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Baking a Bigger Tourism Pie
Connecticut and Bay State tourism officials explore benefits of replacing competition with collaboration
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CONNTACT.com
10/28/2002
By: Karen Singer
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Next summer, families throughout the greater Hartford area will be encouraged to visit four attractions in Connecticut and an equal number in Massachusetts by a major joint marketing effort between facilities in the two states.
Although the details haven't been finalized, “Passport to Discovery” is a cross-promotion featuring a facsimile of a U.S. passport that will be stamped upon completion of an activity at each attraction, and some sort of reward if all eight sites are visited.
The objective is to induce families in both states to sample attractions they might not otherwise visit.
“We don't see any of the other [attractions] in Connecticut as competitive, but rather as complementary, so the more we can work together to promote the entire region, the better it will be,” says Dean O'Keefe, marketing director for the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
The recently renovated Hall of Fame, which reopened with great fanfare last month, is one of the four Massachusetts attractions participating in the cross-promotion.
The others are the Springfield Library and Museums, which has seen a surge in visitors since the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden was unveiled in its courtyard in September, Magic Wings Butterfly & Conservatory in South Deerfield and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, a new facility slated to open in November in Northampton.
Connecticut attractions taking part in the passport promotion are Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, the Science Center of Connecticut in West Hartford, the Mid-Connecticut Project Regional Recycling & Visitors Center in Hartford (a/k/a the Trash Museum) and the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks.
The new spirit of cooperation between Connecticut and Massachusetts facilities is part of growing nationwide movement, according to Hank Phillips, president of the National Tour Association, which represents tour operators, hotels, and suppliers as well as museums and other attractions.
“Most definitely, it's a significant trend,” Phillips says. “When people travel, they don't pay too much attention to state borders, so it makes sense for nearby entities, albeit in different states, to work together.”
The Nutmeg State and Bay State tourism departments are not directly involved in the cross-promotion, but they too are encouraging such partnerships.
“Since September 11 and over the past year, there has been has been a significant increase in leisure travel to Connecticut, and attendance generally is up at attractions of all sizes,” says Ed Dombroskas, executive director of the Connecticut state tourism department. “We have always been a 'drive' market, and are drawing people from much larger distances than the past.”
“The one thing that is clear and sure is that a traveler coming from several hours away doesn't see the geographical borders we see as a political entity,” Dombroskas adds. Someone who might go the Science Center in West Hartford is just as likely to visit the Dr. Seuss exhibit in Springfield, and people who visit the Basketball Hall of Fame or Six Flags [in Agawam, Mass.] are likely to be spending their nights in a Connecticut hotel. So we have to look at ourselves as whole destination.
“Both the states and the regions recognize this, and while we have not put any specific marketing dollars into initiatives that cross the border, we are working with attractions in both communities,” adds Dombroskas. “We do consulting with them, and put people together who ordinarily would not know each other.”
In Connecticut, the tourism department funds 11 regional tourism districts with monies coming from a percentage of hotel taxes generated in each region. Other states have similar arrangements.
Dombroskas also points out there has been a “huge increase of interest” in cultural heritage attractions in Connecticut over the past couple of years.
In Massachusetts as well as Connecticut, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 put a significant dent in international and business travel, but so-called drive-market travel is still doing well, says Amy Strack, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism.
“What we've noticed in the last year is people are driving eight or nine hours to get here, whereas before it normally was three or four hours,” says Strack.
“Our job is to market the state as a whole,” she adds. Those efforts include advertisements as well as face-to-face pitches to New York-based travel writers.
“One of the big trends is to start leveraging our marketing dollars through partnerships, especially with the economy the way it is,” says Greater Hartford Tourism District executive director Paul Mayer. “We want to get the most out of our dollars, and we've been trying to erase the borders.”
Douglas Fisher, director of economic and business development for Northeast Utilities System, was the driving force behind the Connecticut-Massachusetts collaboration. Utility companies have a long history of active involvement in local and regional economic development, and it was Fisher who several years ago recognized the many similarities between the greater Hartford and Springfield areas.
“I invited the presidents of all the regional groups, including tourism and economic development groups, to meet - just to toss around ideas and see if it made some sense to work on some of these things together,” Fisher says.
The meeting, which took place in the spring of 1999, led to the formation of the Hartford-Springfield Economic Partnership, which unites the efforts of corporations, arts and cultural organizations, and economic development institutions in both regions.
Its members include the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Greater Hartford Tourism District, the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the city of Northampton, Mass., the Springfield Library & Museums, and the Western Massachusetts Arts Alliance.
Under the partnership's umbrella, the Massachusetts-Connecticut Cultural Tourism Alliance developed its first project, a four-color 16-by-27-inch foldout visitors map without borders highlighting cultural attractions in the region. MassMutual Financial Group and Northeast Utilities helped to fund the map project.
First released in January 2002, the map recently was revised and went into a second printing that will include distribution to 32 colleges and universities in the region.
The family-oriented passport promotion is the group's current project.
