2021 Expedia Summer Campaign
| Campaign Investment | Impressions | Room Nights | Airline Tickets* | Gross Bookings | Campaign ROI |
| $50k | 4.7M | 78K | 6.9K | $14.5M | 290 |
*Airfare purchased to San Antonio or via a package
The 2021 Expedia Summer campaign, which began May 24, runs through Aug. 6. The campaign has been a general short-term Best Available Rate (BAR) call to action to drive short-term demand for hotels through Expedia, Hotels.com and the Expedia Brand Portfolio. The campaign included digital ads that targeted the regional drive market. The digital ads linked to a San Antonio destination landing page on Expedia that featured local hotel offers or BAR.
Staff is currently working with Expedia market mangers on a strategy for the fall and will share information as soon as it is available. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact dorahbenavidez@visitsanantonio.com.
American Bus Association “Best of the Best”
Visit San Antonio was named to this year’s American Bus Association’s “Best of the Best” list. This list honors outstanding travel industry members who go above and beyond for the group tour industry. Being recognized as the “Best of the Best,” Visit San Antonio and our destination will be highlighted in the 2022 publication Destinations Magazine, the official travel publication of the American Bus Association. The Destinations magazine includes North America's best group travel destinations, timely information on group motorcoach, tour and travel industry, state-by-state itineraries, planning calendars and essential marketing and strategic insight. Destinations Magazine also reaches 7,500 ABA members and group tour decision-makers.
Preseason Mexico San Antonio 2021 Soccer Games – VIP Fam Trip
Staff seized the opportunity to capitalize on the preseason Mexico games played at the Alamodome July 10 and 11. In collaboration with Viva Aerobus, a social media sweepstakes was promoted on Viva Aerobus and Visit San Antonio Mexico Facebook channels. See Viva Aerobus Facebook results below.
Viva Aerobus Facebook Sweepstakes Results
| Reach | Impressions | Engagement |
| 2.1M | 18.6K | 2.4K |
In addition, staff hosted executives from Mega Travel, Record Vacations, GTM Operadora, PETRA Operadora and Viva Aerobus for a VIP familiarization tour (FAM). These tour operators are the top producers for Viva Aerobus, which just launched a new flight in the Bajio Region between Leon, Mexico, and San Antonio. The FAM included experiencing San Antonio’s hotels, attractions and restaurants, as well as the games in order to experience the destination. This was an opportunity for us to develop product to leverage the direct flights available to San Antonio from the Bajio region, Mexico City and Guadalajara. If you have questions or need additional information, please contact franicscogallegos@visitsanantonio.com.
PETRA Merida Event
As a direct result of the FAM in July, PETRA Operadora invited Visit San Antonio to participate at its first live event at Merida, Yucatan, to hold a training for the travel agents from the region. With more than 100 travel agents at the event, Visit San Antonio presented that the city is a safe, close and affordable destination for Mexican travelers, with nonstop flight access from Mexican cities such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Leon and Cancun (seasonally). If you have questions or need additional information, please contact franicscogallegos@visitsanantonio.com.
ABA Marketplace Grapevine, Texas – January 8-11, 2022
The American Bus Association serves an industry that provides nearly 600 million passenger trips annually on charters, tours, scheduled service and shuttles. The American Bus Association hosts ABA Marketplace annually. It is the industry’s premier travel business event, where more than 3,500 tour operators, suppliers and exhibitors will meet in person to kick off a new year of business opportunities. ABA Marketplace will be held in Grapevine from January 8 -11. Visit San Antonio is participating as a Silver Sponsor and will be taking appointments at the show.
Staff is sharing this information because this is a great opportunity for partners interested in this market. Travel arrangements should be considerably lower since the conference is being held in Texas. It will have more than 800 buyer members that are tour operators and travel planners that package travel product domestically and around the world. Becoming a member allows organizations to register as a seller. This allows you to schedule appointments to pitch your product to buyer members, attendance to professional networking events and educational seminars. Marketplace is where you can turn conversations into real long-term business relationships across all stakeholders in the motorcoach industry. Staff invites you to consider attending the event in Grapevine: American Bus Association Membership and ABA Marketplace Registration . If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact alexgonzales@visitsanantonio.com.
Southwest Summer Music Exhibition – Student Youth Travel
Every year during the Southwest Summer Music Exhibition, Visit San Antonio and industry partners host a client appreciation event. Most of these student operators have been leading providers of student travel into our destination year after year. As a small token of appreciation, we host them for an evening of food, music, entertainment, destination updates and networking opportunities for our industry partners. This year we had a fantastic event and turnout at the Hard Rock Café, as Visit San Antonio and local partners welcomed 19 tour companies and had more than 75 people in attendance. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact alexgonzales@visitsanantonio.com.
Student Tour and Travel Guide Stats
The Student Tour and Travel Guide was distributed to 160 student youth group tour operators. The student guide is 100% digital and allowed us to create an interactive content experience. With live links embedded into our guide, the user has instant access to Visit San Antonio and partner websites and the luxury of quick correspondence via email, live video and many other features. It provides current industry contact information, safety protocols, mature group friendly options for hotels, restaurants, venues and attractions. It also includes information on San Antonio’s “Greater. SAfer. Together.” pledge, other itinerary options, new developments, culture and events and festivals. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact alexgonzales@visitsanantonio.com.
Student Youth Travel Guide Stats
| Clients | Reads | Impressions | Average Read Time | In Guide Clicks |
| 160 | 205 | 318 | 19 minutes | 95* |
*Majority of clicks happen in the industry supplier detail section.