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  Spring 2011
 

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In This Bulletin
 

Industry Prepares for Tourism Week

Maryland Office of Tourism Development Southern Maryland Meeting


Arts Center Opens in Leonardtown

Savor St. Mary's Restaurant Week 2011

The Magnificent Seventh (District)

YouTube Submissions Requested

Sotterley Awarded Prestigious Grant

State Parks Deliver

New Oyster Festival Lead

Skipjack Dee of St. Mary's on Endangered List

Newtowne Players to Represent Maryland

Industry Partners Market County and Region

Chamber Tourism Advisory Council Planning Session

Sharing our Secrets with Southern Living Magazine

State Tourism Enhanced E-Calendar for Events

Maryland Office of Tourism tweets deal



IndustryInterestIndustry-Interest Events
 

The Maryland Office of Tourism Regional Presentation
 
April 27, 10:30 a.m. - Noon

Calvert County Economic Development Conference Room, Lower Level

205 Main Street

Prince Frederick, MD 20678

For directions, please call 410-535-4583.  Must RSVP: 301-475-4200 x 1403 by April 22.

 

Star Spangled Banner Trail Workshop

April 21, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Kings Landing Park

3255 Kings Landing Road

Huntingtown, MD 20639

The National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office will present alternative concepts for developing the Star-Spangled Banner Trail and Scenic By-way.  These trail alternatives will propose management objectives, policies, and actions that could guide the development of the trail and by-way over the next 15 to 20 years.  To RSVP, email suzanne_copping@nps.gov or call 410-260-2476. 

 



Ongoing Industry Meetings

   

 

St. Mary's Chamber of Commerce Tourism Advisory Council

Second Thursday of the month, 9 AM
St. Mary's County Chamber of Commerce Office, California 

Need not be a chamber member to attend.  Tourism and hospitality stakeholders meet to discuss industry activities and issues.  Contact the Chamber Office for more information: 301-737-3001.

Leonardtown Business Association Meeting

Second Friday of the month, 8:30 AM
Various Leonardtown locations

Businesses, organizations and other corporate entities located in Leonardtown meet to discuss ways to promote the town.  For membership and meeting information, contact admin@thelba.org.

St. Mary's County Hotels Meeting

Third Thursday of the month, 1:30 PM
Location varies

St. Mary's County hotels meet with SMCT to discuss industry topics, programs and marketing initiatives.  Contact SMCT for meeting info and location at 301-475-4200 ext. 1404.  

 


   
Calendar of Special Events    

   

 

To view the calendar of special events in St. Mary's County visit www.visitstmarysmd.com.       

 

 


 

This is the official Industry Bulletin produced by St. Mary's County Tourism (SMCT), a division of the Department of Economic and Community Development.


News You Can Use 

TourismWeekIndustry Prepares for Tourism Week 

 National Tourism Week Logo

May 7-15 is National Travel and Tourism Week and SMCT along with the St. Mary's County Chamber of Commerce, will make a presentation at the May 10 Board of Commissioners meeting reporting on upcoming programs and the local impact of tourism in St. Mary's County.  Tourism and hospitality industry partners and stakeholders are invited to attend.  Call SMCT at 301-475-4200 x 1404 for more info. 



SoMDMeetingMaryland Office of Tourism Development Southern Maryland Meeting


The Maryland Office of Tourism (OTD) will discuss tourism's economic impact in Southern Maryland and throughout the state.  The presentation will include a recap of OTD's new marketing campaign.  This meeting will take place Wednesday, April 27 (see Industry Interest Events for details). 
 


ArtsCenterArts Center Opens in Leonardtown

 

Leonardtown Arts CenterThe new Leonardtown Arts Center opened on April 17 amidst Earth Day festivities.  The center is located just off the Town Square in the Court Square Building.  The second story of the existing building was recently converted into twelve studio spaces.  The studios are open to visitors who may interact with the artists and purchase artworks.  Additional space will be used for classes. 

 


SavorStMarysSavor St. Mary's Restaurant Week 2011

 

Savor St. Mary's RW Logo


 

St. Mary's second restaurant week will be held June 6-19.  The 2011 event planning team is headed by Rob Plant/Blue Wind Gourmet and Dana Spicuzza/D.B. McMillan's Pub and Grill.  Restaurants who participated in last year's campaign reported an 11 - 20% increase in customers during restaurant week. Restaurants wishing to participate this year should contact Rob at rob@bluewindgourmet.com or Dana at danaspicuzza@somdwireless.com.  For more information, visit www.savorstmarys.com  


 


SeventhDistrictThe Magnificent Seventh (District) 

 

SMCT and tourism industry partners in the county's 7th District are working on ways to market this unique area of the county which includes the site of the First Landing.  A roundtable discussion held in March will be followed by a familiarization tour for partners in May, and a July gathering at Morris Point Restaurant.  The marketing message crafted over the summer will see its first deployment at the Blessing of the Fleet in October.  7th District businesses that wish to participate in this effort should contact Rebecca Deprey at 301-475-4200 ext. 1404 or Rebecca.deprey@stmarysmd.com.       

 


YouTubeYouTube Submissions Requested

 

SMCT and local hotels continue their push to familiarize frontline staff with area offerings.  Attractions, restaurants, and all other tourism partners are invited to submit videos for posting on the Division's YouTube page.  Videos should showcase your property and provide basic information so that frontline staff may confidently "market" your property to guests.  For content, format and uploading requirements contact Rebecca Deprey at 301-475-4200 ext. 1404 or Rebecca.deprey@stmarysmd.com.

