​2019 is shaping up to be the year of conventions. Several, like the Battlefield Tattoo Expo and Greyhounds of Gettysburg, are annual gatherings. For others, such as the American Association of Community Theatre Festival, 2019 is the first time, or first time in awhile, that some of these conventions will be in Gettysburg.
Some of major groups include:

• Pennsylvania Society for Association Excellence Educational Summit - 150 people (March 14-15)
• Greyhounds of Gettysburg - 700 people (April 25-28)
• Festival of Races - 1,000 people (April 28)
• Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association Spring Leadership Summit - 75 people (June 3-4)
• American Association of Community Theatre Festival - 600-800 people (June 15-23)
• Pennsylvania State Association of Township Commissioners 94th Annual Conference - 250 people (June 20-23)
• Pontiac-Oakland Club International Annual Convention - 1,200 people (July 16-21)
• Creature Feature Weekend - 200-300 people (August 30-September 1)
• Pennsylvania Municipal League - 200 people (October 3-6)
• Battlefield Tattoo Expo - 200 people (October 12-13)

Destination Gettysburg's sales department has been working diligently with many of these groups for years providing free services such as consultations to determine what facilities/attractions meet the group's needs, recommendations and assistance planning tours and activities, site visits, proposal requests, vendor referrals and marketing and promotions. A popular service Destination Gettysburg offers to groups are Attendee Welcome Bags that include a travel planner, local transportation information, area map and discounts to local member businesses which are delivered to the venue.


These are big conventions that will have an impact on our member businesses. Shops, restaurants, attractions and accommodations need to be prepared to handle the amount of people that will be in town for the conventions throughout the year.

​In Spring 2018, Destination Gettysburg became aware of changes proposed to the fee structure paid by our local businesses who hold a Commercial Use Authorization (CUA) for the Gettysburg National Military Park (GNMP). At that time, the Park was planning to implement a fee structure, beginning January 1, 2019,  that would raise annual rates for these businesses who provide tours of the battlefield - on horseback, Segways, carriages, bicycles, etc. - from a $250 fee every two years to an annual application fee of $300 plus 3-5 percent of gross revenue. Percentages would be dependent on the amount of annual park-based revenue. We immediately reached out to our partners to determine what we could do to help them form a collective voice regarding what was sure to be damaging changes - for some it would be a 30,000 percent increase. 

Over the course of the next several months, Destination Gettysburg met with these businesses to determine a more reasonable rate structure and roll out date. After meeting with local Park staff, we all agreed that the Park should receive more than the current collections, but not to the level that would be collected at the maximum allowable, which was the proposal. The group proposed a reduced structure of 1-1.6 percent of gross revenue. 

GNMP followed up with the group with their updated decision. They would allow the 1-1.6 percent starting in October 2019, but that would only be in year one. By year three, they would be requiring the full 3-5 percent. Our local businesses currently provide a service to our visitors that the National Park cannot provide. These businesses assist the park rangers in sharing an accurate description of what happened on our hallowed grounds. If these rates come to fruition, we may not have these amazing experiences to offer our visitors. 

The Gettysburg Times recently reported on this issue. The article, "Negative impact expected from NPS fee hike," discusses this issue and a secondary issue that will also impact our tourism industry. 

In addition to raising rates on our local CUA holders, the National Park Service will roll out on October 1, 2019, a new fee structure for businesses bringing motor coach tours to any National Park site. Each operator will be required to pay a $300 annual application fee per park and $5/person for each visitor on their coach. This means our once free Park experience will require a fee for anyone traveling by motor coach - a segment that drives approximately 15,000 motor coaches annually to our destination. The same segment that helps fill our accommodations, restaurants, tours and attractions, and more. 

We are asking our partners to help us share the word that these fees cannot become reality. Here are ways that you can help:

• Share the Gettysburg Times article - We have sponsored the article which allows non-subscribers to read the article and help share the information. We encourage members to share the link on social media.
• Send a letter - We have drafted a sample letter that you can send to our politicians and National Park staff locally and regionally. Download the sample letter and a list of contacts to mail your letter to by clicking here.
• Keep Destination Gettysburg in the loop - if you work with motor coach groups and hear that they are looking at alternative experiences or destinations, let us know. We want to help keep that business here. 

