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BEST PRACTICE
Attraction Development
Case Study: WaterFire Providence, USA
Overview
In 1994, an artist, Barnaby Evans, was commissioned to create First Fire to celebrate the Tenth
Anniversary of First Night, a local New Year's Eve event in Providence, Rhode Island. First Fire consisted
of 11 braziers on steel tripods from Waterplace Basin to Steeple Street. In 1996, Evans created a Second
Fire for the Convergence Art Festival and the International Sculpture Conference.
This unique attraction gained local and regional attention with strong support to continue and expand
the project. In 1997, WaterFire expanded to 42 braziers operated through an entire season, with an
estimated attendance of over 350,000 people.
Today, WaterFire includes over 100 sparkling bonfires, firetenders mystically moving about and setting
the flames, and music. It can be seen and experienced along the three rivers of downtown Providence.
Approach
This attraction is produced by WaterFire Providence, an independent, non-profit arts organization whose
mission is to "inspire Providence and its visitors by revitalizing the urban experience, fostering
community engagement and creatively transforming the city by presenting WaterFire for all to enjoy."
The organization has about 15 staff and relies heavily on volunteers. On any given night, up to 160
volunteers support the event.
WaterFire is presented about a dozen times per year and there is no admission charge. Ten percent of
their funding is received from public sources with the remainder coming from private and corporate
sponsorships and donations.
© 2018 Ayaz-Asif-wwypayaz.com
Outcomes
2014 marked the 20th anniversary of the event which has transformed the downtown and solidified
Providence's reputation as one of the Northeast premiere arts and cultural hubs.
Water Fire has received national and international acclaim as a community arts event. The crowds have
increased from thousands to millions of visitors per year. Over 10 million visitors have attended. Average
attendance is 40,000 per night with hotels and restaurants garnering significant business during each
lighting
The Water Fire concept has been expanded to other cities including: Houston, Texas; Columbus, Ohio;
Kansas City, Missouri; Singapore; Rome, Italy; and Sharon, Pennsylvania.
BEST PRACTICE
Attraction Development
Case Study: Grapevine Vintage Railroad, Dallas, USA
Overview
Grapevine is a small urban-rural community of 48,000 adjacent to DFW International Airport in the Dallas-Fort Worth
Metroplex that has to regularly compete for tourism jobs and revenues with existing other well-established destinations in
the metroplex (e.g., Dallas, Plano, Fort Worth). In an effort to create a unique and compelling destination experience, the
Grapevine city leaders and DMO leaders developed an iconic destination attraction: the Grapevine Vintage Railroad.
THUTHUE
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Approach
The Grapevine CVB (the DMO) established an overall community destination vision that was anchored by its historical
Texas heritage. This included an extensive community engagement process to mobilize the public and politicians with the
understanding of the benefits that tourism could provide to the community. The public and political support resulted in the
passing of dedicated tourism/economic development funding, through a room tax and sales tax allocation, to support
destination development and marketing.
The DMO realized that in order to bring the destination vision to life in a competitive marketplace, key brand experiences
needed to be acquired and managed. This was done through the establishment of a local foundation to raise the
investment capital to purchase railroad assets - including rolling stock, supporting infrastructure and also track access. As a
result of this new investment, the DMO had to expand its focus beyond traditional sales and marketing to include product
development and management by operating and marketing the Grapevine Vintage Railroad.
Outcomes
GRAPEVINE
VINTAGE
RAILROAD
The Grapevine Vintage Railroad became the anchor iconic attraction for the destination. Opened in 1993, the Grapevine
Vintage Railroad now carries approximately 100,000 riders each year. The DMO has introduced a variety of diverse
experiences as part of the railroad attraction including seasonal, food and wine, family and historical, to bring elements of
its destination brand to life. The DMO also created a high visibility destination marketing platform to drive overall
destination performance. The success of the railroad was a catalyst for attracting other attraction investors, including
Merlin Entertainment, to further enrich the overall destination experience.
Total annual visits to Grapevine grew to almost 15 million in 2014, generating a total economic impact of $2.2 billion.
TEXAS
GRAPEINETEXAS
AGED TO PERFECTION
BEST PRACTICE
Organic Marketing (User Generated Content)
Case Study: Orlando - the Never Ending Story, USA
WEZI ENDINE
Overview
As a way to make and/or keep Orlando a top-of-mind vacation destination option, Visit Orlando
recently launched Orlando - the Never Ending Story. This is a multi-channel organic marketing
campaign to encourage the destination's millions of global visitors to capture and share their
Orlando experiences across a wide variety of network platforms.
Approach
Visit Orlando's campaign strategy is to facilitate the development and dissemination of user-
generated visitor content “tell their destination story" to more effectively target key visitor
networks. The objective is to project credible messages that inspire visitors to consider Orlando
for a vacation.
STORY
OUR STORY BEGINS
HERE.
TITTET
Launching as schools in the US and Canada begin summer vacation, Visit Orlando will use a
multi-channel strategy to activate the campaign, starting with traditional media to create
visitor awareness, and then social media with the #myorlandostory hashtag to create
engagement. The campaign will also consist of a dedicated website to encourage visitors to
Orlando to share their pictures and stories with friends and family during their visit and when they return. Advertising for the new campaign will focus on marketing
efforts beginning in Brazil (Orlando's leading overseas market), Colombia and the US. Later efforts will focus on Canada and the United Kingdom. Visit Orlando will also
engage the thousands of VisitOrlando.com registered users to share their previous Orlando stories.
Outcomes
Outcomes are still unknown as the campaign launched on June 1st, 2015. Advertising for the campaign will not begin until August.
Visit Orlando expects millions of visitors to share their Orlando memories via social media and to create a permanent repository of genuine Orlando stories as told by
real visitors on the Visit Orlando website.