Issue link: http://visitithaca.uberflip.com/i/779667
"State parks, national forests, breathtaking gorges, over 150 water- falls… and acres of public land surrounding the town make it one of the Northeast's most extraordinary trail-running hubs. Ithaca boasts over 500 miles of well-mapped and maintained trails, many of which connect state parks and belong to the Finger Lakes Region." Trail Runner Magazine 5 Peggy Coleman VP Tourism & Public Relations The Only Thing that is Constant is Change - Heraclitus The words of this Greek philosopher perfectly reflect 2016 and the future of tourism economic development. Technology development combined with generational shifts in customer targets create the need for constant change. I think it's a change for the better. We embraced a new philosophy that we can better serve visitors by being present where they are by opening a third Visitor Center this June at the Overlook at Taughan- nock Falls State Park, one of the most visited attractions in the county. We also changed the Visitor Services Department to the Visitor Experience Department in the fall, to reflect the experience we are helping visitors create. We added a dedicated Site Supervisor for our downtown location and a Site Supervisor for our Taughannock and East Shore Drive locations. The Sales Department changed focus through increased outreach on campus and in the world. We engaged with 600+ admins and meeting planners with messaging at Admin Day events on both campuses for the first time. We hosted Chinese travel industry professionals as part of an I Love NY FAM Tour where Ithaca was the favorite des- tination visited. This led to partnering with I Love NY on a Sales Mission to China, where our messaging touched 300 travel industry professionals. The Marketing Department made numerous innovative changes with fantastic results. We relinquished our @VisitIthaca Instagram account to influential locals with results nearly quintupling our followers since launch. While we have experienced 13% growth in the Finger Lakes regional public relations program compared to 2015, adding a PR tool has allowed us to expand Tomp- kins County-specific media coverage at a much higher rate. Q4 alone resulted in 123 media placements with a total reach of 213.2 million. I'd call these changes for the better!