This week, Destination Gettysburg's communications team is hosting an Authentic Adams County Media Tour as a way of highlighting several lesser-known experiences throughout the Adams County countryside.
 
Five journalists were selected to participate in the two-day tour that will include tours of wineries/cideries, farms, orchards and restaurants throughout the destination.
 
The tour is being held as part of Destination Gettysburg's Authentic Adams County story-telling platform. So far, five video stories have been posted to AuthenticAdamsCounty.com as part of the series which highlights not only places to visit, but the people and culture of our community.
 
The journalists participating in the tour are based throughout the Mid-Atlantic region including Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Maryland and Central Pennsylvania.
 
>> Check out the Latest Video
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Destination Gettysburg’s End of Summer Social is an event for our members to relax after the end of a successful summer season in Gettysburg and Adams County.

This year’s End of Summer Social took place on Oct. 19 at the scenic Stone of Scone Farm in Littlestown and featured activities such as massages from Breaktime Massage, Tarot Card Readings by Charla, yard games with prizes and a picnic style dinner catered by The Ragged Edge and beer samples provided by Battlefield Brew Works.

Attendees were sent on a scavenger hunt to meet different members of Destination Gettysburg’s staff, and members and Hospitality Heroes also networked with each other (sometimes over a game of cornhole). Both raffle tickets and business cards were being handed out all through the evening.

At the end of the night, those raffle tickets turned into prizes for a lucky few including wine, gift cards, hotel accommodations and tickets to the National Apple Harvest Festival.
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Though the summer season is winding down, many have already begun looking ahead to the busy fall season here in Gettysburg and Adams County. If you’re interested to see what Destination Gettysburg has lined up for its fall campaign, click here to see our paid advertisements and video content.

>> Check out more photos of the End of Summer Social

​Earlier this month, Destination Gettysburg's Group Sales Manager, Nicole Absher, participated in a state sales mission to Germany with representatives from seven other PA destinations and a representative from the Pennsylvania State Tourism Office. 
 
The goal of the sales mission was to meet with tour operators, sales staff and their clients and promote the state of Pennsylvania by highlighting what each destination has to offer their customers. The PA sales team met with 200 tour operators, sales staff and consumers over a span of five days, with meetings taking place in Hamburg, Berlin, Hanover and Frankfurt.
 
The German market ranks in Gettysburg's top five countries for international visitors and continues to be a growing market for this destination, as well as for the state of Pennsylvania as a whole.

Sach's Bridge was recently voted in the Top 10 covered bridges in America by USA Today readers. Experts in covered bridges nominated 20 bridges which were then voted on by readers. Sach's bridge was 10th on the list which was topped by the Elizabethton Covered Bridge in Tennessee.
 
Sach's Bridge was built in 1854 and spans the width of Marsh Creek near Gettysburg. The bridge connects Cumberland and Freedom Townships and is considered Pennsylvania's most historic covered bridge.

The USA Today article mentions history of the bridge and the paranormal folklore connected to it.
 
>> Check out the Top 10

​Destination Gettysburg's Jess Clevenger, social media manager, and Rachel Wright, communications assistant, traveled down to Baltimore last Thursday evening to promote 
Gettysburg to WTMD's First Thursday concert goers.
 
WTMD, a local Baltimore radio station, has hosted the concert series in Canton Waterfront Park the first Thursday of every month this past summer with well over a thousand people in attendance every month. Destination Gettysburg advertises with WTMD, so our staff set up a table to talk with people face-to-face about what Gettysburg has to offer during the event.
 
"Many of the people we spoke with were surprised by all that was available for them to do in Gettysburg," said Rachel. "People who said they haven't been here in years spoke very enthusiastically about making a trip back soon."
 
Destination Gettysburg has been using photo frames as a social media campaign since spring of 2016. Visitors are encouraged to take a picture in one of the frames and post it to social media using the hashtag #MyGettysburg. The purpose of this is to increase visitor engagement on social media.
 
These photo frame tables are usually set-up around Gettysburg and on the battlefield to interact with visitors who are already here, however, it's just as important to travel to out-of-market areas to campaign as well. The Baltimore-area is a great market as it's only an hour and a half drive from Gettysburg making it close enough that it's a feasible trip, but far enough away that Gettysburg may not be on their radar of travel destinations.
 
Destination Gettysburg has also taken the photo frames to the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg. 

Destination Gettysburg's Vice President, Stacey Fox, and Director of Communications, Carl Whitehill, attended a four-day professional development conference last week as part of U.S. Travel Association's ESTO (Educational Seminar for Tourism Organizations).
 
The conference included breakout sessions and general keynote seminars on marketing and public relations including digital advertising, communication tactics, multi-media content and several topics that addressed the importance of standing out amongst the competition, how travel has been affected by the current political climate around the country as well as virtual reality, travel economics and user-generated content.
 
"ESTO brings together some of the best ideas that destination marketing organizations, state travel offices and marketing agencies are using around the world," said Stacey. "The conference is a great way for DMOs to learn about these practices as well as be inspired by the results that other destinations are seeing as a result of their creative ideas."
 
The ESTO conference was attended by 750 marketing and communications professionals from more than 200 organizations. The Destination Gettysburg staff was able to gather new ideas, share ideas with others and begin to implement new approaches and tools for marketing travel to Adams County, Pa.
 
>> Learn More about ESTO