June 1, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Caryn Gresham
304-558-2288, ext. 347
cgresham@callwva.com
SOUTH CHARLESTON - Miles Media Group Inc., a company with more than 50 years of tourism industry publishing experience, has been chosen to produce the West Virginia Division of Tourism's official state travel guide.
Miles Media Group also publishes similar guides for Florida and Tennessee. The state Department of Administration's Purchasing Division in late May awarded the new contract through its Request for Proposal system. Miles Media Group is based in Sarasota, Fla., but will operate an office in Charleston to handle day-to-day operations of this project.
Four publishing companies submitted bids to produce the 2005 guide. Independence Publishing of Havertown, Pa., produced the guide from 2001 through 2004.
Roger Miles, president of Miles Media Group, said his company is excited about working with the Division of Tourism on the 2005 travel guide. "We will collaborate with the tourism staff to create a beautiful, useful publication that we believe will deliver more visitors to the state by showing them West Virginia's unique vacation opportunities."
As the state's primary vacation planning publication, the guide fulfills requests for West Virginia travel information from callers, web site and welcome center visitors. The tourism office distributed a record 450,000 of the free guides last year, said Betty Carver, state tourism commissioner.
"The travel guide is an indispensable marketing tool for the tourism industry and we are proud it is ad-supported and published at no cost to the state," she said. "Under our contract, the publisher sells ads to our tourism industry while we work with the publisher to ensure the guide promotes West Virginia in the best way possible."
A survey of those who received last year's guide found that 92 percent rated the guide as "good" or "excellent" while 68 percent of those who received it visited the state within one year. In addition, 68 percent said the publication is what most influenced their decision to travel to West Virginia.
"All of the Division of Tourism's advertising efforts encourage potential visitors to request our travel guide, and we count on that publication to 'seal the deal' and help them plan their trip," said Advertising Manager Steven Keith. "We're thrilled the book is doing its job."
New features, new travel region debut in 2005 guide
Among the features that will be added to the 2005 guide are increased listings, an expanded calendar of events, more photography, a pullout map and additional "sidebar" stories. The 2005 guide also will introduce a new state travel region, the Coal Heritage Trails, which encompasses Logan, Wayne, Boone, Lincoln and Mingo counties.
The new travel region joins eight others established in the mid-1990s. At that time, the counties in the new region were included in the Metro Valley.
"These southern counties are really building their tourism products with the new conference center at Chief Logan State Park, the phenomenal growth of the Hatfield-McCoy Trails and the ease of access with Corridor G," Carver said. "The time has come to promote the area's heritage and tourism potential because it can truly stand alone."
Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, who represents much of the area in the new region, said the growth of travel and tourism in the Coal Heritage Trail region, is the result of public and private investments. "We have a rich and diverse historic culture that's been opened up to the rest of the world with modern highways and a growing tourist support system," Tomblin said. "Being included in a professionally produced travel guide will be an added opportunity to help tell the region's story and ultimately direct people looking for vacation treasures to these beautiful West Virginia hills."
Cecil Hatfield, executive director for the Tug Valley Chamber of Commerce, is excited about the prospects of promoting the new travel region. "This new region gives us more of an identity and the people in our area are elated," he said. "We look forward to promoting the special attractions in the Coal Heritage Trails region and sharing the news about our growing tourism industry with travelers."
Those who want a free 2004 travel guide may call 1-800-CALL WVA, visit www.callwva.com or send an e-mail to info@callwva.com. Those interested in advertising in West Virginia's Official 2005 State Travel Guide may contact Paul Winkle at Miles Media Group at 1-800-683-0010, ext. 2325.
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West Virginia Division of Tourism • 90 MacCorkle Ave., SW • South Charleston, WV 25303
304-558-2200
or 1-800-CALL-WVA • FAX: 304-558-2459 • www.callwvanews.com