 


SotterleyAwardSotterley Awarded Prestigious Grant  

 

Historic Sotterley, Inc. received an FY2011 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.  Sotterley was one of only three organizations in Maryland to receive this prestigious federal grant.  Grant funds will be used to create a new scripted guided tour for Sotterley Plantation, an audio tour, a 10 minute video, and place streaming video on the website.  As of May 1st, Sotterley will be taking visitors through its Plantation House on the new guided tour.

 


StateParksState Parks Deliver 
 
 
The first Maryland State Parks economic impact and visitor study reports 2010 visitor spending at $567 million.  In Southern Maryland, $77 million was spent by parks visitors with $55 million spent within a 20 minute drive of the parks.  Average outside-of-park spending for the Southern Maryland region for day-use groups was $247 and day-use per person spending was $82.  The average for overnight groups was $323 and for persons staying overnight was $67.  The complete report is available at www.visitmaryland.org/AboutMDTourism
  

 


OysterFestNew Oyster Festival Lead

 

Beverly Brown has replaced retiring Oyster Festival Manager, David Taylor who held the position for the past 20 years.  Beverly is currently director of group sales at the Hilton Garden Inn Solomons and is the chair of the St. Mary's County Chamber of Commerce Tourism Advisory Council.  She is former tourism coordinator for the Division of Tourism.  Now in its 45th year, this major festival is produced by the Lexington Park Rotary and attracts 20,000 visitors.  Visit www.usoysterfest.com for oyster festival info.

 


SkipjackSkipjack St. Mary's Dee on Endangered List

 

Preservation Maryland named the Dee one of the 11 most endangered sites in Maryland.  The Dee is part of the Chesapeake Bay Field Lab on St. George Island.  Currently the Dee is undergoing restoration with grant assistance by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority.  Visit www.thebaylab.org to learn about the Dee.

 


NTPNewtowne Players to Represent Maryland

 

The Newtowne Players will represent Maryland at the Regional Community Theater Festival in Pennsylvania in April.  The theater group won first place for its performance of "woman: revised" and won the Award for Excellence in Directing at the Maryland Community Theater Festival held at the Three Notch Theater in Lexington Park in January.

 


IndustryPartnersIndustry Partners Market County and Region  

 

PBA2011

Industry partners attended the Pennsylvania Bus Association (PBA) Marketplace and Maryland Motorcoach Association (MMA) Marketplace in March to market the county and region to the group tour market.  Rebecca Deprey from SMCT attended PBA Marketplace to promote Destination Southern Maryland to over 20 bus companies located in Pennsylvania.  Shelley Peterson from the Sleep Inn & Suites and Robyn Rebarchick from Lenny's Restaurant attended MMA Marketplace to promote St. Mary's County to over 18 bus companies located in Maryland.  Each tour bus that spends one overnight brings $11,000 on average to the local economy. 

 


TACChamber Tourism Advisory Council Planning Session

 Chamber Tourism Advisory Council

TAC serves as an advisory group on travel and hospitality industry issues to the Chamber as well as to SMCT.  The group began a long range planning initiative with a strategic planning session at Island Bar & Grill on March 15.  The group will present its plans as part of the May 10 Tourism Week presentations before the County Commissioners.

 

 


SouthernLivingSharing our Secrets with Southern Living Magazine 

 Southern Living Photo Shoot at St Clements

 

Courtney's Restaurant in Ridge was featured in the March issue of Southern Living as one of five "Secret Southern Oyster Shacks."  A photo shoot with DNR staff and local kayakers took place recently in preparation for another feature.  Look for St. Clement's Island State Park in an article on "off the beaten path" state parks in the June issue.      

 

 


StateCalState Tourism Enhanced E-Calendar for Events 

 

The Maryland Office of Tourism recently launched an enhanced electronic calendar of events on the state's official website, www.VisitMaryland.org.  The calendar now accepts event postings directly from venues, event organizers and destinations through an on-line entry system at www.calendar.visitmaryland.org.  Event representatives can also purchase ads on the site as well as listing enhancements.  Contact steve.lassiter@mediatwo.com for more information.

 


TweetsMaryland Office of Tourism tweets deal
 

Maryland hotels, restaurants and attractions can send news about their specials or packages to the Maryland Office of Tourism for broadcast on Twitter. Messages must adhere to Twitter's standard for length: no more than 140 characters in total. A web address that offers more information should be a part of each message. Notice of "Tweetable" deals will go to the more than 2,000 followers of the tourism office's Twitter account, TravelMD. Send tweets for specials to Liz Fitzsimmons.

 


 

How to submit items

Provide us with news to share with industry partners in the SMCT Quarterly Industry Bulletin.  SMCT also accepts items for its monthly Tourism e-Newsletter distributed to the general visitor.  Submissions should be no more than 50 words and should contain a point of contact for more info.  Submit to Rebecca.Deprey@stmarysmd.com.

 

Contact SMCT Staff

Carolyn Laray, Tourism Manager

Carolyn.Laray@stmarysmd.com, 301-475-4200 ext. 1403

 St. Mary's County Seal - Gold

Rebecca Deprey, Tourism Coordinator

Rebecca.Deprey@stmarysmd.com, 301-475-4200 ext. 1404

 

This bulletin is produced by St. Mary's County Tourism, a Division of the Department of Economic and Community Development.  For more information about St Mary's County Government, log on to www.stmarysmd.com.