I’ve interviewed Mark Romig, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at New Orleans and Company, a handful of times.
He’s probably the most thoughtful and confident speaker on the matter of tourism I’ve ever known.
But my interview with him on Wednesday was different.
For the first time, I saw and understood the drama behind the job of marketing a major American city as a tourist destination.
I got a palpable feeling of what this pandemic has done to New Orleans and Romig’s army will do to make it right again.
Speaking about the latest three-fold campaign that will be introduced this morning in a live on-line webinar, I could tell this campaign is for the people of New Orleans.
The people who live and work in hospitality.
The ones who’ve struggled the past year; many of which are no longer in the businesses in which they’ve worked at and loved so much.
This isn’t desperation, this is determination.
Romig says the new campaign “is to help bring spending back into the city so that we can support no only the businesses that are the mainstay of the industry but also the employees that work 24/7 to make this city what it is.”
This morning New Orleans tourism leaders will virtually provide an overview of promotional plans to drive business to restaurants, hotels and attractions this fall and winter.
Plans include the introduction of an adapted restaurant program COOLinary Encore, a regional drive market campaign and annual holiday celebrations.
Romig describes who the campaign is aimed at what they will do to bring these people here rather than watch them go to other destinations. “[This campaign] is to reach out to our regional drive market (visitors from 250 miles-or-less from New Orleans), those individuals who know us the best and visit us the most, that we are here and would love to see them in a safe way to help us rebuild our economy.”
Romig and the people of New Orleans and Company are determined to make New Orleans the top destination it is among these important travelers.
And the word that resonated through his quotes, hope, is going to play a very important part in this campaign.
Romig spoke about his people and the campaign to resurrect the New Orleans economy:
“Well these are tough times and we all have to do our personal best and take personal responsibility to help our city. We know it’s going to be a long haul, but we can’t give up hope. We have to each do our own jobs to help bring this city back.”
To view and participate in the webinar, CLICK HERE.
