Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau earned a gold award for its Local Tourism Ambassador video. (Courtesy/CVB)
WILMINGTON — The local tourism authority promoting the region won three statewide marketing awards from the N.C. Travel Industry Association earlier last month.
The New Hanover County Tourism Development Authority announced Thursday that the Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau received Tourism Marketing Achievement Awards, including “Best of Show” among other entries for destination marketing in N.C.
The CVB won a platinum award in the leisure marketing category for the organization’s “Hallow-Scream” campaign and brought home a gold award in community relations for its 2022 Local Tourism Ambassador video.
The video, which debuted in May, was intended to instill a sense of pride for the region as a great place to live, work and play and how tourism impacts quality of place.
In an effort to address lingering challenges of Covid-19 and to take advantage of the national publicity generated by the Wilmington-made blockbuster film “Halloween Kills,” the CVB developed a “Hallo-Scream Getaway” social and web campaign.
The campaign was developed to promote tourism during the fall season and included a list of activities and locations visitors could take advantage of during Halloween.
According to a press release, the campaign’s creative elements tapped into Wilmington’s thriving film community by highlighting locations from locally filmed horror productions.
In addition to the social campaign, the CVB partnered with Visit NC to execute a “Halloween Kills” trip giveaway and social promotion for the premiere of the film. Winners attended a red-carpet premiere of “Halloween Kills” and received a Hollywood East-themed trip to Wilmington.
New Hanover County’s room occupancy tax collections reported record increases in September and October 2021, at a 22.5% hike and 36.2%, respectively. Halloween-themed campaign web traffic and social media enagagment increased year over year by 27% and 106%, respectively.
The N.C. Travel Industry Association Tourism Marketing Achievement Awards are given annually to showcase innovation, best practices and the accomplishments of the travel and tourism’s marketing efforts.
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