Vail hosts travel writers, editors of the Travel Classics West Conference.

Starting Thursday, September 22, the city of Vail hosted 28.^Th Annual Travel Classics West Conference, featuring nearly 55 editors and writers from publications such as National Geographic Travel, Condé Nast Traveler and AFAR.

“The Vail Local Marketing District is mostly responsible for promoting the destination during the non-ski months – that’s their main focus – and so one of the reasons we’re hosting this group of writers now is so they can. Really see Vail in the fall, it’s an opportunity to grow and promote this time of year,” said the city’s marketing director. said Christine Yantis, PR owner for Mallen Yantis, who represents the district.

“Destinations all over the world are racing to host this event locally and we’re very lucky to have such an important group of travel writers here to inspire and hopefully write stories on the road.”

Throughout the week, the conference – which is being held at the Vail Grand Hyatt – will give attendees the opportunity to connect with each other and participate in closed sessions and talks, but also engage with the destination itself.

Vail has been a sponsor of three previous Travel Classics conferences, giving them access to the city and an opportunity to meet with former travel writers. However, the goal was always to host the event in Vail, Yantis said.

“This conference moves around the world and it’s a real honor to be able to host this conference in any destination,” Yantis said. “We started participating in this conference three years ago and we know the quality of media and editors that attend this conference, so ultimately, we knew we wanted to bring this conference to Vail to showcase what the destination is all about. This very important group of editors and travel writers.”

Past destinations for the event include Whistler, British Columbia, Scottsdale, Arizona and Lausanne, Switzerland.

During the three-day conference, Vail worked to provide writers with opportunities to “experience what it means to visit Vail and the Vail experience.”

This Friday evening will host a Four Seasons Dinner – with a presentation by Mayor Kim Langmaid – as well as a historic tour of Vail Village led by the Colorado Snow Sports Museum.

We have various partners who have created activities around the village to tell the story of Veil. I think one of the biggest questions we always get, one of the most popular questions: ‘Why is Vill a Bavarian village?’ That’s what it says.” Yantis said. “So, we want them to experience the village, have a chance to walk around the village and hear the real history of this area from the volunteers at the Snow Sports Museum.”

In addition, members of the Colorado Tourism Bureau will host the group Saturday night at 4 Eagle Ranch. And while attendees had limited opportunities to experience Vail on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, many conference attendees also arrived early or planned to stay to participate in other experiences and excursions in the valley.

Activities and opportunities offered to attendees include a llama lunch walk with Paragon Guides, dinner at Vail Village restaurants, a photo tour of the mountains surrounding Vail, a Sunday farmer’s market, a Saturday outing for the weather, mountain bike rentals, guided hikes and more.

“We’ve given you a wide range of options to give you an idea of ​​the amazing things you can do while visiting Vail,” Yantis said.

“We want to highlight the unique aspects of the Vail experience that you want to go back and write stories about.”

While the event is hosted by the city of Vail and the surrounding shopping district, Yantis said it’s truly a “community effort” to bring these Vail experiences to audiences.

“We’ve brought in a lot of different partners to do this. We have different hotels and restaurants that are part of the pre- and post-tours,” she said. “Our lodging communities, our restaurant communities have really supported this community effort, understanding what an important group this is.”

And hopefully, the conference will help the city “in the weeks and months down the road when the stories start to emerge,” Yantis said.

“The overall benefit in the long run is a lot of positive publicity about the destination, which in turn motivates people to travel here while researching the possibilities and different destinations they can visit,” she added.

Vail Marketing looks ahead

This conference represents one of the city’s public relations efforts to promote Vail as a destination, with general operations, programs and activities led by the local shopping district. On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the Vail City Council met as the Marketing District Board to approve the district’s 2023 business plan..

Going into 2023, the shopping district will try to continue to increase visits from “target guests” — defined as “high net worth” individuals between the ages of 45 and 64, with older children and active individuals. Demand for luxury and cultural arts and events. It seeks to optimize its content and improve the quality of its information to “enhance guest engagement and loyalty.” Embrace the concept of destination stewardship to protect Vail’s natural assets while enhancing the guest experience; And that sets Vail apart from other mountain resort communities.

The district’s 2023 budget, which will be approved in December 2022 as part of the city’s annual budget process, is projected to be around $4.7 million, a decrease of $155,964 in 2022.

To achieve these goals, the marketing district intends to continue the marketing campaign “Life is a dream” that started in 2022. The campaign is designed to encourage guests and visitors to achieve their dreams in Vail. This message can be integrated into the destination management plan once it is finalized according to the presentation on the campaign on September 20.

“I think Vail being a global leader in destination stewardship and trying to understand exactly what that means and trying to put the system in place is not an easy task for the communications team. It’s really challenging and people around the world are trying to figure that out,” Langmaid said.

“I encourage us to think about the circular economy when it comes to marketing, because we’re spending all this money to get people here, so how do we put it to good use in terms of destination coordination and maintaining the quality of the experience and the quality of the trails. And the wildlife — all the things that make Vail unique and special. It’s just an important thing to think about.” It is,” she added.