“All eight entities are all different sizes doing different things while wowing kids and families,” says Edward J. Forand, president and CEO of the Science Center of Connecticut. His museum is planning several “blockbuster exhibits” that will run during the promotion, which is scheduled to begin in next June and run through August. One features Giganotosaurus, the largest meat-eating dinosaur; another focuses on Ice Age mammals.
“Enthusiasm is very high, and it has great potential, especially if we get some sponsorships and media attention,” Forand says.
Mary Kay Wydra, president of the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau agrees, saying the promotion could be a template for additional programs.
“We're looking in-region to do this cross-promotion, but if it takes off, the number of participants could expand, as well as our reach,” says Wyndra.
Meanwhile, additional collaborations may be brewing.
Matt Fleury, marketing director for Capital City Economic Development Authority, hopes the new convention center under construction in Hartford will boost leisure as well as business travel. Scheduled to open in 2005, the center - part of the Adriaen's Landing redevelopment project - is being billed as the largest such facility between New York and Boston and will be linked to new retail shopping as well as the revived Hartford waterfront.
“We're positioning the center as a regional and national venue,” Fleury says. “We want to attract people to business meetings and offer them amenities that will convince them to bring their families for an extra two or three night's stay.”
Marketing plans, Fleury adds, may well include promotions involving attractions in the greater Hartford-Springfield area.
Laurence Wilson, director of marketing and development for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center, points out that his facility already has participated in discount coupon promotions with nearby Mystic Seaport and Mystic Aquarium.
“That is not to say we aren't looking at other types of attractions outside the immediate area,” Wilson says. “But it has to make sense in terms of similar demographics or similar interests.”
Old Sturbridge Village marketing director Janice Putnam notes the recent success of a billboard campaign, Web site and discount coupon program for “The Great Museums and Adventures of Central Massachusetts.” It's a concept that also “could work well with Connecticut museums as well as non-museum properties.”
Six Flags marketing director Christopher Thorpe says he is “actively seeking cross-promotional opportunities with other facilities.”
Lisa Jaccoma, director of public affairs and corporate development at Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration, envisions thematically structured collaborations, “where each cultural institution approaches the subject matter through their expertise.”
At the moment, Jaccoma says she is “aggressively looking” for corporate sponsors for the facility's PT-109 exhibit, which opens in November and features the work of famed explorer Robert Ballard, whose institute is based at the aquarium. Ballard located the World War II motor-torpedo boat wreck helmed by John F. Kennedy this past spring in the Solomon Islands.
The exhibit opening coincides with the release of a National Geographic book and film about PT-109. The National Geographic Society funded Ballard's expedition.
A partnership between Hartford-Springfield area and New Haven region may also be within the realm of possibility.
Several months ago, Kenneth Kahn, executive director of the Greater Hartford Arts Council, met with New Haven area tourism officials to propose the idea of extending the borderless cultural map to the New Haven region.
“It would be a useful companion piece, and I thought it would be good for the New Haven-Hartford corridor,” Kahn says.
Although New Haven officials expressed some interest, Kahn added, he hasn't heard from any of them since the meeting.
Asked about the proposal, Arts Council of Greater New Haven Executive Director Elizabeth Monz said she is considering it.
It's All Right Here
Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens
281 Greenfield Road (Routes 5 & 10) South Deerfield, MA 01373
Phone: 413-665-2805
Directions: From Route 2, take 91S to Exit 25. Left off ramp 1/3rd mile. Left at light onto Routes 5& 10. One and a half miles to Magic Wings. From Route 91S take, Exit 2, proceed as from Route 2. From Route 91N, take Exit 24. Right off ramp onto Routes 5 and 10, past Yankee Candle. Two miles to conservatory.
Website: http://magicwings.net/
Hours of operation: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week (closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day)
Admission: Adults $7.00, Seniors (62 +) $5.00, Children (ages 3-17) and students (up to age 22 with student ID) $4.50, Children under 3 (free). Artists and photographers are welcome; call in advance. Memberships and corporate sponsorships are available, including a program through which your name or the name of your corporation is inscribed on benches located throughout the facility.
Description: Exhibits show the history and evolution of butterflies. Visitors can wander through a 4,000 square foot glass conservatory with plants and a pond containing between 800 and 2,000 native and tropical butterflies that fly freely and sometimes land on humans. The facility hopes the experience will encourage visitors “to support the creation and preservation of native butterfly and moth habitats.” Special events include musical performances and storytelling.
Tours: Magic Wings provides group tours, including an hour-long educational programs from 9:30 a.m. to 3: p.m. Teachers receive background and follow-up information as well as curriculum materials. Minimum size is 20 people at $4.00 per person. Arrangements also can be made for birthday parties, wedding ceremonies, renewals, parties, receptions and showers.
