Partner News February 2012

Attend with FLTA! -- The  Empire State Tourism Conference and Legislative Action Days

FLTA will be participating in the NYSTVA Tourism Conference in Albany on March 6-8. Cindy and staff will be in attendance to speak directly with legislators, share talking points, and take notes to be able to pass on valuable tourism information directly to our partners. For more information, to join FLTA, or to make travel arrangements, please contact Cindy Kimble at cindyk@fingerlakes.org or at 315-536-7488.

Increased Business Exposure with the Featured Partner Program:

Highlight your business now on FingerLakes.org through the ‘Featured Business’ program. The way this featured business program will be set up will look similar to the photo next to this paragraph. This promotional area will include a photo of your business, a link to a landing page of your choosing, and a 50 word write up. The featured business promotional area can be featured on the attractions, shopping, hotels, B&B, wineries, group travel pages and more! The cost of this program will be $600 per month in season (May-October) and $400 per month out of season (November-April). With the addition of BookDirect to FingerLakes.org 2012 is sure to be another record breaking year for website visitation. You’ll want to reserve your featured month early to excellent exposure! To sign up or for more details on this program, please contact Mark Illig at marki@fingerlakes.org or 315-536-7488.  

FLTA Partners Featured on Sherman’s Travel Blog

Many partners in the Finger Lakes region were recently featured in the “Sherman’s Travel Blog,” written by Paul Eisenberg, which is widely read by thousands of viewers.  Rochester’s Strong National Museum of Play, The Inn on the Lake of Canandaigua, and Red Jacket Orchards are three prominent locations noted in the blog.  This provides plenty of exposure and promotion for travel as it appeals to outdoorsy families searching for a potential vacation spot.  Eisenberg also notes brief history about the state park and fills readers in about the different types of activities tourists might be looking for in a vacation.  It plays to both the fun and fitness aspect of the Finger Lakes region! To read this blog in its entirety follow this link:

http://blog.shermanstravel.com/blog/2012/02/14/finger-lakes-beckon-families/

Great Gay Weddings and Honeymoons Advertising Opportunity

The gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual demographic is an emerging market for the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance and its partners. The passing of New York State’s legislation that will allow gay and lesbian marriage is a perfect fit for advertising with Passport magazine for their May publication of ‘Great Gay Weddings and Honeymoons.’ This double income, no kids market is looking for new travel destinations and statistics show that they have the income to spend money in the Finger Lakes area. FLTA is looking to create a co-op page with partners for this May edition with a focus on the Finger Lakes being a honeymoon destination. Placement of an ad in this edition will cost $1,092 and reach 30,000 paid subscribers as well as 148,000 national newsstand and bookstore distribution. The translation of this ad will also have online presence that reaches 60,000 individuals per edition.  Placement of an ad will include additional full advertorial coverage with a link to a landing page on your website for added value with the purchase of an ad. For more information or to reserve your commitment please contact Jessica Robideau or Mark Illig at 315-536-7488.

Life In the Finger Lakes – You Advertise With Them Already, Now Get The Same Exposure For Less!

Life in the Finger Lakes is a beautiful glossy magazine that features the stories of business owners and businesses within the Finger Lakes. Interesting readership numbers you may want to know about the publication include:

Age: 18-55: 45% Age: 56+ 55%

Female 58% Male 42%

86% current Finger Lakes residents

Household Earnings: 70k+ 58%

Print Circulation: 75,000

Paid subscriptions: 15,692

Newsstand Distribution: 9,740

Doctor’s Offices: 2,570

Accommodations: 2,000

Online Digital Version: 7,412

E-Newsletter: 6,600 subscribers with an average of 3,142 opens

FLTA has partnered with Life in the Finger Lakes to pass on ADVERTISING SAVINGS to you. To find out more information about this program and to discuss rate options, contact Mark Illig at 315-536-7488 or marki@fingerlakes.org

Partnership Plus Coupons Page

Our partnership plus coupon page is a great way to offer discounts for those considering a vacation in the area. Any coupon you would like to put on our page can be arranged at ease! The coupons to be placed on the page can expire at any given time for a duration as short as a day or as long as a year.  They may also be updated at any time to keep it new and up-to-the-minute.  For more information, please contact Jessica Robideau at jessicar@fingerlakes.org or at 315-536-7488.  

BookDirect Now Live on FingerLakes.org

FLTA is very proud to announce the launch of BookDirect. BookDirect is an online reservation booking system that will allow Finger Lakes visitors to view availability of regional accommodations and convert directly to a reservation if they so choose. This exceptional program was negotiated and approved by the Board of Directors with the BookdDirect team so that no costs will be passed on to FLTA partners. As an FLTA partner, you are receiving this feature at absolutely no cost to you but as a value added program to your membership. How does it all work, you may be asking yourself. The BookDirect availability widget can be seen on the homepage of FingerLakes.org as well as on the accommodations pages where you can find partner accommodation listings. This widget, seen primarily on the top left hand corner of the page, allows visitors to select a date range for when they plan on visiting the Finger Lakes. BookDirect links in directly to the reservation system your business currently has in place to determine availability for the dates selected. This sweep of availability will bring the visitor to a landing page that will show all of the accommodations that have availability for the dates selected. What businesses appear on this page will be in no specific order and are randomly generated to ensure partner equality. In the future, there may be discussion to include premium placement on this page, but at this time the Board has elected to keep placement random. JackRabbit assures FLTA that we will be able to track through analytics the number of referrals that go from the FingerLakes.org site to a partner’s site. FLTA is looking forward to the busy tourist season where, as the FingerLakes.org track record proves that breaking numbers of website visitors will be able to quickly and easily find availability and book a room here in the Finger Lakes. If any additional questions come up after reading this, please do not hesitate to call the FLTA office at 315-536-7488 for future clarification as we would be more than happy to assist you.