Marketing Strategy to ‘Own’ Christmas Shows Results

By Desiree Parker

Friday, January 27, 2012

The Triangle’s bid to “own” Christmas paid some good returns this year, with hotel occupancy and visitation markedly higher during the season compared to last year.

In 2011, the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance, James City County, the Virginia Tourism Corporation, Busch Gardens and Colonial Williamsburg joined together in an effort to market the Triangle as a unique Christmas destination. Armed with a budget of $390,000, the group bought print, display and television ads and committed to increasing holiday programming at destinations.

“Thanks to the leadership of Carl Lum and Busch Gardens in promoting Christmas Town and joining with Colonial Williamsburg and the Chamber and Tourism Alliance to promote Christmas in Williamsburg, the month [of December] performed well,” said Williamsburg Hotel Motel Association President Billy Scruggs.

Occupancy at local hotels was up to 34 percent, which is up 34.4 percent from the same month the year previous. For the whole year, occupancy was only 40.9 percent, though, which is far below what hoteliers would like to see to be profitable.

Scruggs pointed out that “the sobering fact is that with that substantial increase in December our year to date number hovering around 41 percent occupancy” and this “is still in negative territory, just barely at 0.4% below last year through December.”

Also, though occupancy was higher than last year for the Triangle, it was still below occupancy in the same month for Virginia Beach, the Norfolk and Portsmouth market, as well as the Newport News and Hampton market.

Other notable results of the campaign include a 61 percent increase in Busch Gardens attendance, according to data from the Alliance. About 83 percent of this increase came from the four markets that were targets of television advertising: Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Richmond and Hampton Roads. Washington, D.C. and Baltimore accounted for the highest increases in Busch Gardens traffic.

Colonial Williamsburg saw a seven percent increase in visitation during the holiday, with 42 percent of that growth from target markets.

The campaign’s website, ChristmasInWilliamsburg.com, had 40,000 unique visitors. VisitWilliamsburg.com, the Williamsburg Area Destination Marketing Committee website, saw a 365 percent increase in searches for Christmas content though it had no specific activity geared towards Christmas.

In 2010, the Alliance started marketing Christmas In Williamsburg. That campaign included television ads in Washington, D.C., and resulted in 20,000 visits to the website, a 5.7 percent increase in room demand and a 12.2 percent increase in hotel reveues.

Regarding all the positive data, Alliance Vice President for Tourism Bob Harris said, “We are pleased to see such a quick return on this carefully planned campaign” that strategically controlled timing, message and target markets. “This year, the campaign grew, and it’s great to see the result.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but we’re not there yet. This is a campaign we will continue to build.”

The Christmas campaign follows along with the Alliance’s push to beef up niche marketing for off-season months to keep visitors coming to town. Aside from Christmas, the Alliance has been working to push spring visits by promoting gardens, promoting sports events and the upcoming Civil War Sesquicentennial.

Scruggs noted, “It appears that with the leisure market, niche marketing may be a key to increase the number of visitors to our destination. As we move forward another great example is the renewed partnership with the LPGA and Xanterra Kingsmill.”

Goals for the 2012 Christmas marketing strategy include continuing the partnership, finding extra funding, increasing the length of the commercials using footage shot this year, and adding at least one more destination market, according to Harris.