>National Tourism Week >Media/PR

Communities across the United States recognize travel's economic, cultural and social benefits during National Tourism Week, May 10-18, 2008. This annual event is a good time to help Americans understand that through the life-long adventure of seeing America, they can enjoy our nation's cultural and natural resources—from monuments and buildings to landscapes and main streets.

Below are resources to help you involve the media in the events you have planned.

Media Relations Tips:

Sample news release can be customized for your use -- Fill in the blanks and insert local data to tailor for your local media market. The tie-in to national organizations such as the Travel Industry Association may enhance your credibility and newsworthiness. The news release contains current national travel statistics, furthering its news value.

Invite the media 3 to 5 days in advance -- Send your media alert and/or news release close to the event or the target date that you seek coverage. If you send it too early, it will be lost. For broadcast media, even a day or two in advance may be the best delivery time to gain coverage. Consider using a news release distribution service, which can ensure that your announcement reaches all local media at appropriate times. These announcements are usually included in the Associated Press "Daybook" that reporters in your area use to track upcoming events to cover. (The only exception to this rule is calendar and event listings in local magazines or newspapers—for those you will need a much longer lead time.)

Make your story easy to cover -- Provide a simple straightforward news release (one page is best) and/or media advisory (if the story is an event.) Do not add too many elements. It is easy to get carried away adding angles to your story, but stay focused on the core message you want to convey to the media.

Line up people to interview -- Of course you will have key executives and sponsors available to interview, but do some advance work and line up a few residents and/or visitors to be interviewed. When reporters arrive, they will want to quickly identify and interview attendees, and if you have a few nearby that you have prepped in advance, it will be easy to arrange and help reporters. You can also work with these attendees to remind them of a few key points they can make in their comments.

Deliver short sound bites in interviews -- Keep your answers brief and to the point to maximize the chances that your key messages will be reported in the final story. This is especially critical with TV and radio, where any comments will typically be edited to 10-seconds or less.

Have great visuals -- Pictures are truly worth a thousand words to TV media and to print photographers as well. Make sure your event is visually exciting, including signs and props that publicize the event names, such as National Tourism Week and your organization. Line up a photographer to shoot digital photos throughout the event that you can email to interested reporters immediately afterward. Many reporters operate on a deadline that may only allow an hour or two to produce photos, but with today's technology, it is easy to meet this need.

Send food to radio stations -- If you are promoting a restaurant, send food for the deejays or talk-show hosts during morning or afternoon drive time with a few key messages about your event.

Write an Op-Ed article or Letter to the Editor -- Most newspapers accept Op-Eds (Opposite Editorials) or letters to the editor that express personal viewpoints or remark on local issues. Find a news or issue angle for your activities and write a short (600–800 words) article. Follow the newspaper guidelines posted on the target media's Web site for submitted articles. Make sure it is bylined or signed by a ranking official from your organization. A sample op-ed article is in this Toolkit.

Host a forum to discuss issues -- You may not want your National Tourism Week event to include controversy, but if there is an important tourism-related issue in your community, this week can be an ideal time to focus attention on your issue position. Consider hosting a discussion forum and invite responsible spokespeople representing all sides of the issue.