Sky high for tourists
“Lexington’s Bluegrass Region” is the featured destination in the June issue of Delta Air Lines’ Sky Magazine.
Caleb Miles, president & CEO of the Convention & Visitors Bureau in Pinehurst, N.C., says it’s a terrific honor that probably will spur local tourism, but any gains may be hard to measure.
Miles knows, because Pinehurst — known as the Home of American Golf because of its 45 golf courses — was Sky’s featured destination in April 2007.
Since Lexington is more of a convention city than Pinehurst, it might land a large meeting as a result of the Sky article, Miles said last week.
Otherwise, it’s going to be tough to track individual tourists and find out why they came to Lexington and if it was because of Sky.
A copy of the magazine is placed in front of every passenger on Delta and its affiliated airlines, like Comair. Passengers are encouraged to take the magazine home.
Some passengers will do that and will request tourism information months later, Miles said.
“We were happy with the results,” he said. “We saw a little bit more activity. We got some calls, but you can’t point to one publication that moved the needle from 10 to 90.
“Consumers are bombarded with messages,” Miles added. “If they read one article, generally it’s not going to cause them to take action. It’s going to be a series of things.”
