: Local Artists Market, Crested Butte Town Park
30 FREE Alpenglow Concert at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts Outdoor Stage

READER FEEDBACK
Please let us know what you think about our newsletter and if you'd like to be entered to win a great prize, email your recommendation for the "best summer photo spot" in Gunnison County and why it's your favorite. JChaney@GunnisonCounty.org


IN GUNNISON COUNTY, TOURISM PAYS FOR TOURISM! The Local Marketing District (LMD) 4% tax (paid only by overnight lodging visitors), and the Mt. CB Admissions tax (paid mostly by skiing visitors) funds tourism marketing via the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association.
WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE! Posters, brochures, bumper stickers, pins and bicycle tags are available! Just call 641-7992 and we'll get you fixed up for summer!
AIR SERVICE and BUS TRANSPORTATION information can be found on GunnisonValleyRTA.org. We hope many of you get on the bus for the Gunnison Valley "bus experience!" For the latest bus schedule go to GunnisonValleyRTA.org. Check out the new web site, too!