Tourist attractions heat up for summer

SYRACUSE - Conventions, tourist attractions, and vacations may bring millions of dollars into a community, but businesses won't see a dime if visitors don't know where to spend. To connect visitors with attractions, the Syracuse Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) sets up portable tourism information centers, says CVB executive director Jan Quitzau.

"Anywhere there's going to be a concentration of people," Quitzau explains, "we're going to be there to tell them about what there is to do."

The Syracuse CVB has launched the first of a new series of brochures highlighting area attractions for visitors and residents alike. The first brochure in the "Field Guide to Syracuse and Onondaga County" covers the area's Erie Canal links. The Erie Canal brochure covers the history, attractions, shopping, and future of the Erie Canal corridor. Using a combination of historical and current photography, the brochures take readers from salt to DestiNY USA. Subsequent brochures cover topics such as the arts, outdoors. and the area's connection to the Underground Railroad.

The CVB has begun advertising in American Heritage magazine in order to attract tourists interested in exploring the history of upstate New York. The ads feature the covers of the "Field Guide" brochures and display a number for American Heritage's information-request postcards. To receive more inforination, the magazine's readers can circle numbers on a postcard corresponding to each month's advertisements. This allows readers to request information from several advertisers at once. The convention calendar sometimes presents new opportunities for brochures, says Carol Eaton, marketing director of the Syracuse CVB. The CVB has a new brochure promoting July as "Motor Month," touting the Harley Owners Group meeting July 11-13 and the Syracuse Nationals "Car Happening" the following weekend.

Getting the word out to tourists and conventioneers can start before they ever visit, says Paul Ziegler, president of the Oneida County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Oneida CVB staff works with meeting planners to create an information oacket for conventioneers that contains information about the community. Sometimes, meeting planners send the information to participants prior to the event. The listings cover everything from tourist attractions to nearby stores and restaurants, says Ziegler.

The Syracuse CVB sometimes prepares packets for mailing prior to an event, says Quitzau, but the usual practice is to distribute materials to conventioneers on arrival.

Reaching event planners and tour guides is an important part of the CVB's work in connecting tourists with the local market. During the Travel Expo New York trade show held earlier this year, the CVB took tour operators around the town to familiarize them with area attractions. The "FAM tours" - how Quitza refers to the familiarization trips - took place prior to the Travel Expo and after the event, with local businesses picking up the cost of showing the groups the town. The tours, says Quitzau, give participants a better idea of the attractions available for their clients.

Stops on a recent FAM tour included the Hawthorn Suites Hotel, Inner Harbor project, and a briefing on the DestiNY USA project from Pyramid Cos. spokesman Mike Lorenz.