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Tourism & Meeting Destination:
St. Louis
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Convention
and Visitors Commission launches www.BeATourist.com
to help locals experience St. Louis like out-of-towners.
By C.B. Adams
To put a new spin on an old saying, “No man is a tourist in his
own town.” The Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC) is changing
that perception with a new website designed for area residents to
take advantage of the wide variety of things to see and do in the
metropolitan area. The site is part of the CVC’s “Be A Tourist in
Your Own Town” program.
Above:
(top right) St. Louis Union Station is one of the many
attractions that is appealing to both locals and tourists alike.
(middle right) St. Louis Westin Hotel, located in the historic
Cupples Station building, offers packages targeted to locals. (bottom
right) St. Louisans have access to a wide variety of entertainment,
including performances at the St. Louis Fox Theatre.
“Basically, what we’re trying to do is reach out with one hand to
St. Louis area residents and reach out with the other hand to the
local hospitality industry and put them together,” says Nancy Milton,
the CVC’s vice president of communications. “On the website, we
decided to speak to St. Louisans and tell them how to take advantage
of the types of deals, discounts, hotel packages and attractions
we have been telling out-of-town visitors about for years.”
The new site offers both information about—and links to—attractions
in St. Louis City and County, as well as surrounding Missouri counties
and southwestern Illinois. It also includes an interactive calendar
that is updated daily and features a searchable list of events.
In addition, the website lists day trips less than a two-hour drive
from St. Louis, along with restaurant information, suggested itineraries
and other useful information.
“There are so many things available in the St. Louis area that I
don’t think the average person even knows we’ve got,” says Bill
Schmitt, director of sales for the Casino Queen. “St. Louis is one
of the best cities in the country when it comes to the words ‘free
entertainment.’ If we can get people in this city to be aware of
the possibilities and believe in their own city, then we are going
to have a lot of ‘sales people’ out there working for us. That is
why this campaign makes so much sense.”
Users of www.BeATourist.com,
which was launched in May, can explore current hotel packages and
book their own in-town getaway accommodations online. A special
“Tickets & Deals” section offers savings to locals through a variety
of programs, including the St. Louis Family Attractions card, which
offers $500 in two-for-one admissions to approximately 20 of the
top attractions in St. Louis. Other links on the site include the
Vacations Savings Program, sponsored by Drury Development Corporation,
and the Big Thank You cultural ticket discount site.
“We are absolutely behind this campaign,” says Tim Pierson, director
of sales and marketing for The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis. “It is very
important to us to be both a good corporate citizen, as well as
an ally of the local community. We know St. Louis itself is a sizeable
market because a good amount of our business comes from the local
community. We rely heavily on people spending their money in this
area.”
Among the many hotels offering special packages and rates on the
website is the Hyatt-Regency at St. Louis Union Station. The hotel
offers a “Historical Package” that includes a special rate for deluxe
accommodations in the historic Regency Club with Club amenities
that include a bottle of champagne or non-alcoholic beverage and
valet parking. Its “Great Escape Package” features overnight accommodations
in a deluxe guestroom in the Garden Section, breakfast for two in
the Station Grille restaurant and valet parking.
The Westin St. Louis, located in the historic Cupples Station building,
created packages with a distinctive local slant. Its “Piece of History
Package” offers an overnight stay at this new hotel and includes
its “Heavenly Bed” accommodations, complimentary hotel parking,
admission and tour of the Samuel Cupples House and McNamee Gallery,
and a keepsake Cupples House pictorial coffee table book.
“We designed this historic package because so many in our local
community don’t understand the history of St. Louis. This package
was designed to appeal to area residents who want to know more about
our local history,” says Gary Tarpinian, director of sales and marketing
for the Westin. “They don’t know what happened downtown during the
late 1800s and early 1900s. This package shows them what happened
in the social and business communities and how they were tied together
in terms of the growth of the city.”
Another of the Westin’s “Escape Weekends” was designed to appeal
to St. Louisans who love Cardinals baseball. In addition to hotel
accommodations, guests receive free parking to see the game.
“This was definitely designed for local tourists. Our thought was,
instead of going to Chicago or another city to see a game, stay
at a hotel, enjoy eating out and all the good things that happen
when you leave town, we thought we would give them an excuse to
do the same things at home. Parking is such a premium downtown during
a game, so we threw that in, too,” Tarpinian says.
Since it was launched in May, the website has received an ever-increasing
number of “hits.” The site receives close to 400 visitor sessions
a day, especially Fridays and Saturdays, according to Milton.
“The longer it’s out there, the more it spreads by word of mouth.
We expect visitor sessions to continue to grow,” she says. “We hope
to keep changing the site to keep it fresh. We add new hotel packages
all the time. Every day that people go back to the site, they will
see something different.”
C.B. Adams is a St. Louis-based writer, communications consultant
and adjunct faculty member at University of Missouri-St. Louis.
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