October brought the beginning of the Visit San Antonio fiscal year, which makes us look ahead and be hopeful about things to come. We have evolved our goals and priorities for the new fiscal year to focus on driving immediate bookings for near- and long-term travel from regional markets. As part of this change, Visit San Antonio will focus on Texas and regional media while being opportunistic and taking advantage of any national and international that may come on a reactive basis.
In October, one area of focus was on sustaining messaging around our city’s Day of the Dead commemorations. Though much of the events were virtual, Visit San Antonio wanted to ensure that our city’s place as a top destination for this cultural holiday remained in the general public’s minds to help with future visitation.
The month also brought good opportunities to showcase San Antonio’s successful hosting of conventions at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center through regional and national meetings’ trade channels.
Though many traditional media are still hesitant to make in-person trips, Visit San Antonio has been successful in working with Texas-based social media influencers looking for a safe and fun trip. Our team has collaborated with our local partners to successfully host a few influencers to great result in providing immediate coverage of our city with the goal of inspiring their audience to travel to San Antonio when the time is right for them.
As we head into fall and the holiday season, we’ll adjust our messaging to include the in-market and virtual experiences that visitors may enjoy in San Antonio. Please be sure to share with Visit San Antonio any initiatives you have for the coming months so we may incorporate them and help amplify them as appropriate and possible.
In mid-November, Visit San Antonio distributed its destination holiday release and received early success. On the first day of distribution, the release was posted on more than 70 media outlets across the state and country. Additionally, San Antonio was included in a USA Today story about cities turning on their holiday lights early this year. We look forward to sharing additional successes of the holiday pitching in next month’s report!
Key Results or Metrics to Report:
Communications recorded $92,983 in outer-market earned-media value from 21 media placements for October, the sixth full month under the effects of COVID-19. Coverage recorded for the month included Lonely Planet, Texas Lifestyle Magazine, The Meeting Professional, Texas Meetings + Events, Exhibitor Online, Wear & When and Travel Report (Mexico).