Pierce County will look to expand its tour and travel department on Feb. 24-27 when the city hosts the 2014 Go West Summit.
The Go West Summit is an international tourism convention where tour operators and suppliers representing various attractions from across the world can connect with one another and develop relationships in which buyers find attractions they are interested in, and may end up promoting the attraction in the future.
The four-day conference, scheduled for Feb. 24-27, will bring more than 150 international and domestic tour operators and 200 tourism suppliers from the western United States, plus media and U.S. Embassy delegates. Five experiential tours during the Go West Summit called Adventure Day tours will highlight key attractions in Pierce County.
According to a Go West Summit survey, more than $14.5 million worth of contracts were signed on the show floor during this year’s conference in Fort Worth, Texas and the conference is expected to bring more than 6.2 million visitors to the area over 18 months.
Along with making connections, the conference allows buyers to experience Pierce County through several activities throughout the weekend, potentially making local connections which would strengthen Tacoma's tourism.
“Its a double-whammy because it brings people here for the conference, but obviously the benefit to us is getting these tour and travel operators to build us into their itineraries in the future,” said Bennish Brown, president and CEO of the Tacoma Regional Convention + Visitors Bureau, one of the alliances responsible for bringing the conference to Tacoma.
This will be the first time the Go West Summit will be held in Washington. The state was able to secure the conference despite not having a state funded tourism department. The teamwork displayed by several of Washington's tourism alliances impressed summit organizers.
“For Tacoma [and] Pierce County it's a really big plus because they're going to be in our downtown, enjoying our restaurants, enjoying our attractions,” said Moira Davin, director of sales at the TRCVB.
Tourism attractions in Tacoma have been working for the past year to prepare for the event.
The summit itself focuses on the relationships between buyers and suppliers, offering events like one-on-one appointments and lunch meetings that allow them to connect. But the biggest boon to Tacoma comes in the form of site tours taking place the first morning of the conference. This allows buyers to get a solid idea of what Tacoma has to offer.
“Tour and travel is a market that we would like to expand upon. I think we have some really great products in this area,” Davin said.
The summit will hold an evening reception at the Museum of Glass that will feature the Museum Hot Shop putting on a show, while also showcasing Pierce County restaurants and attractions.
“Once we get people here, there is a wonderful level of appreciation and just excitement about what we have here for a visitor,” Brown said.
On the evening of Feb. 26, the summit will hold another reception at the LeMay: America’s Car Museum that will feature businesses from all around Washington meeting and connecting with tour operators who could potentially boost their business.
The final day of the summit gets attendees out of the city and into the wild with various adventure tours. Buyers are invited to experience various aspects of Pierce County, including farm, culinary and museum tours. More adventurous guests can choose to snow-shoe Mt. Rainier or travel to the summit of Crystal Mountain.
Pre- and post-summit tours will also be offered, including cruises around Seattle and the San Juan islands. One tour even goes as far north as Alaska.
“We can have the most beautiful publications, brochures, our visitor guide can look wonderful, our website can be just stunning,” Brown said. “There is nothing more effective then when people are literally here with their feet on the ground in the destination and that's when you see people really in awe of what we have here.”
The summit is partnering with Visit Seattle and the Tacoma Regional Convention + Visitors Bureau to bring the Summit to the northwest this year. Other states involved in the partnership include Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Nevada.
Last year, the event took place in Fort Worth, Texas, and the 2015 event will take place in Colorado Springs.
It's “a great way to bring our community together and Tacoma [and] Pierce County as a whole,” Davin said. “It’s been really a great experience to gain more exposure to the tour and travel market, but to also connect more to the tour and travel market and get more of our entities working together.”
For additional information, visit http://www.gowestsummit.com.