THE SLV IS THE PLACE TO BE:
DRIVING VISITATION TO COLORADO’S
LESSER-KNOWN SAN LUIS VALLEY REGION
In 2021, the San Luis Valley (SLV) region of Colorado was identified as an area that was in-need of tourism recovery support, and the CTO’s Destination Development and PR teams joined forces to create a PR campaign, “The SLV is the Place to Be’’ to drive travel coverage as inspiration to increase visitation to the region as a whole. The SLV region was seeing exciting new developments beginning in 2021 through the present, creating news hooks ripe for storytelling to get travelers exploring. Handlebar PR (on behalf of the CTO) set out to create a PR campaign to attract writers from top target outlets to experience the SLV first-hand via road trip itineraries to discover the lesser-known offerings and new development in the area. Trips were to generate compelling travel features about the region to inspire a high-value traveler audience to get off the beaten path contributing to visitor dispersion, economic growth for less-visited areas and amplifying the unique stories of the rural destinations within the region.
WHAT WE DID
Conducted an immersion trip, worked closely with SLV destinations and businesses to identify top travel news and experiences and developed SLV-themed pitch angles and story ideas to use in proactive media outreach.
Researched key contacts contributing to the CTO’s Top 100 Target Outlets (and reaching a high-value traveler audience) who would be most receptive to ‘roads-less-traveled’ SLV stories.
Pitched and secured story placements and media roadtrips for journalists on assignment for top target outlets starting in spring 2021 through Fall 2022 that included travel and comprehensive itinerary coordination.
RESULTS
This campaign resulted in hosting eight individual media trips, all of which produced top-tier travel coverage reaching high value audiences.
The campaign as a whole resulted in 75 travel story placements that prominently featured Colorado’s SLV region in top target outlets including Conde Nast Traveler, Parade, Travel + Leisure, Washington Post, Matador, TripSavvy, Wall Street Journal, New York Times. Outside, Sunset, USA Today, Boston Globe, AFAR, Hemispheres, Thrillist and more.
These 75 articles resulted in a total media value of more than $7M and readership of 1.2B.
Handlebar PR was awarded a 2023 Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International Adrian Award Gold Level for a public relations campaign, “The San Luis Valley (SLV) is the Place to Be.”
Handlebar PR was awarded a 2023 Public Relations Society of America National Silver Anvil Award of Excellence for a public relations campaign, “The SLV is the Place to Be: Driving Visitation to Colorado’s Lesser-Known San Luis Valley Region.”
