Who We Are
Who We Are
Greater Portland’s Official Destination Marketing Organization
A Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) is an organization that promotes a town, city, region, or country in order to increase the number of visitors. It promotes the development and marketing of a destination, focusing on tourism, group, wedding, PR, and tour operator marketing. Visit Portland is a not-for-profit organization representing the Greater Portland, Maine region – enhancing the long-term development of communities through a travel and tourism strategy. The organization is partner-based, bringing businesses together who are supported by tourism and meetings to foster a better community and destination for all who come to experience it.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
HOW IS VISIT PORTLAND DIFFERENT FROM A CHAMBER OF COMMERCE?
The Chamber of Commerce focuses on boosting the local economy by bringing new businesses into the area. Visit Portland focuses on boosting the local economy by bringing tourism, conventions, meetings, and events into the area and state.
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WHAT DOES A DMO DO FOR A POTENTIAL VISITOR OR EVENT PLANNER?
For visitors, a DMO is like a key to the city. As a balanced resource, we can serve as a broker and an official point of contact for convention and event planners, tour operators and visitors. Our staff assists planners with meeting/event preparation and encourages business travelers and visitors alike to visit local historic, cultural and recreational sites.
We save visitors’ time and energy as we are a “one-stop shop” for local tourism interests.
We provide a full-range of information about our destination.
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WHY IS GROUP MARKETING + TOURISM IMPORTANT?
Travel and tourism enhance the quality of life for a local community by providing jobs, increasing tax dollars for improvement of services and infrastructure and attracting facilities like restaurants, shops, festivals, and cultural and sporting venues that cater to both visitors and local residents.
Tourism is one of America’s largest industries:
$704 billion in direct travel expenditures by domestic and international travelers.
$1.2 trillion in direct, indirect and induced tourism-related output.
$113 billion in tax revenue for local, state and federal governments generated by direct travel expenditures.
7.4 million direct travel-generated jobs.
$186 billion travel-generated payroll.
10.1 million American workers are directly or indirectly employed by travel.
Indeed, travel and tourism is an economic engine and DMOs are the key drivers.
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HOW DOES VISIT PORTLAND UTILIZE PARTNER DUES?
Partner dues allow Visit Portland to formulate and facilitate a professional marketing plan which reaches multiple target markets promoting Maine with a focus on the Greater Portland region.
Partners of Visit Portland receive benefits including publications listings, website listings, brochure distribution, sales leads/referrals, networking opportunities, and much more!
For more information about these Partner benefits contact us at partners@visitpotland.com
Target Markets
Through a sophisticated marketing and public relations media strategy – supported by a team of seasoned tourism professionals – millions of visitors, meeting + event planners, brides, and tour operators learn about our destination throughout the year. Ultimately, Visit Portland brings these travelers to our region which generates billions of dollars to the local economy.
As a private, non-profit destination marketing organization, we spend more than one million dollars annually to promote or region. This takes a team of committed businesses, including you, working jointly with Visit Portland to ensure that every traveler finds the perfect destination – The Greater Portland Casco Bay Region of Maine!
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TOURISM MARKETING
We tell an inviting story about our destination through print, radio, TV, online, and tradeshow marketing, all designed to attract individual travelers, couples, and family vacationers to Maine. Our top-notch website and informative Visitor’s Guide offers rich content and alluring photography. Our Authentic By Nature tag line is used to its fullest when we describe the working waterfront, historic and cultural museums, the notoriety of our culinary expertise, and our neighborhood-style shopping districts.
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GROUP MARKETING
Meetings and conferences can be the great equalizer for our busy summer tourism season as many meetings take place from November through April. Our Event Planner’s Guide offers a myriad of suggestions for successfully holding a meeting in Maine. This publication, coupled with our informative website and the expert services of our professional conference marketing team who attend trade shows around the country and diligently follow up with prospective planners, results in continuous new meetings and conferences to the Greater Portland Casco Bay Region.
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PUBLIC RELATIONS MARKETING
Foodiest Small Town in America, Most Blissful City to Visit, and Most Romantic City – the list goes on and on. Through the efforts of Visit Portland’s public relations initiatives, these accolades continue to keep our destination in front of the traveling public and on numerous “top pick” lists. High-quality photography, familiarization tours for journalists, press releases, and story pitches result in far-reaching publicity for the Greater Portland Casco Bay Region.
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CRUISE SHIP MARKETING
Visit Portland is part of Discover Portland & Beyond, which is a cruise marketing consortium, working with the City of Portland, Portland’s Downtown District, FreeportUSA, Kennebunk/Kennebunkport and the Portland Chambers of Commerce. Together we actively promote the Port of Portland and our shore excursion partners to the cruise lines and their passengers. Bringing cruise ships into Portland and then connecting the passengers to our destinations is a key economic development strategy benefiting the Greater Portland Casco Bay Region and beyond.
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MOTORCOACH MARKETING
The motorcoach market is an important element in Maine’s tourism industry. Motorcoaches bring over $1.9 billion into the state’s economy and $13 billion into New England as a whole. By attending tradeshows, assisting with familiarization trips, and creating relationships with tour operators, Visit Portland is working to ensure that tour operators always keep Maine and the Greater Portland Region on the top of their minds and included in tour itineraries.
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SPORTS MARKETING
There are more than 3,500 sporting events annually looking for a location to hold their events from baseball and basketball to skating and soccer. These events not only mean healthy people but they mean a healthy economy. Visit Portland is actively working on attracting these groups to Maine, side by side with the newly developed Maine Sports Commission, attending trade shows, contacting sports organizations, and arranging site visits for interested parties. We’re making the Greater Portland Region a sports destination.
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DESTINATION WEDDING MARKETING
With nearly 25 percent of brides choosing to have a destination wedding, Visit Portland is actively working with brides to increase our share of the destination wedding market. These events often expand from a one-day event to week-long extravaganzas that include reunions for family and friends, and extended stays for the bride and groom’s honeymoon. We are helping brides plan all aspects of their authentic Maine wedding.
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INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
A record of 62 million international visitors came to the U.S. in 2011, spending over $152 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services. Of that group, more than 1.7 million overseas visitors came to New England.International visitors stay an average of 15 nights and spend up to 10 times more than the domestic visitor, and often travel during the shoulder seasons. In conjunction with the Maine Office of Tourism, Visit Portland works to capture this lucrative market for our region of Maine.