It’s a $32 billion industry in Massachusetts, bringing in $812 million in taxes, but tourism requires cooperation, collaboration and communication between the state’s 16 regional tourism councils as well as among the industry sectors that can help bring visitors here, says Francois Nivaud, who heads the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.
Nivaud, speaking to about 100 community leaders at a Franklin County Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting Friday, said his agency is working to convey to regional, national and international audiences as well as industry leaders, public officials and others the array of attractions throughout the Bay State.
“I believe when people come to visit, even to see family, friends, what have you, they are not coming here just for one reason,” Nivaud told the gathering at Greenfield Community College. Instead, their plans are grouped around a theme dictated by the interests and passions of the visitors, be it sports, museums, history or other areas.
“I’m amazed at the value of the assets here,” said Nivaud, who had been touring around Franklin County and other parts of western Massachusetts. “You have so much going on.”
As the county was preparing for its 22nd annual Cider Days next week, he said, “You have such a vibrant buzz in your community,” and pointed out how impressed he was with Hope & Olive’s up-front sourcing of menu ingredients from area farms.
Tourism here last year brought in $68 million in direct spending to the county, he said, along with another $20 million in “indirect induced spending,” he said. International travel accounted for $8 million of the direct tourism spending, and the tax benefit overall was $3.7 million. The state’s accounting listed 560 tourism-related jobs in Franklin County.
MOTT, which began a “Go West” multimedia campaign last year to promote the four western counties, is also working to communicate its “brands” in the four broad categories of activities: arts and culture, history and heritage, outdoor and recreation, and culinary groupings.
The “trails” for literature lovers, history buffs, film or museum aficionados all have brochures, maps and other publications that cut across tourism regions, said French-born Nivaud, who originated the Boston Wine Festival, managed Boston Harbor Hotel and created the New England Management Services as a think tank for the hospitality industry. There are also daily and weekly tourism updates on social media as well as quarterly and annual reports, along with promotions in publications and other media, along with an integrated website, MassVacations.com
Many of those promotions, he said, need to be coordinated with neighboring states, especially to attract international visitors like those in the 11 foreign countries — including, now, Australia and India — where MOTT has been or is developing deep relationships.
With that in mind, Nivaud emphasized that with millions of visitors eager to cross regions, “I would like to see more cooperation between various tourism councils, to make a much more powerful marketing effort, not only here in the Northeast, not only in the country, but around the world.”
It’s also important, he told business representatives at Friday’s breakfast, that they collaborate, “to communicate with all stakeholders in the industry. … It is so critical for each and every one of you, in your own industries, to work with your counterparts in other parts of the commonwealth.”