Earlier this week, Destination Gettysburg welcomed nine meeting planners from the region and toured several locations in Adams County, Pa., to provide a sample of what the destination can offer those planning conferences, meetings and events in our area.
 
Stops included several meeting venues, restaurants, lodging facilities and wrapped up with an expo featuring several members of Destination Gettysburg.

The Gettysburg Foundation is proposing a fee increase beginning in January 2017 for tickets to the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center’s Cyclorama painting, film and museum experience. 
 
Ticket fees are collected by the nonprofit Gettysburg Foundation, which is responsible for operations of the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center on behalf of the National Park Service.
 
“Since January 2012, our partner’s operating costs for the Museum and Visitor Center have increased,” said Ed W. Clark, superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park. “The National Park Service is considering this proposed increase so the nonprofit Gettysburg Foundation can sustainably operate our outstanding visitor facilities and ongoing preservation and education programs.”
 
“The Gettysburg Foundation is committed to offering visitors a great experience and a great value,” said Joanne Hanley, president of the Gettysburg Foundation.
 
Under the proposal, fees for the David Wills House, Eisenhower National Historic Site and Licensed Battlefield Guides would also increase.
 
Suggested 2017 fees for Cyclorama painting, film and museum experience:
 
• Adult (ages 13+)                 $15.00 (was $12.50)
• Seniors & AAA                   $14.00 (was $11.50)
• Youth (ages 6-12)                $10.00 (was $8.50)
• Child (ages 5 and under)     Free
• Active Duty U.S. Military   Free
• Group: Adults                      $13.00 (was $10.00)
• Group: Students (K‐12)       $9.00 (was $8.00)        
 
In addition, the proposal increases the fee for the Eisenhower National Historic Site from $7.50 per adult to $9 per adult, with discounts for seniors, youth and groups. The increase for the David Wills House is from $6.50 per adult to $7 per adult, with discounts for seniors, youth and groups. The proposal increases the basic fee for a two hour car tour with a Licensed Battlefield Guide from $65 to $75, with comparable increases for bus tours and other tours with Licensed Battlefield Guides.
 
Opportunity to ask questions
The public is invited to ask questions or provide comments at the Gettysburg National Military Park Advisory Commission meeting on Thursday, April 28, at 7 p.m. at the park Museum and Visitor Center, 1195 Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg.

Ongoing financial support from the Gettysburg Foundation
The Gettysburg Foundation funded, designed and constructed the park’s $103 million Museum and Visitor Center which opened in 2008. In the past ten years, the Foundation raised nearly $30 million to support:
 

• $2 million for education programs
• $21 million for acquisition of land, historic structures and artifacts
• $5.7 million to preserve historic landscapes, structures and monuments
• $1.2 million to support the commemoration of 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address.

 
Free opportunities at Gettysburg National Military Park
Gettysburg National Military Park has no entrance fee. The self-guided auto tour of the battlefield is free. Throughout the spring, summer and fall, Park Rangers offer free programs on the battlefield, in the Soldiers’ National Cemetery and in the Museum and Visitor Center. NPS student education programs, Junior Ranger activities, use of the resource room, library and many other activities are free.
 
The park and the Foundation offer Adams County Community Appreciation days four times per year, waiving fees for the film, Cyclorama and museum experience, and at the David Wills House.
 
Comments: The fee increase proposal for Gettysburg National Military Park is available on the National Park Service website, http://parkplanning.nps.gov/gett. Members of the public who wish to make comments may post them electronically at the planning website, or send them in writing to Gettysburg National Military Park, 1195 Baltimore Pike, Suite 100, Gettysburg, Pa., 17325. All comments must be received by May 25.

In order to create the most effective tool for working with group travel leaders, as well as helping our members save time and money,
Destination Gettysburg is producing a Group Leader Guide to promote the destination to group travel leaders.
 
This Group Leader Guide replaces the organization’s work-to-play sessions, which previously called upon members to assemble and compile information bags for group tradeshows. Leaders often found the bags to be too heavy to carry around the tradeshow and compiling the bags was often difficult on members with time and the money to print brochures.
 
Based on experience at tradeshows and feedback from attendees, Destination Gettysburg is launching its Group Leader Guide, a concise – yet effective – way for members to get their information in front of those planning group travel to Adams County.
  
“The staff at Destination Gettysburg analyzed the work-to-play process and believed that many bags assembled by members were not being used by the group travel leaders,” said Norris Flowers, President of Destination Gettysburg. “With our members’ time and money in mind, as well as establishing a way for group leaders to obtain information about Adams County in the most effective way, we established the Group Leader Guide.”
 
