Category: International

We are thrilled to share the following article from Huffington Post Québec.  This daily online news outlet attracts over 2,500,000 unique visits to their website.

 

http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/10/06/manger-des-huitres-les-pieds-dans-l-eau-a-virginia-beach_a_23234225/?utm_hp_ref=qc-voyage

 

This artist article’s title translates to:

Eating oysters in Virginia Beach with both feet in the water.

Two thirds of the article is about the Pleasure House Oysters experience and describing it in great details including how we can bring wine for the oyster pairing and the educational aspect of the tour.

It then covers parasailing and paddle boarding as soft adventure experiences and then lists their favorite culinary recommendations including Tautogs, Esoteric, Swedish, Watermans and its famous Orange Crush and the Chesapeake Bay Distillery.

The article ends with a mention of the upcoming re-opening of the Cavalier Hotel!

 

According to U.S. Travel Association, international inbound travelers are estimated to have made 75.6 million visits to the United States in 2016.  The CVB has positioned the city to capture its share of those travelers by marketing Virginia Beach in four countries overseas. In addition to neighboring Canada, the CVB’s International Tourism division actively pursues groups and individuals from China, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

 

The International Tourism team recently showcased our coastal city to two groups of Chinese travel writers and tour operators. During guided familiarization tours around the city, the groups explored many of our districts and attractions and participated in several of our more popular excursions. Upon returning to China, the writers will craft and publish articles about their first-hand Virginia Beach experiences, and the tour operators will develop itineraries for the benefit of potential visitors to Virginia Beach.

 

Three more groups of travel writers and tour operators from France, the United Kingdom and Canada are scheduled to arrive and tour Virginia Beach in early October.

Photo caption: CVB guests ready to enjoy an iFly adventure

Two huge hits for Virginia Beach in the Canadian Market!

Le Journal de Montreal is a French Canadian daily tabloid newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec. It is the largest-circulating newspaper in Quebec and the highest-circulating French language daily newspaper in North America. An amazing 2-page color-spread appeared on Saturday, July 15th, the day of the week with the largest circulation, i.e. 1,397,000 readers for the print version.  The web site on which the article also appeared attracts over 3.2 million unique visitors per month.

• They also featured the article on Le Journal de Montreal‘s Facebook page  which has 606,217 followers and on the travel writers personal Facebook page who has 4,915 followers
• Le Journal de Montreal – 432 likes, 198 comments and 141 shares

http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/07/15/la-nouvelle-virginia-beach

• Le Journal de Quebec is a French-language daily newspaper in Quebec City and is printed tabloid format too.  It also belongs to Quebecor and has the largest daily circulation in Quebec City followed closely by its main competitor Le Soleil.

• It has over 705,000 readers on Saturdays

• Over 1.6 million unique visitors to their web site every month.

• Le Journal de Quebec also posted our article on their Facebook page which has over 363,142 fans.  We received great engagement for this point (see attached).
• Le Journal de Quebec – 187 likes, 140 comments, 49 shares

http://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/07/15/la-nouvelle-virginia-beach

The article covers some of our key brand messages including:

• The New Virginia Beach with its three beaches, growing microbrewery and restaurant scene making the destination one which now has a whole lot more to offer than just a beach.
• Soft Adventure (Paddle to Blue Pete’s)
• ViBe Creative District
• New Earth Farm
• Chespeake Bay Distillery
• Our three beaches and their distinctive vibes and offerings
• First Landing State Park
• Ways to get here (car, plane)
• Pleasure House Oyster (very nice and elaborate coverage)

The Virginia Beach tourism Weibo social media account recently secured 557,618 followers thanks to more than 1,100 posts promoting the “Live the Life” vacation brand. The Pacific Asia Travel Association, which analyzes international travel and tourism trends in the Asia-Pacific region, forecasts that nearly five million Chinese travelers will visit the U.S. each year by 2020 with an annual growth rate of about 13 percent during the next five years. By 2020, China will be the largest international source market for the U.S. excluding Canada and Mexico. This will cause a pivotal shift in the visitor pie chart that has been dominated by Japan and the U.K. for decades. In 2016, the Chinese traveler market was the number one market for the Capital Region USA with more than 300,000 Chinese arrivals. It is important for Virginia Beach to have this rapidly growing market as a focus in its International marketing strategy. China currently ranks in the top five markets visiting our region. Showcasing unique experiences, here is a sampling of the CVB’s recent social media efforts in China to raise awareness of Virginia Beach as a fun, world-class leisure vacation destination.

Check out these shots of the Sand Sculpture for IPW