Destination Gettysburg will continue to work with local businesses, national motor coach industry groups such as American Bus Association and the National Tour Association, to communicate and negotiate with the National Park Service nationally and locally to find a solution that helps to support our Park while enhancing the visitor experience and protecting our industry partners. 

​A few weeks ago, we shared with you changes to the Commercial Use Authorization (CUA) program at the National Parks, specifically the impact at the Gettysburg National Military Park (GNMP) on our local tour providers. Based on the need for better funding of the National Park, the Park Service is requiring parks to implement new fee structures, in some cases, raising the price to do business on the GNMP by up to 30,000 percent when the structure is fully phased in. This is not the only change at the federal level to the CUA program. 
 
Another proposed change will greatly impact group tours visiting GNMP. Effective October 1, 2019, tour operators selling tours and experiences that include a national park will be required to pay an annual CUA application fee of $300 and an additional $5/person for each guest they bring to the site. That will take a motor coach tour of the Gettysburg National Military Park from $150 - the current fee for the Licensed Battlefield Guide - to $650 for a motor coach of 40 visitors (one group visit per year). This will cause an economic burden and result in a possible decrease in group visitation. 
 
There are several possible scenarios :

• Motor coaches will still come, but could eliminate another activity to cover costs - one or more businesses effected
• Less motor coaches will come - everyone is effected
• Motor coaches will still come, but visitors on the motor coach don't have additional dollars to spend while in market - everyone is effected
• In addition to our economy being impacted, our student travelers will not have the opportunity to see where our nation's history was made. 

As with the local CUA issue, everyone is in agreement that the National Park should receive more funding. We understand the backlog of maintenance, the lack of positions being replaced and other funding issues. However, the burden should not fall on the backs of CUA holders. There are other options in review, including revenue from the sale of natural resources from park lands being directed to park budgets.  
 
Destination Gettysburg has been communicating with the American Bus Association and the National Tour Association, following the lead of these industry organizations who have the pulse of the motor coach industry. At this time, we continue to research the subject and stay up to date on any progress made. However, much like at the local level, without a permanent Director of the National Park or Secretary of the Interior, very little is able to be done. 
 
It is important that each of these departments and our local park understand that this change will have dire effects on our economy and must not become official in October. Please use this list to send letters of support of tourism and our stance that this CUA change should not be implemented. Please use this sample letter to share why this will negatively impact your business. 
 
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. We will continue to keep you up to date on this issue and how you can assist. 

​2018 was another great year for engaging with our visitors through Destination Gettysburg's social media platforms. We saw audience growth across all of our social platforms - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.
 
Five different social media contests were run throughout 2018. The year kicked off with a National Plan for Vacation Day getaway to Gettysburg giveaway. We ran a multi-month Gettysburg Battle Reenactment ticket giveaway through the spring, as well as a National Apple Harvest Festival ticket giveaway in the fall. Later in the year, we asked our visitors to submit a few sentences on what the Gettysburg Address means to them in our My Gettysburg Address contest. The #GettysburgInspired Instagram contest ran through the entire year.
 
Destination Gettysburg reformatted the Gettysburg Road Tripping videos and produced 13 new Road Tripping videos to publish to social media in 2018. Those videos received more than 120,000 views on Facebook alone. We created 10 new culinary videos for our social channels in 2018, which received more than 110,000 views on Facebook.
 
Thirty-nine new blog posts were published on our Road to Gettysburg blog, and received 111,210 views to the blog in 2018. The top published posts for the year were 'Eight Great Gettysburg Battlefield Hikes and Walks,' 'How Well Do You Know Gettysburg's Civil War History' quiz blog and 'Five Epic Sandwiches in Gettysburg.'
 
Destination Gettysburg excited to continue to engage our visitors through social media in 2019, and are looking forward to the new video, blog post and contest ideas that we have planned for the year.

