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By Katharine Flanagan Cato December 08. 2014 6:36PM Tourism in Ashland: The role of the Chamber’s Visitor & Convention Bureau Ashland Chamber of Commerce logo With the holidays upon us, ‘tis the season for celebrating with your friends and family. Gathering people together and creating memories is important and that is essentially what the Ashland Chamber’s Visitor & Convention Bureau (VCB) promotes year round to visitors. Have you ever wondered how tourism happens in Ashland? The Ashland Chamber’s VCB promotes Ashland as a visitor destination, engaging travelers year round. The goal is to promote and provide a great experience that will make them want to return. By marketing to the visitor, tours and groups, we enrich lives and sometimes convert those visitors into residents. The work of the Ashland Chamber’s VCB, for more than 30 years, has included marketing and promoting Ashland’s amenities and special events. It also includes creating exposure through advertising campaigns, growing partnerships and building the tools it takes to deliver the visitor message. Analysis and fulfillment are also part of the work that studies who our visitor is and what they want. Some of the tools we use to share this message are the website www.ashlandchamber.com, the In & About Visitor Guide and the new Ashland map, along with online, print, TV, radio and editorial campaigns. Led by a team consisting of a committee made up of local tourism partners, the Ashland Chamber’s VCB builds and enacts an effective strategy to attract visitors to Ashland. The Ashland Chamber’s VCB represents Ashland statewide, maintaining partnerships with other VCB’s, Travel Southern Oregon and the statewide tourism entity, Travel Oregon. How does Ashland get the spotlight in the news? Hosting travel writers, food writers, tour operators and industry partners are all part of what educates the industry as to what Ashland offers both for the leisure traveler and groups. We respond to fact checking and articles regarding Ashland that appear nationally and internationally, in addition to planning advertising campaigns and promotions throughout the year. The Ashland Chamber’s VCB promotes Ashland’s cultural, culinary and outdoor experiences. Ashland has a population of 20,000 and welcomes more than 300,000 visitors annually. Approximately half of those visitors come to see plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. While Ashland would not be Ashland without the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, as it’s the cornerstone of Ashland’s culture, there are many reasons why folks visit Ashland. Building upon OSF, visitors are attracted to Ashland’s culture that encompasses art galleries, music, performing arts and history. Ashland’s culinary scene attracts foodie travelers from around the world with over 80 restaurants, talented chefs, restaurateurs and wineries. The most recent Ashland Culinary Festival, produced by the Ashland Chamber’s VCB, put the spotlight on these restaurants by creating a fun culinary weekend in November. One can look forward to special offerings during Ashland’s Restaurant Preview Week Feb. 2 through 9 that brings visitors and locals alike closer to the amazing chefs. Ashland has had a very loyal corps of visitors for decades and, while we continue to invite them, we also invite and engage the younger, active visitor here for mountain biking, microbrews, girlfriend getaways, wellness retreats, athletic competitions and those who see Ashland as a dynamic base camp for exploring the outdoors. Having studied the behavior and demographics of the Ashland visitor for years, we know that our visitors are highly educated. Their tastes demand sophisticated amenities that have helped shape Ashland into the destination it is today. The way they go about finding travel information is always changing, thus we must constantly adapt and create new ways of providing information to the new and repeat visitor. The Ashland Chamber’s VCB serves as the gateway to Ashland, Southern Oregon and the entire state, with approximately 60 percent of visitors arriving to Oregon through our corridor. We are open to the public year round and free of charge for visitors and residents. The Ashland Chamber’s VCB welcomes thousands of visitors year round in the Chamber office which serves as an information center, along with more than 25,000 visitors greeted by more than 100 volunteers at the Information Booth on the Plaza from May through October. As you conclude your holidays and make travel plans for the year ahead, remember we are here to help welcome your visitors and family to Ashland. Whether a reunion, wedding or road trip, we are happy to provide you with Ashland information to make their stay a memorable one. Katharine Flanagan Cato is director of sales, marketing and the Visitors and Convention Bureau for the Ashland Chamber of Commerce. Chamber Communiqué appears monthly. http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20141208/NEWS/141209854 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->