What Do Your Guests See of Your City/Town? Is It the Real Thing?

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Generic

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Recently an out of town reporter wrote an article about our city that basically seemed to fault the city tourism board and ask the question, is she seeing the real city or is it just idealized? And I asked myself the question... what do my guests see... is it the real city or something idealized. And for me the answer was simple... the real city. And the reason is... I live in a real neighbourhood, a place where people walk to the store, sit in the cafés and enjoy the restaurants.
I realized two things...
  1. The tourism board's job is to promo an idealized version of the city because most of their members don't offer an authentic experience or can't. They are downtown, a neighbourhood that is sparsely occupied at night, or they are in the old part of the city, a very expensive neighbourhood that is full of restaurants and souvenir shops, if you add the rides, it's an amusement park.
  2. They don't know how to market to Europeans at all. The marketing message to the US works, but that message is exactly what doesn't work with the Europeans. Telling the US that it's like Europe isn't going to bring Europeans in... they already have that, at home!
So here is my question to you... do you offer services that show the visitors your real area. Does your tourist board. And do you leverage it?
 
West Virginia is a place that what you see is what you get - in our ads, from the CVB, in person. We market our scenery, outdoors, culture, and history among other things. And we have what we market.
I promote our covered bridges, craft shops, wineries, trail, and great motorcycle roads. We have museums, theater, art, and music also. The only thing we do NOT have is ocean - we are a bit short of ocean this year.
 
Recently, North Dakota used this ad and pulled it because of the backlash of objectifying women...
(No comment on the badly dressed women trying to lure guys from a gay bar.)
906C459E5A6BF176E70352959CA7461D_292_292.jpg
 
Recently, North Dakota used this ad and pulled it because of the backlash of objectifying women...
(No comment on the badly dressed women trying to lure guys from a gay bar.)
906C459E5A6BF176E70352959CA7461D_292_292.jpg
.
Yeah, I was thinking it "objectifies" men as much as women. They're all ogling each other pretty much equally. Just looks like a bar to me. Nothing gay about it, but then I can't read the fine print on the ad, other than the word drinks at the top, and that's pretty much omni-sexual!
 
Recently, North Dakota used this ad and pulled it because of the backlash of objectifying women...
(No comment on the badly dressed women trying to lure guys from a gay bar.)
906C459E5A6BF176E70352959CA7461D_292_292.jpg
.
Yeah, I was thinking it "objectifies" men as much as women. They're all ogling each other pretty much equally. Just looks like a bar to me. Nothing gay about it, but then I can't read the fine print on the ad, other than the word drinks at the top, and that's pretty much omni-sexual!
.
At least they look like "real people" instead of the usual models types.
 
Recently, North Dakota used this ad and pulled it because of the backlash of objectifying women...
(No comment on the badly dressed women trying to lure guys from a gay bar.)
906C459E5A6BF176E70352959CA7461D_292_292.jpg
.
Yeah, I was thinking it "objectifies" men as much as women. They're all ogling each other pretty much equally. Just looks like a bar to me. Nothing gay about it, but then I can't read the fine print on the ad, other than the word drinks at the top, and that's pretty much omni-sexual!
.
I think I can read it (with a lot of help fom windows...). It does not entice me to visit North Dakota right now......
drinks,
dinner,
decisions.
Arrive a guest
leave a legend
North Dakota
Legendary
 
Recently, North Dakota used this ad and pulled it because of the backlash of objectifying women...
(No comment on the badly dressed women trying to lure guys from a gay bar.)
906C459E5A6BF176E70352959CA7461D_292_292.jpg
.
Yeah, I was thinking it "objectifies" men as much as women. They're all ogling each other pretty much equally. Just looks like a bar to me. Nothing gay about it, but then I can't read the fine print on the ad, other than the word drinks at the top, and that's pretty much omni-sexual!
.
I think I can read it (with a lot of help fom windows...). It does not entice me to visit North Dakota right now......
drinks,
dinner,
decisions.
Arrive a guest
leave a legend
North Dakota
Legendary
.
Bommelhoeve said:
It does not entice me to visit North Dakota right now......
Right now? Only if you enjoy -30 C! ;-)
 
Back to your original question, in our area there is nothing but 'real' so yes they promote the real deal. Same with the big city near us.
But you do bring out some very interesting points. While our area does promote the real thing, most people that come here are not coming here for that. The typical tourist are staying here because it is less expensive than the big city.
But B&B's bring the unique opportunity to showcase our 'real' town, with real people and great spots to visit. This is an advertising market we do not boldly promote, IMHO.
While I do have a list of interesting things to do here, it most often times is not noticed. Take this for an example: A guest returns after a full day in the big city and when asked they said (laughing at themselvs) we took a bus tour and it was not until we were almost there did we realize that we were only minutes from your B&B. (they could have saved an hour or more of their day and $40, had they looked to see what is right at our back door.)
 
We try to push guests to see the 'real' town, but they mostly come for the 'fake' side.
 
Recently, North Dakota used this ad and pulled it because of the backlash of objectifying women...
(No comment on the badly dressed women trying to lure guys from a gay bar.)
906C459E5A6BF176E70352959CA7461D_292_292.jpg
.
Yeah, I was thinking it "objectifies" men as much as women. They're all ogling each other pretty much equally. Just looks like a bar to me. Nothing gay about it, but then I can't read the fine print on the ad, other than the word drinks at the top, and that's pretty much omni-sexual!
.
I was trying to be witty... two guys alone in a bar with no women around and the women outside, instead of being in the bar.
The point is, are they advertising the real North Dakota or the tourist version or something else. One comment was made that the ad wasn't promoting North Dakota at all... it was more like Jersey Shore. (Which I have never seen, so I can't comment).
I don't think I have ever seen a local woman with her skirt hiked up like that. They just not how the locals dress at all, around here.
 
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