​Destination Gettysburg launched a new craft beverage trail, the Adams County Pour Tour, on May 11, 2018. This marketing program provides visitors with a comprehensive tasting experience including wine, cider, beer and spirits. The program operates using a passport and map, allowing visitors to collect stamps in their passports for prizes along the trail. In 2018, the trail saw tremendous success and quickly garnered popularity among visitors and locals alike. In the first 7.5 months, fifteen Adams County Pour Tour partners gave away over 1,000 passports and over 12,400 passport stamps.
"Since we have joined the Pour Tour, we have had many new customers that are now also returning customers! It has brought guests our way that may not have ventured to this side of Adams County since the majority of the craft beverages are in or near Gettysburg. We hear often, 'I never knew you were here,' so the Pour Tour has definitely been worth being a part of and we look forward to seeing what else it will do for us." - Alisha Carr, Manager, Brookmere Wine & Tasting Room

"In just one year the Pour Tour has impacted Reid's Winery and Cider House in the greatest way possible. It has brought in tons of new guests and gave returning guests even more reasons to come back to try more of our wines and ciders. More often than not, customers who come into our winery aren't familiar with hard cider. The Pour Tour gets these guests to step out of their comfort zone, try something new and receive more stamps." - Laken Wiles, Tasting Room Manager, Reid's Winery: The Cider House

Destination Gettysburg invested in the marketing strategy and creation of the trail. The strategy included the creation of a website, digital and print advertising, radio spots, social media promotions, a monthly e-newsletter, festival sponsorship and media relations. A key piece of the media relations included a media tour in August hosting nine travel journalists and bloggers to taste for themselves the emerging craft beverage scene in the region, as well as talk to the men and women who pour their passion into the wines, ciders, beers and spirits they make. So far, ten articles about the Adams County Pour Tour were published due to the exposure the trail received during the media tour.
The newest addition to the Pour Tour is a merchandise catalogue including t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, polos and beanies. Available for wholesale exclusively through Americana, you are now able to sell this merchandise in your business, too. We have some great ideas for 2019 and are eager see how the Adams County Pour Tour continues to grow.

​After a year where it rained roughly 50-percent of the days, the year-end Smith Travel Research report (STR) showed that it didn't dampen the lodging industry in Adams County. For the third year in a row, demand for hotel/motel overnights was up 3.6-percent. This increase follows a record year in 2017 when demand was up 5.4-percent. The Bed & Breakfast industry saw a demand increase of 7.8-percent, the first time demand increased in this segment in the last three years.
 
Revenue was also up according to the STR report. The increase of 2.2-percent over 2018 follows on the heals of a 6.1-percent increase in 2017. The largest growth month for revenue was in the first quarter, showing 8.2-percent increase in January and 14.2-percent in March. Demand also showed the largest growth in those two months up 9.8-percent in January and 14.9-percent in March. The same trend was seen in the Bed & Breakfast segment for both demand and revenue. Overall revenue in this segment was up less than 1-percent.
 
It should be noted that overall supply of rooms was up over 2017 with the addition of the Best Western opening in May of 2017 and the Holiday Inn Express opening in August of 2017. This coupled with an increase of Airbnb offerings did show a slight decrease in occupancy of 1-percent. Occupancy levels in the Bed & Breakfast segment did see an increase in 2018 over 2017 by 7.8-percent while their supply did not change.  
 
As Destination Gettysburg continues to hone our marketing strategy and messaging, we are seeing the impact on the overall destination. With an expanded visitor experience throughout the county encompassing our history, agriculture, culinary and outdoor opportunities, we are seeing traditional visitors embracing these experiences while generating a new visitor base to help sustain our industry.
 
Looking to the 2019 travel season, we are encouraged by the positive growth trends highlighted in this report and the enthusiasm of our visitors who are already planning for their getaways, vacations and many daytrips to our great destination.

​Even though a partial government shutdown went into effect at midnight between Dec. 21 and Dec. 22, it shouldn’t deter visitors from coming to Gettysburg. There are still plenty of attractions, including museums and tours, that will operate through the shutdown. 
 
Most roads on the Gettysburg battlefield remain open operating under Gettysburg National Military Park’s (GNMP) winter schedule of 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Because of this, battlefield tours, including bus tours, with Licensed Battlefield Guides will continue to operate using accessible roads.
 
