Tourism Organizations Receive 2024 Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer AwardsTRAILBLAZER AWARDS
Appleton -Destinations Wisconsin today presented the 2024 Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer awards to Lake Geneva Cruise Lines, Explore La Crosse, Visit Wausau and Visit Milwaukee for outstanding marketing, partnership and destination impact efforts.
Lake Geneva Cruise Line received the Outstanding Marketing Trailblazer Award for their Santa Cruise Marketing Campaign. The goal of the campaign was to increase ticket sales and to increase repeat customers year over year. This organization mostly used a digital marketing strategy, including social media, paid search, TikTok advertising, and influencers to generate an increase in ticket sales. To bring visitors back every year, the attraction began to annually theme the experience and attracted a younger adult audience with karaoke and trivia events. Social Media Engagement clicks were up 145% from the previous year, web site visits were up 15%, and tickets sales were up 68% from the previous year. The customer experience also demonstrated improvement with 4–5-star reviews with many mentioning that they will be back.
Explore La Crosse received the Outstanding Partnership Trailblazer Award for establishing the Belonging & Mattering (“BaM”) Institute with the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce and a consulting firm. The goal of the partnership was to support organizations, businesses on their inclusion journey and to make their destination welcoming for diverse newcomers, visitors, and residents. To date, nearly 60 participants from over 12 different businesses have completed the sessions and receive their "BaM" certificate. These individuals not only came away with an enlightened view of diversity, equity, and inclusion but the "train the trainer' approach has allowed them to take what they have learned and enlighten others at their workplace. The 3rd session is underway with a full class.
Visit Wausau received the Outstanding Destination Development and Impact Trailblazer award for create and promoting The Great Pinery Heritage Waterway™, a water trail system in to drives tourism to Central and Northcentral Wisconsin. This 108-mile water trail was designated as a state waterway in 2022. Organizers received federal assistance grants in 2023 and 2024 that will help the trail achieve the National Parks Service’s national water trail designation next year. Through a web site, social media, a kickoff event and other promotional efforts, the trail attracted nearly 12,000 paddlers in 2023, a 14 percent increase from the year before when the trail was created.
Visit Milwaukee also received the Outstanding Destination Development and Impact Trailblazer award for hosting the 2024 Connect Marketplace. The organization’s goal was to elevate their destination profile as a top-tier destination for meetings and conventions and promote the newly expanded Baird Center. Connect Marketplace is a major industry event that connects destination marketing organizations (DMOs) with meeting planners. The event generated an estimated $5.3 million in economic impact for the city and filled 87% of the city’s hotel rooms, a 33% increase in hotel occupancy from the previous year. There was also a surge in inquiries for meetings and events in Milwaukee with many RFPs already been received and this event allowed other DMOs throughout Wisconsin to connect with planners, further extending the economic impact across the state.
Destinations Wisconsin presents the Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazers awards each year during the Destinations Wisconsin Fall Tourism Conference in an effort to increase the visibility of Wisconsin’s tourism industry and destination marketing organizations. The awards recognize Wisconsin tourism organizations for outstanding marketing and partnership efforts. Destinations Wisconsin represents 43 Wisconsin's destination marketing organizations and initiates cooperative ventures that strengthen the state’s tourism industry.