There has recently been much activity on the international tourism front. In addition to a very productive participation at World Travel Market in the UK, two winter campaigns have launched in conjunction with the new and improved International Tourism Web site.

These new campaigns have and will be focused on Germany and the United Kingdom, and will be launched in two flights. The first ran from December 6 through 12; the second will begin in January. Both campaigns will utilize online advertising to direct consumers to our International Tourism Web site, gochicago.com and allow them to book trips immediately.

The UK campaign uses four different creative executions with banner ads that emphasize shopping and post-holiday savings opportunities. The first two have clever word pairings like “tasty prices” and “rocking deals,” followed by a call to action to link to our Web site and “book now.”

The German campaign also focuses on shopping, but uses a different online approach with animation. A bouncing shopping bag appears across the screen teasing viewers with messages of shopping, nightlife and great values in Chicago. This call to action is gochicago.de. Images from both sets of ads are incorporated into the travel package buttons on each site and allow consumers the opportunity to immediately book their trip.

Gochicago.com has been vastly expanded since its launch last July. It is available in both British English and German languages. New features to the site include a Travel Professionals section with travel trade industry-specific information and a direct link to our UK and German Travel Trade offices to assist them as they promote Chicago and Illinois as tourism destinations; a Travel Packages booking site to allow consumers to link and book specially priced packages to Chicago; and a press site where journalists can go directly to the site and download usable press releases in each country and contact our media representation with inquiries. We also look forward to adding a downloadable photo site in the spring.

Beyond our winter consumer campaigns, we recently had a wonderful opportunity to promote Illinois as a tourism destination through our presence at the World Travel Market (WTM) trade show in London. November 2004 marked the show’s 25th anniversary and was a great success. More than 46,000 industry professionals from more than 190 countries attended. Illinois hosted a breakfast reception to promote the spring opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum with nearly 20 media outlets in attendance, followed by individual interviews.

Cellet, our travel trade representation, set up appointments with industry partners, including: Jetlife – who introduced a new winter city package to run alongside the winter Chicago campaign, and Titan Tours – who is considering including the Route 66 Festival in its 2005-2006 tours, and hotel leads for 60 rooms and 180 room nights.

Finally, to add to our marketing efforts, Illinois is a proud Silver sponsor of the recently launched U.S. Department of Commerce Tourism Promotion Campaign pilot program targeting the U.K. “You’ve seen the films, now visit the set” is a $4 million dollar advertising campaign, with an additional $2 million in sponsorships. Set around the film and entertainment industry in the U.S., we feel it is a perfect fit for Illinois. Commercials on British television will be running soon, and Illinois is featured on the recently launched Web site, seeamerica.org.co.uk and the official fulfillment piece.