The GNMP Museum and Visitor Center is not owned by the National Park Service, but rather the Gettysburg Foundation, so it will remain open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. However, all service programs, such as the Winter Lecture Series, have been canceled for the remainder of the shutdown.
 
The Eisenhower National Historic Site, the David Wills House and Soldiers’ National Cemetery are closed. The Historic Lincoln Train Station in Downtown Gettysburg is also closed following the normal winter schedule, not because of the shutdown.
 
Destination Gettysburg is still encouraging visitors to come to Gettysburg because there is still plenty to do despite the government shutdown. Gettysburg’s many museums are still open for business, as well as shops, tasting rooms and restaurants throughout Adams County that visitors can enjoy. Events that are not through the National Park Service are still happening. For a full list of events and information, visit www.destinationgettysburg.com. 

To promote Adams County as a festive holiday getaway, Destination Gettysburg has been advertising to a regional market in Washington, D.C., Harrisburg, Baltimore and Frederick, MD. These paid placements have run in print publications such as Recreation News, Baltimore Magazine, Harrisburg Magazine and Frederick Magazine, radio spots on WTMD 89.7 FM Baltimore and on digital platforms through search engine marketing (SEM), videos and banner ads on AAA.com. The holiday campaign, which started on Thanksgiving, will run until New Year's Day.
​
Looking ahead, Destination Gettysburg will continue to promote Adams County regionally as a winter getaway with ongoing digital marketing and SEM. A print ad will be placed in the upcoming issue of Pinpoint PA Magazine, which features Gettysburg as their cover story. The winter campaign will run from January to March, however if spring comes early in 2019, the campaign will be cut short and the spring campaign will start up.

​Destination Gettysburg's Nicole Absher was honored last week with the National Tour Association's (NTA) Young Professional Award. This award is given to NTA members, age 40 and younger, who have exhibited leadership and demonstrated passion for the travel and tourism industry. Out of all of the nominees, the NTA Young Professionals Advisory Group chose Nicole to be one of five to be honored.
 
"We are proud to have Nicole representing Destination Gettysburg to tour operators and group tour leaders around the world," said Norris Flowers, President of Destination Gettysburg. "She deserves this recognition for all of her hard work and creativity in bringing tour groups to our destination."
 
Nicole started at Destination Gettysburg in August 2015 as a Group Sales Manager. She has completed the American Bus Association's Certified Travel Industry Specialist program and accomplished a number of endeavors that helped reach sales goals each year. 
 
In her time at Destination Gettysburg, Nicole played a vital role in helping the organization host two major group tour events- the 2016 Pennsylvania Bus Association's Annual Meeting and the 2017 Maryland Motorcoach Association's Group Leader Travel Showcase, which brought hundreds of tour operators and group leaders to Gettysburg. Additionally she has attended over 40 tradeshows and sales missions to promote Gettysburg and Adams County. This has resulted in hundreds of leads that allow the organization and partners to stay connected with the operators and leaders.
 
Additionally, Nicole's creativity has resulted in unique and different ways to promote Adams County to clients. With so many destinations to choose from, Nicole knows she has to make sure Gettysburg and Adams County are standing out to the tour operators, planners and group leaders so that it is at the top of their list.
 
"Receiving this award is a great honor and I am very thankful to have even been nominated. Winning this award shows me that the hard work and out-of-the-box ideas that we put into motion every day are making an impact in the industry," said Nicole.

​Last month, Hollabaugh Bros. was a participant in USA Today's 10Best Apple Orchard competition against 20 other top orchards across the country. After the voting period ended, results were tallied and Hollabaugh's ranked number five on the list only behind major orchards like Kiyokawa Family Orchard in Oregon, Beak & Skiff Apple Orchard in New York, Spicer Orchards in Michigan and Boa Vista Orchards in California. They placed in front of other nationally recognized orchards like Mercier Orchards in Georgia. 

The Hollabaugh family grows fruits and vegetables on 500 acres in Upper Adams county, and approximately 200 acres of apples. In addition to selling as many as 25 different apple varieties at a time over the peak of apple season in early October, the family also has a large pick your own orchard featuring varieties like McIntosh, Jonagold, Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, and GoldRush.