When the going gets tough, Yuma Visitors Bureau gets creative
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YUMA, ARIZONA – As for most U.S. destinations, times have been tough for the hospitality business in this midsized city on the California border in recent years.
But the Yuma Visitors Bureau is rising to the challenge with a major organizational makeover and an ambitious program of work that includes more than 16 festivals and events, along with a new agritourism program to showcase its multi-billion-dollar farming industry.
It’s all about getting creative and thinking outside the box to maximize the area’s natural resources, says Susan Sternitzke, YVB interim executive director.
“Yuma is rich in history and surrounded by nature,” Sternitzke said. “Being at the crossroads where the Sonoran desert meets the Colorado River means that Yuma’s been welcoming travelers since before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
“But our number one and two economic drivers here are agriculture and the military, which are unique to Yuma,” Sternitzke added. “Those things are part of the authentic experiences our area offers that other Arizona communities don’t.”
So among the events YVB plans for the 2010-11 winter season are a “Spirit of Yuma Military Festival” in the historic North End (Jan. 21-23) and a refreshed version of Yuma Lettuce Days, tossed to March, to follow a major trade expo sponsored by the Yuma Fresh Vegetable Association.
YVB is staging its own “Field to Feast” farm tours and offering matching funds “Agri-Experience Grants” to encourage creation of hands-on, interactive activities for visitors.
Those new agritourism offerings were recently detailed in an Arizona Office of Tourism email blast to 350,000 potential visitors across the world, and will be the subject of the cover story in the November/December issue of Skywest Magazine, the in-flight publication for United Express flights reaching 2-1/2 million travelers a month.
“Creating the agritourism program took creativity, but not a lot of investment,” Sternitzke said. “It’s one way to utilize Yuma’s resources to attract new visitors here.”
That’s not the only thing YVB is doing to maximize community resources. The nonprofit’s board made a bold move last spring, agreeing to absorb the operation and management of Heritage Festivals, which had previously been part of Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area (YCNHA). Both YVB and Heritage Festivals are funded in part by a two percent hospitality tax collected by the city of Yuma.
YVB is also partnering with YCNHA to market the Yuma Territorial Prison and the Yuma Quartermaster Depot. YCNHA, a federally designated heritage area, took over operation of the two state parks after they were threatened with closure by Arizona’s ongoing budget crunch. To provide the daily presence to operate the park, YVB relocated its Visitor Information Center to the Quartermaster Depot last November – a move that doubled VIC walk-ins and tripled park visitation.
This year, an even more ambitious YVB project is on the drawing board for the Quartermaster Depot: the creation of a Christmas Village with life-sized playhouses, thousands of lights – and an ice-skating rink. The holiday fantasyland will debut December 3 and remain open through December 23 with daily entertainment and family activities. YVB plans to market the Christmas Village to families across Arizona and the border region.
Construction of the Christmas Village playhouses began in July, when temperatures in Yuma were well above the century mark. Yuma also hosted film crews from the Weather Channel and Food Network Canada over the summer months, part of an aggressive media relations effort to put Yuma back on the map across the country.
“We helped round up rattlesnakes for a ‘Cantore Stories’ feature in July, organized outdoor filming of Caesar salad making in August, and tested artificial ice rink materials when it was 110 degrees,” Sternitzke laughs. “All of that not only takes imagination, but stamina, too.
“But that’s what makes Yuma special – we will do whatever it takes to bring attention to everything we have to offer,” she added. “Like the old slogan says, we try harder.”
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Ann Walker, 928-376-0100 (office), 928-210-9044 (cell), ann@visityuma.com
202 S. 1st Avenue, Suite 202, Yuma, Arizona 85364 / www.visityuma.com
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