November 14, 2024
Business

Tourism office ads encourage New Yorkers to head to Maine

AUGUSTA – Just as the state did when the Democrats converged on Boston for their national convention, the Maine Office of Tourism is looking for ways to draw weary New Yorkers in for a visit during the Republican convention.

The office has released an advertising campaign promoting Maine as a getaway from the hassles of the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday and lasts through Sept. 2. The spot has run in New York before, but the voice-over was changed to target specifically those eager to escape the convention.

The new version began airing on broadcast stations this month and will continue through this week, according to Warren Kremer Paino, the New York-based agency that has a tourism promotion contract with the state.

The concept is not new. The Office of Tourism ran print advertisements in Boston subway cars before the Democratic National Convention last month, urging frazzled Bostonians to head north.

“It’s good advertising because it gets the name out,” said Greg Dugal, executive director of the Maine Innkeepers Association. But Dugal said the spot may not drum up much business because a new school year is starting.

Dugal said a membership survey didn’t reveal any impact when Maine ran getaway ads in Boston before the Democratic convention. He said the hotels and motels he has heard from this week in response to an inquiry he made reported no jump in convention-related reservations for next week.

At the Eastland Park Hotel in Portland, General Manager Bill Bola said business is picking up but it’s hard to know why. Bola cited hotel advertising in The Boston Globe and recent improvements in the weather.

But Eben Salvatore of Ocean Properties, which owns 10 hotels in Bangor, Bar Harbor, Bath, Portland and Rockport, said the number of New Yorkers reserving rooms for next week began to pick up this week.

“Anything the state’s doing is appreciated,” Salvatore said.


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

You may also like