Montana Office of Tourism

OVERSEAS MARKETING

The Montana Office of Tourism aggressively promotes Montana as a destination to the international travel trade, with emphasis on the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Scandinavia, Australia, Japan and Taiwan.  The program involves working with key tour operators, wholesalers, travel agencies and the media to establish new Montana itineraries for groups and Foreign Independent Travelers (FITs), while assisting Montana businesses in their marketing efforts overseas.

This is accomplished by representation at key international travel trade shows, familiarization tours, cooperative advertising ventures with other states in the region, brochure and  DVD distribution and ongoing personal contact with targeted tour operators, wholesalers, travel agents and media.

The program's goals are to increase awareness of Montana as a year-round vacation destination for international visitors, and to generate and distribute leads to the CVBs, regions and Montana suppliers for their follow-up purposes.

Western Europe
The European marketing program includes use of the services of specialized travel representatives on a contractual basis in cooperation with the states of Wyoming, South Dakota and Idaho. Primary markets are the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Scandinavia and Australia.

Under the Rocky Mountain International (RMI) banner of "The Real America", Montana continues to see tremendous success from collective marketing efforts. In FY09, the four states participated jointly in a Scandinavian Mission , International Tourism Bourse (ITB) in Berlin, World Travel Market in London, and the Visit USA Showcase trade show in Italy.  RMI overseas offices exhibited at several "Visit USA" and consumer shows on behalf of the RMI region.

The Montana Office of Tourism will also participate in TIA’s International Pow Wow in Miami, FL on May 15-20, 2009.  And that’s not all for this fiscal year – in November 2008 the four RMI states  did a sales mission to the Netherlands and Belgium to meet with tour operators and train their staff.

For recent trade show leads, please refer to the following links:

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Pacific Rim
MT Dept. of Commerce trade representatives in Kumamoto, Japan, and Taipei, Taiwan, market Montana’s travel-related products and services to the travel trade in their respective countries under close direction from Travel Montana. Their responsibilities include contact with wholesalers, tour operators, travel agents and media to create demand for Montana’s travel-related products and services. This objective is achieved through distribution of travel materials, organization of familiarization trips, translation of Montana literature and websites in Japanese and Chinese, travel trade show participation and sales calls.

European Sales & Training Seminars
As mentioned above, for FY09 the four RMI states of Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho attended World Travel Market Trade Show in London; Visit USA Showcase Trade Show in Verona, Italy; sales trainings in Belgium and the Netherlands, Scandinavian Mission; and plan to attend ITB in Berlin.

The 2009 Rocky Mountain International RoundUp will be held in Boise, Idaho on April 1-3.  As always, two business sessions will be offered at the Round-Up, giving Montana and regional suppliers the opportunity to meet on an appointment basis with tour operators from our target European markets.  In addition, a post RoundUp fam tour to Montana will be conducted from April 4-9, 2009, highlighting Gold West and Russell Country tourism regions.

A trip to Japan and Taiwan is tentatively planned for mid-September or October 2009 to work with our trade representatives there.  Sales calls and travel agency trainings are planned.

In addition, the Montana Office of Tourism will once again sponsor and attend the Go West Summit in Albuquerque, NM on Jan. 25-29, 2009 and the North American Journeys Receptive Tour Operator Summit in Los Angeles, to be held on February 1-4, 2009.

Trade Shows
Visibility at the key international travel trade shows allows Montana to make contact with wholesalers, operators and media, and provides the opportunity to follow up on new and existing projects and ideas. The Montana Office of Tourism delegates are sometimes joined by private-sector participants; for information on attending these shows please contact Pam Gosink, Marketing and Overseas Program Manager at pgosink@mt.gov.  

Overseas Marketing Workshop
International marketing seminars are generally held annually at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism.  Watch for updates for the 2010 conference program; there will not be an international seminar at the 2009 conference.   

Familiarization Tours
Familiarization ("fam") tours for trade and media representatives, as well as training and sales missions, are also important components of the Rocky Mountain International program as well as in our Pacific Rim markets.  With the assistance of Montana travel industry members, "fam" tours will be conducted to provide firsthand knowledge for prospective tour operators. By experiencing Montana, operators can better understand the mechanics of designing new itineraries in the state. "Fam" tours will also be held for carefully selected travel journalists, with the intended result of generating positive travel articles in foreign publications.

Montana hosted The RMI Mega-fam in September 2007 with Idaho, and in September 2008 with South Dakota. The fam included participants from our target markets in Europe as well as USA based receptive tour operators.

Direct Mail Campaign
This specialized direct mail program will provide current tour planning material to tour operators, as well as follow-up to contacts initiated during trade shows. This program also establishes and maintains a professional rapport with overseas groups and FIT travel planners. In addition, selected international tour operators have received  Montana calendars as a direct mail piece to entice them to keep Big Sky Country on their minds every day of the year.

Evaluation Mechanisms
Montana’s visibility in overseas markets is measured by tracking the number of Montana tourism products that have been added or expanded by international tour operators through tour extracts provided by RMI and numbers provide d by the trade offices in Japan and Taiwan, the figures provided in the ITRR Non-resident survey, and the interest level of consumers and trade representatives in overseas target markets.