Group-friendly members have the opportunity to have a section in the guide, complete with a photograph, short 50-word summary about their property and contact information.
 
The Group Leader Guide will be customized for each tradeshow.

See a sample guide here.
 
In order to participate in 2016, members must complete a participation form by July 25, 2016. 
 
Here are the group leader shows where we will be distributing the Group Leader Guide:

• Destinations New York Group Travel Show
  • September 13-14, 2016 | Syracuse, NY
  • Group leaders from across the state of New York attending through different tour operator companies
•   Greater New Jersey
  • November TBD | Atlantic City, NJ
  • Group leaders from across the state of New Jersey looking for leisure travel ideas

 
Please fill out this form to participate.

Note: If you have questions about the Group Leader Guide, contact Nicole Absher, Group Sales Manager, at nicole@destinationgettysburg.com or (717) 338-3062.

Join Destination Gettysburg, May 1-7, 2016, in celebrating National Travel & Tourism Week. Annually, destinations across the United States use this time to highlight the benefits of the tourism industry and the impact that travel has on our communities.
​
In Adams County, we know that tourism is big business, bringing in more than $670 million in visitor spending, generating $130 million in tax revenue and supporting more than 7,500 jobs.
Destination Gettysburg is celebrating National Travel & Tourism Week with a variety of events and programs to increase awareness among the community, elected officials and the thousands of workers in the industry.

In celebration of National Travel & Tourism Week, Destination Gettysburg has a variety of programs and events planned for the week, including:

Town Cleanup
On Monday, May 2, Destination Gettysburg and its members will help the "From the Ground Up" crew and take to the streets of Gettysburg. We'll all meet at 8 a.m. in front of the Majestic Theater. Sign up today!

Emergency Services Recognition
Throughout Tourism Week, the staff at Destination Gettysburg will deliver cookies to police departments in Adams County, Pa., as a "Thank You" for the work they do to make our destination a safe place to visit.

Power of Tourism Luncheon
On Wednesday, May 4, Destination Gettysburg will host a luncheon for elected officials and countywide stakeholders as a way to build relationships and advocacy among countywide offices, organizations and other groups that can benefit through an understanding and partnership with the tourism community.

Community Cookout
On Friday, May 6, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., lunch is on us! Come out to the Destination Gettysburg's office on West Middle Street and join us for a free cookout, with a live remote broadcast from Froggy 107.7. There'll be food, entertainment and prizes. Bring your co-workers, bring your friends, bring family - bring anybody.

Destination Gettysburg will also use National Travel & Tourism Week as a way to promote the impact of tourism through social media, media relations and other communications.

For more information on National Travel & Tourism Week events and programs in Adams County, Pa., email Donna White, Director of Member Services at donna@destinationgettysburg.com.

Destination Gettysburg is proud to host the Pennsylvania Bus Association Annual Meeting, June 20-23. This is a time for Adams County to showcase all it has to offer incoming tour groups. These group travel planners are responsible for over 900 tours - an estimated 36,000 visitors - to Gettysburg each year.
 
This conference is a great opportunity for members of Destination Gettysburg to promote their businesses and work directly with tour planners to secure future business.
 
Four ways your business can get involved in PBA's Annual Conference:
-  Neighborhood Night Expo - at the Majestic Theater, Tuesday, June 21. Exhibit at the member expo Tuesday evening at the Majestic Theater with the chance to speak with PBA attendees.
-  Downtown Businesses - Stay Open Late, Tuesday, June 21. Showcase your business during our dine-around and exploration of downtown. A scavenger hunt will be in place to encourage movement throughout the downtown area.
-  Sponsorship Opportunities - highlight your business with one of these opportunities
-  Full Conference Registration - participate as a full-conference attendee and attend all events including seminars, networking events and the sales retreat.

Questions?

Destination Gettysburg's spring marketing campaign is now in full swing and we're excited to be working on driving early visitation with our new ad design partners, Boom Creative of Pittsburgh, Pa.
 
This year, advertising is taking on a new look and a new tagline for both print and digital marketing. The new "Get" campaign rolled out with "GETtysburg in Bloom" and continued with "GETtysburg Romance", both targeting couples to make their way to Gettysburg and Adams County to explore our outdoor recreation, our food and of course our history. Ads are running in Harrisburg Magazine, Pittsburgh Magazine, Arrive Magazine, as well as Recreation News, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Day, AAA and Whirl.
 
