Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/79688
We have a story to tell that people around theworld admire us for,but its up to us to sell theAfrican-American experience, hence Stay-A-Day, SeeOURUSA. Stay-A-Day is designed to support and take advantage of Brand USA. The key objectives include; a revitalization of the overall travel industry, create jobs in the African-American community, stimulate the nation's economy and expose travel- ers worldwide to the enormous cultural impact that people of African descent have made in this country. Stay-A-Day will leverage the assets of the African- American community to the international markets. African- Americans have wonderful brand recognition in a variety of key markets worldwide, yet we do little as a community to leverage those assets. While I mentioned earlier in this article Stay-A-Day is a 36- month program in keeping with the Brand USA timeline, our ultimate goal is to build a platform sustainable for the long term that can take advantage of innovation to continually reach the international traveler. The Stay-A-Day platform includes a website that Meetings and Tourismis in the process of building. This comprehensive and fully-interactive site will be pro- duced in multiple languages incorpo- rating the cultural sensitivities of local destinations world- wide to encourage not only travel to the United States, but also support the African- American market- place, by bringing awareness of our products and services to the masses. The images will be distinctively African-American, yet, have mass-market appeal. It is no secret within the travel and tourism industry that international visitors love cultural expe- riences. Secundy, during his NABHOOD speech said, "research showed cultural tourism is very popular among peo- ple abroad." Donna Walker-Kuhne, president of Walker International Communications Group has as one of her clients the famed Apollo Theater. Walker-Kuhne says, "60 percent of visitors to the Apollo are international tourists." The Apollo already has an extensive international market- ing campaign says Walker-Kuhne, and sees Stay-A-Day as a great tool whose time is long overdue. The Apollo already markets in Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, and Brazil. All of these countries are currently being targeted by Brand USA, and in the case of Canada, the U.K. and Japan, those campaigns are well underway. Walker-Kuhne says, the Apollo is often the "anchor compo- nent" for visitors to Harlem and tourists use that experience to get a taste of everything in the community. The combination of international outreach and a close working relationship with New York City & Company enables Walker-Kuhne to maxi- mize exposure for the Apollo. Engaging the African-American church is vital to the suc- cess of Stay-A-Day. As Walker-Kuhne points out, having the church involved in promoting "tourism from the pulpit," is key not only to the domestic piece of Stay-A-Day, but internation- ally as well. Many churches have significant outreach globally and could play a key role in facilitating the success of Stay-A- Day. Another component of Stay-A-Day will be mobile applica- tions broken down by destination. By using a direct to con- sumer approach, we can use technology to reach markets that are difficult to differentiate using traditional platforms or Brand USA. It's a better tool for African-American brand awareness. Today, there are over 5 billion cell phones worldwide. Half are smart phones fully capable of taking advantage of mobile applications. It's a market that's growing 20 to 25 percent annually, not to mention the exponential growth of tablets. Stay-A-Day See OUR USA will incorporate Social Media into the platform. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and their corre- sponding brethren in foreign countries are ripe for exploitation with the Stay-A- Day program. Mobile applica- tions, the world- wide web and social media are the fastest way to reach international consumers. Several international desti- nations are more advanced than the United States in their use of technology. Many didn't grow up on television and traditional media platforms, meaning we have a better chance of reaching consumers with the income to travel through tech- nology. The Stay-A-Day platform, when fully developed will also seek out celebrity endorsers where appropriate to promote the African-American market through video presentations and other media. Stay-A-Day is not intended to be a program in lieu of Brand USA, but rather support Brand USA and the local destinations in their efforts to promote the United States and their local communities. Who benefits from Stay-A-Day? African-American restau- rants, cultural and heritage tourism sites, tour operators, travel agents, Black-owned hotels and Bread and Breakfast locations, African-American Chambers of Commerce and local busi- nesses, meeting planners, festivals and special events. But there's more. The increase in tax revenues could help replenish cash strapped state and local coffers, and of course jobs. This is an economic opportunity that all com- munities should embrace regardless of the type of organi- zation one might represent. It's a win-win not only for the Black Meetings & Tourism July/August 2012: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 29