Nebraska Tourism Website Adds Quick, Helpful Link To California Tourism Site

Story by Carson Vaughan 

| Published Oct 14, 2008

Attempting to garner interest in their newly redesigned Web site, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development’s Division of Travel and Tourism added a link to the California Travel and Tourism Committee’s Web site early Monday morning.

“The Web site has seen more hits in the last 24 hours than it has in the past six months,” said Richard Baier, director of the Nebraska DED. “We’re truly becoming the gateway to the West, and that’s a very exciting prospect.”

The DED’s new Website, www.visitnebraska.org, launched in April 2008 as part of a complete overhaul of Nebraska’s tourism campaign. Despite a user-friendly interface and dozens of photographs touting Nebraska’s “endless possibilities,”—limited to the Sandhills, Chimney Rock and Carhenge—the Web site has seen relatively little traffic since its inception. After linking the Web site to www.visitcalifornia.com, however, visitnebraska.org readership spiked nearly 80 percent to more than 25 viewers per day.

“It really helps put things in perspective,” Baier said. “Nebraska has endless possibilities, including—but not limited to—the chance to drive right on through, and I think our link to California has really exposed that aspect to potential Nebraska visitors.”

The Web site’s newest feature far surpassed its original expectations, Baier said, but the CTTC reported inverse effects. According to Caroline Beteta, executive director of the CTTC, Oct. 13, 2008, ranks the day of lowest income in California’s daily tourism revenue.

“Essentially, the addition of the link is diminishing California’s tourism industry,” she said. “We made a mistake. When the Nebraska DED approached us about adding the link, we figured it couldn’t hurt. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. It seems that even associating ourselves with Nebraska tourism is soiling our image.”

Baier said the link would likely remain on the Nebraska DED Web site for the remainder of the month, the originally contracted run time, unless the CTTC pays a cancellation fee. The deal is not faring well for California, he said, but the Nebraska DED Web site is experiencing an unprecedented number of user hits.

“Unfortunately California isn’t experiencing the same effects we are,” Baier
said. “But Nebraska needs to do what is best for itself,
and at this point, the link is working wonders. People just can’t get enough of the sunny beaches and coastal cities we offer through our link to the CTTC.”

Landon Trembly, 34, of Columbia, Mo., is one of the many new visitors to the Nebraska DED Web site. A self-proclaimed “family traveler,” Trembly said he regularly searches for new tourist destinations for he and his family to explore. He had never read the visitnebraska.org Web site, however, until noticing a tagline for “California” in the Google results description.

“I really just stumbled
upon it,” he said. “My family has traveled all over the nation, but we’ve yet to hit California. The Nebraska Web site really helped steer me in the right direction.”

According to the Nebraska DED Web site, tourism is Nebraska’s third-largest earner of revenue after agriculture and manufacturing, generating over $3.3 billion in 2006. Nearly $3 billion, however, came from retired Nebraskans over the age of 65 traveling within the state. Baier said the original redevelopment of the Nebraska tourism campaign, and the Web site specifically, aimed to provoke interest from out-of state travelers.

“We are glad to provide early morning entertainment for our retired Nebraskans,” he said. “But this state needs to share its endless possibilities with the rest of the world. Nebraska’s interstates offer some of the best alternatives to exploring the state’s underrated scenery.”