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JosephMarinelli President Visit Savannah
How 18th-century charm and 21st-century technology keep planners coming back to Savannah
As the group travel market continues its slow but steady return to health, what will your destination be doing to remain competitive? I’ve heard it said, since I arrived in Savannah five years ago, that our city’s founder, General James Edward Oglethorpe, pro- claimed as he departed back to England,“…don’t change any- thing until I return!” In many ways, we haven’t—and that beauty, history, and
charmare only a few of the reasonswhy Savannah has become a “destination of choice” for over 11 million visitors per year. But, as we look forward to the next 20 years, we are also
not standing pat, either. City leaders are currently exploring the addition ofa new 500-room headquarters hotel next to the Savannah InternationalTrade and Con- vention Center, and the potential of building Georgia’s first cruise-ship port, and are considering sites near the famed Historic District for a new, 12,000-seat performing-arts venue or arena. Althoughwecan never turn our backs
on the live oaks and Spanish moss that grace our 22 park-like squares, we also understand that wemust stay relevant to be competitive in the future. Savannah also is featuring its “coastal
cuisine” with an emerging culinary expe- rience unmatched around the country. Dynamic young chefs aremaking Savannah their home and taking advantage ofyear- round mild weather that provides quality “farm-to-table” and “sea-to-table” products that are truly unique to this part ofthe low country.
What will be the top destination-selection criteria for meeting planners during the coming year? Our customers continue to tell us that they are looking for unique destinations for their meetings. Plus, more than ever before, value truly is king. So we are developing customized packaging for meeting professionals doing business with us, in a “bucket-list city” that helps draw strong attendance num- bers and greater spousal participation.
How are younger CVB and meeting professionals changing theindustry?
86 pcma convene January 2011
Most of our internal strategic conversations these days focus on words and phrases that we were not even using three or four years ago—social media, mobile and online video market- ing, apps,WAP [Wireless Application Protocol], and more. It’s fascinating to observe a general session or breakout these days and see how many folks are using iPads to take notes versus paper and pen or pencil. So, ifthey are going to be online while they are in their meetings here,weare determined to bring the best ofSavannah right to their cell phone or tablet screens so they can truly enjoy their time in our city.
What innovations in the realm of social media/networking and technology in general will your destination be pursuing going forward? We recently launched our new Savan- nahMeetings.com website, and meeting professionals have been extremely com- plimentary about its ease and function- ality. Sending us RFPs has never been easier. Plus, we are enhancing our con- nectivity with empowerMINT, DMAI’s online portal that makes it easy for plan- ners to find the right destination for their meetings and conferences. Additionally, we have embraced
social networking in a big way. Planners can easily communi- cate with our Visit Savannah staff, customers, and meeting attendees via ourTwitter page, @SavannahMeetings, with over 700 followers, and through our Facebook page, Savannah, which has more than 36,000 fans. Both are helpful for making their Savannah experience the best that it can be. And, we have added a new “live chat” component to Vis-
itSavannah.com. This unique feature allows meeting attendees to talk live to aVisit Savannah visitor counselor to assist them in planning every detail of their upcoming trip. So far, this has been an extremely popular enhancement to our website.
BOTHWORLDS: Joseph Marinelli is determined to bring the best of Savannah to attendees—digitally and in their live experience.
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