As spring approaches, Vermont’s travel destinations are concluding a busy season spreading the word about Vermont at out-of-state shows for consumers and group tour organizers. Most of the shows that Vermont businesses attend take place at expositions within metro centers in New England, New York, and Canada. According to the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing, Vermont is uniquely positioned within a day’s drive of 80 million people.
Todd Paton of the Rock of Ages Visitors Center recently returned from the AAA Travel Marketplace at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Billed by AAA as “one-stop shopping for everything travel related,” the annual show features hundreds of exhibitors and hosts about 20,000 consumers exploring the expo in the three-day period.
Along with colleagues from four other Vermont businesses, Paton talks first about Vermont: attractions, recreation, food, accommodations. “Visiting Rock of Ages specifically – from quarry tours to try-it-yourself sandblasting to granite bowling – is secondary. We all work together to attract visitors by offering up a panoply of Vermont experiences.” The Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing, as well as trade associations, often helps coordinate destinations’ show presence.
What are visitors looking for these days? “Questions about Cabot Cheese, Ben & Jerry’s and Vermont-made beers were frequent,” notes Paton. “At the recent AAA show the Stowe Area Association offered a prize drawing for a trip to Stowe which created enthusiasm among visitors to the booth.”
Rock of Ages is just one Vermont business that attends half a dozen shows per year. The final appearance on the annual Rock of Ages show circuit is Daytrips & Destinations in Hartford, Connecticut in May. As the granite industry Visitors Center celebrates its 90th anniversary, Paton believes the effort is worthwhile, helping attract many thousands of guests to the Barre quarries each summer and fall.
Talking up Vermont at the AAA Travel Show, March 7-9 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. From left to right: Jo Sabel Courtney, Vermont Department of Travel & Marketing; Andrew Cournoyer, Golden Eagle Resort, Stowe; Todd Paton, Rock of Ages Visitors Center, Barre; David Thomas, Hampton Inn, Colchester. Photo courtesy of Rock of Ages Visitors Center.
Source: Rock of Ages Visitors Center, Barre. March 19, 2014