Looking back on a good 2015 — and forward to a promising 2016 spring/summer season!
Despite the fact that we had such a mild winter (not necessarily a good thing for tourism in the Northeast), 2015 was a year of continued growth for Connecticut tourism.
To view our the full April 2016 Tourism Tracker click here.
This past summer, visits to some of our state’s top attractions increased 12%. And by the end of 2015, our state’s hotel occupancy rates were up by 4% and lodging tax receipts had increased by 7%.
Helping to spur this growth was our state’s ongoing tourism advertising, PR and social media marketing — which once again featured thousands of tourism partners. We ran TV campaigns across New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut for spring/summer and fall. And we complemented our broadcast advertising with innovative out-of-home placements and an increasing focus on targeted digital advertising.
Moving into the spring/summer 2016 season, we will be focused on maximizing the launch of our all-new CTvisit.com. Guided by consumer research and partner collaboration at every step of the process, we’ve redesigned and rebuilt our entire tourism website. It will now offer visitors a greatly enhanced online experience, featuring engaging visuals, inspiring content and intuitive navigation. We will also continue to drive visits to our new site — and ultimately to Connecticut — with a robust digital marketing campaign.
We are eager to work with all of you to build on our momentum — and continue to show the world just what makes Connecticut still revolutionary!