May was a strong and busy month for the Visit San Antonio Communications team. It kicked off with a pair of media missions, to Toronto and Washington, D.C. The Canada Media Mission the first week of May was engineered to bring San Antonio to the forefront of national television coverage with appearances on all of the national morning shows. In partnership with Chef Johnny Hernandez, Visit San Antonio was able to bring attention to all of the destination’s offerings with a special focus on our growing culinary scene.
Also during the first week of May, the Communications team joined the Destination Sales team for the annual Cinco event in Washington, D.C. One of the final domestic media missions of the fiscal year continued with our strategy of securing interviews with local television stations. Our colleague, Megan Lagrone, participated in a segment with one of the top D.C. stations – CBS affiliate WUSA.
The first week of May also brought a group of key media from Australia and New Zealand to San Antonio as part of a partnership with Travel Texas and the launch of a new direct flight from that region to our state. The Australia/New Zealand market is a growing source of visitors to the state. The group fell in love with our city’s charm, history and culinary offerings as they experienced kayaking on the River Walk Mission Reach, a stay at Hotel Valencia, tour of the River Walk on a GO RIO River Cruise and meals at Acenar, Dorrego’s, Botika, Jazz, TX and La Panaderia. Media represented in this group included Traveller, Good Food, Viva, Woman’s Day, Australian Woman’s Weekly and GQ Australia.
The second week of May brought a great group from Canada, also in partnership with Travel Texas, as they explored the Hill Country. Media represented included Le Devoir, CAA Magazine, Daily Hive and AMA Insider Magazine. They experienced the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort, Southerleigh, Pearl and a River Walk dinner cruise as part of the Hill Country immersion.
May continued with a group of travel trade media from Mexico exploring new and top destination experiences the third week of the month. The group experienced the Hilton San Antonio Hill Country, SeaWorld San Antonio, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, GO RIO River Barge Dinner Cruise, Andretti Indoor Karting & Games, iFly indoor Skydiving, Topgolf San Antonio, The Shops at La Cantera, Cured, Paramour, The Guenther House and YourBikerGang. The media group represented ABZ, VIdalTurismo and Turitips along with a trip of top trade operators.