The tradeshow season has begun and Karen and I have been traveling to areas within a 5 hour radius in order to promote Pulaski County. These leisure travel shows are geared towards people that have a great interest in canoeing, kayaking and fishing. Our primary markets are Kansas City, St. Louis, Wichita and Chicago. The Bureau also partnered with the Pulaski County Outfitters Association for the Columbia, St. Louis, and Collinsville, Illinois outdoor shows.

During these tradeshows we collect leads from a drawing that we hold for a gift item. We use this information to survey these attendees later in the year to track our conversion from a prospective visitor to an actual visitor. We have also incorporated a "Thank a Soldier" postcard campaign, in which show attendees may fill out a postcard that the bureau will later send over to soldiers serving our country. This program was tested in Kansas City recently and was met with great enthusiasm.

We have also attended several group travel/motor coach marketplaces through American Bus Association and BankTravel. The bureau recently sent out an email campaign promoting the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit - Journey Stories, which is being hosted by the Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation. This exhibit will be on display from October 3rd through November 13th. Our area is honored to have this opportunity as only 12 communities were chosen to host one of 3 exhibits. We have already booked 3 tour groups for the exhibit and plan to send out a direct mail postcard to rally more interest in visiting Pulaski County during this time

The new year brings the opening of the Co-operative Marketing Grant Program which is pool of money that is made available to market/advertise events held in Pulaski. This is a matching fund grant. For more information about this program please call 573.336.6355.

Late December we received our 2010 Pulaski County Visitors Guides. The staff has been busy distributing these guides to area hotels and rental car agencies, as well as sending out the initial supplies to Missouri Welcome Centers and Visitors Centers around the state. For your copy be sure to stop by the Visitors Center or you may download it from our website at VisitPulaskiCounty.org.

Keeping in touch,

Beth Wiles
Executive Director
Pulaski County Tourism Bureau
137 St. Robert Blvd. Suite A
St. Robert, MO 65584
(877) 858-8687 Toll-free
(573) 336-6355 Ext. 104
(573) 336-2985 Fax
bethw@visitpulaskicounty.org
VisitPulaskiCounty.org

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