With the expansive opportunities of digital platforms of display and video running on both desktop and mobile devices as well as our retargeting campaigns, the creative team at Boom was able to develop a series of display ads taking our headlines further. In addition to GETtysburg in Bloom and continued with GETtysburg Romance, we ran GETtysburg Outdoors, GETtysburg Spring Flavors, GETtysburg on the Green, GETtysburg History and GETtysburg Spring Fever. We also launched our 15-second pre-roll video that runs at the start of videos and in-stream on platforms including Hulu.
 
In addition to print and digital, Destination Gettysburg continues to utilize radio to reach our regional audience. A spring campaign will run through May and include the Radio PA Network, WAYZ and WIKZ as well as Total Traffic DC.
 
Of course, this is just the paid portion of the campaign. In addition to these elements, the team is actively working with journalists and bloggers to help tell our story. We also work all social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube – to share the spring destination story. Several blogs have been posted to encourage spring travel with several more planned. You can find all of the blogs at RoadToGettysburg.com. These stories are also dynamically pulled into the main website. And the last component we use to promote spring travel is our monthly consumer newsletter that currently blasts out to 80,000 opt-in subscribers.
 
Destination Gettysburg will continue to promote spring travel through May. All efforts drive visitors to the DestinationGettysburg.com site where they can find information about all 302 members, hundreds of events, special packages and to view our digital travel planner or request a hard copy. On the site, the visitor can also find information about downloading our app to use while in the market or while planning.
 
We are excited that our winter efforts utilizing digital, social and media relations have resulted in increased overnight stays based on an increase in lodging tax collection reports and hope that this positive trend continues.

Note: The digital advertisement pictured above will appear in May 2016's AAA Digital Edition. Click here to see the video that will play once the ad is live on AAA's website.

​Jacqueline White, the owner of Gettysburg’s Dobbin House Tavern, was honored this week at Destination Gettysburg’s Annual Dinner with the inaugural “Jim Getty Spirit of Gettysburg Award,” given in recognition of one of the destination’s greatest ambassadors who passed away in 2015.
 
Destination Gettysburg established this award as a way to both honor one of the tourism community’s greatest champions, as well as others in the community that represent the same leadership, dedication and contribution that Jim Getty displayed.
 
“Jim Getty will always be remembered in Gettysburg as the man that made the 16th President of the United States come alive,” said Norris Flowers, President and CEO of Destination Gettysburg. “He amazed everyone with his knowledge, presentation and likeness of President Abraham Lincoln. But Jim was also a great ambassador for the destination and encouraged everyone to visit this town he called home for 40 years.”
 
The inaugural award, issued six months after the passing of Getty, was given to White, who – like Jim Getty – has spent decades in the Adams County tourism community as an ambassador not only for her own business, but that of the entire destination.
 
White started her tourism career at just 8 years old at her parent’s amusement park in Gettysburg known as Fantasyland. The park has since closed, but her time there – serving a variety of roles – prepared her for her next stop in tourism, as owner of Gettysburg’s popular Dobbin House Tavern, a place she opened in 1978.
 
“I am so flattered to be honored with the first Jim Getty Award,” said White. “Just the name ‘Jim Getty’ is so iconic to our town. It’s just a fantastic opportunity to work in the tourism industry.”
 
< Click here to watch a video of Jackie White >

Getty got his start in the Adams County tourism community at Fantasyland, and later developed his own one-man stage show for visitors over the next four decades.
 
“Destination Gettysburg is extremely proud to honor Jackie White with this award,” said Flowers. “Not only is she well-deserving of the honor because of her dedication to the tourism community over the past 50 years, but her connection to Jim Getty, himself, is a great way to start this award.”
 
This annual award will be presented to an individual, who – like Jim – displays qualities of leadership, dedication, contribution to our tourism community as well as being a true champion for the tourism industry of Adams County, Pa.
 
Joanne Getty, Jim Getty’s wife, as well as his son, David Getty, were on-hand at Destination Gettysburg’s Annual Dinner to honor White with the inaugural award. The Annual Dinner on March 15 was held at Liberty Mountain Resort’s new Highland Lodge in Carroll Valley, Pa.
 
Destination Gettysburg, the official destination management organization, markets Gettysburg – Adams County as a premier travel destination, producing a positive economic impact.

Photo caption: Jackie White, left, talks to Joanne Getty, widow of the late Jim Getty. Jackie White received Destination Gettysburg's inaugural "Jim Getty Spirit of Gettysburg Award" at its Annual Dinner on March 15, 2016.