NaismithMemorial Basketball Hall of Fame
1000 West Columbus Avenue
Springfield, MA 01105
Phone: 413-781-6500 or 877 4HOOPLA
Directions: Call 877-4HOOPLA
Website: www.hoophall.com/
Hours of Operation: 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday (Hours subject to change)
Admission: Adults $15 Seniors 65+ $12.50 Youths 5-15 $10 Under 5 Free
For Group & Educational Rates, call: Joe Hevey 413-231-5511 Tom Ashe 413-231-5513
For Tour & Travel Rates: Karen Gilbert 413-231-5512 Facility rentals include a 7700 square feet Conference Room Space, the 200-seat theater, the Executive Board Room and the Hall of Fame Center Court.
For all rates call: Jim Abel 413-231-5514 Joe Hevey 413-231-5511
Description: A state-of-the art interactive museum where visitors can stand in athlete's footprints, view basketball photos and watch videos of season highlights. A theater onsite presents basketball films, lectures, and educational programs. Exhibits are designed to “weave the stories and accomplishments of basketball men and women, professional, college, amateur, American and foreign players and coaches into a single cohesive narrative.” The museum includes a 136-foot spire supporting a 13-foot illuminated basketball and a full-size basketaball court. Two hundred forty six individuals and five teams are enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. All can be researched on the website via various links. Other educational tools include “Full Court Press,” an activity packet for fourth to eight graders containing basketball related learning experiences aimed at developing students' ability to map, evaluate and analyze. For a free copy contact Thomas Ashe, Supervisor of Educational Programs at 413-231-5513 or via email at ashe@hoophall.com.
Coming Events: October 29, 2002 Champions of Character Lecture features Kathy Delaney Smith, head coach at Harvard University, talking about her courageous battle with cancer. 9:00 a.m. in the Theater, concourse level 413-231-5514
Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center
10 Pequot Trail, P.O. Box 3180
Mashantucket, CT 06339-3180
Phone: 800-411-9671
Website: www.mashantucket.com
Hours of Operation: Daily 9-5, last admission at 4. Closed on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, New Years Eve & New Years Day, and Thanksgiving Eve & Thanksgiving Day.
Admission: Adults (age 16 to 54) - $12.00 Seniors (55 &) - $10.00 Children (6-15) - $8.00 Children under 6 - Free Group visits (10 or more with reservations) - $10.00/person Student Groups - $7.00 per child
Group Sales: WDastous@MPTN.ORG or by telephone at 860-396-6945 School Groups: Field_Trips@MPTN.ORG or by telephone at 860-396-6839
Children's Library: Open to the public, free of charge. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Museum Restaurant Hours Open daily, 11 am to 4 pm, (until 5 pm on Saturdays)
The Museum Gift Shop: Open throughout the day during regular Museum hours.
Transportation: Continuous shuttle between the Museum and Foxwoods Casino
Description: A tribally owned-and-operated complex, the museum features the story of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, and is a major resource on the histories and cultures of other tribes, and the region's natural history. Permanent exhibits focus on eastern North America from the 16th to the 20th centuries, and including toys, prayer books, cooking utensils, mats, blankets, and Southern New England baskets. Also on display are commissioned works of art and traditional crafts made by Native artisans Highlights include a walk through a 1550 Pequot Village populated by 51 life-cast figures. Interactive exhibits abound. There also is a restaurant featuring Native and traditional American cuisine.
Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration
55 Coogan Boulevard, Mystic,
Connecticut 06355-1997
Phone: 860-572-5955
Hours: July to Labor Day: Sun. - Thurs., 9 - 7 Fri. & Sat., 9 - 6 Sept. to Dec.: Sun. through Sat., 9 - 6 Dec. to Feb.: Mon. - Fri., 10 - 5 Sat., Sun. & Holidays, 9 - 6 Feb. to June: Sun. through Sat. 9 - 6 Admission doors close one hour prior to Aquarium closing. (hours are subject to change without notice) Open Daily except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
Admission: Adult $16.00 Senior (age 60+) $15.00 Children (age 3 - 12) $11.00 Children (age 2 and under) Free! Group rates are available for groups consisting of 10 or more. Call (860) 572-5955 ext. 520
Directions: from New York City: New England Thruway north (I95), to exit 90 and follow the signs to Mystic Aquarium. Travel time is approximately 2.5 hours (approx. 127 miles). Directions from Hartford/Springfield: I91 south to Rte. 9 South, then to I95 north to exit 90 and follow the signs to Mystic Aquarium. Travel time is approximately 1.5 hours (approx. 47 miles).
New Exhibits include: Swamp Thing – recreation of a southern American swamp featuring snapping turtles, an albino catfish, geckos, crayfish, snakes and a nest of baby alligators Frogs – amphibians from around the world, including a three pound African bullfrog. Noah's Flood and Ancient Shipwrecks – based on Dr. Robert Ballard's 1999 expedition off the coast of Turkey, the exhibit features a replica of an ancient shipwreck found on the floor of the Black Sea, ancient artifacts and a “talking amphora” illustrating ancient Phoenician culture. Beluga Contact – A chance to get up close and personal with a whale. The cost per participant is $110. Admission to the aquarium is extra. For reservations call 860-572-5955, ext. 520.
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