The Lake Champlain Chamber is proud to promote members’ goods, services, attractions and properties to visitors to our region, in addition to promoting Burlington, the surrounding region, and Vermont in general as the best place to visit and vacation.
Vermont explodes in color under the canopies of its treasured maples every fall, leaving our members with more than optimal office views but an opportunity to strut their impressive services before a vast leaf-peeping clientele. In a season that favors weekends spent apple picking and indulging in pumpkin-spiced sweets, Vermont and its enriching agriculture and recreational industry pave the way for a successful tourism season.
Vermont welcomes nearly 13 million visitors each year. These visitors account for close to $2.5 billion in annual spending on lodging, food and drink, goods and services. Photo by Carolyn Bates.
In preparation for one of our busiest seasons, the LCRCC is enlisting new tactics to track member referrals and market our region. Through pilot programs at our Waterfront and Islands information centers during the summer, and at Williston-South during the Fall, we hope to implement a better system for tracking to whom and how frequently visitors are referred.
The LCRCC is also taking a greater initiative to market our tourism members through external and internal partnerships. Vermont.org blog features like our “LCRCC Weekend Roundup†and “We Live It, You’ll Love It†help paint the ideal Lake Champlain region itinerary, and through strong cross-promotion efforts, these features have received considerable traffic and rankings.  Establishing long-term goals to improve our site’s user-friendliness and SEO value fortifies the relationship between our members and those looking to explore the region–whether they be in- or out-of-state.
Visitors of Vermont spend $110.1 million on lodging in the Fall season – how ’bout them apples? Photo by George Robinson.
Travel writers like the Boston Herald are also finding their way to our region, providing any tourism-related members with an opportunity to advertise and have their business featured on this “Fall in Lake Champlain†two-page spread.  The feature will run on September 7th–as well as a  local Boston radio show segment highlighting the feature .
Courtesy of a partnership with the Vermont Department of Marketing and Tourism and the Hilton Burlington, we are doing another Vermont getaway contest for the Fall season. Targeting strong domestic and international markets, we are looking to attract a diverse visitor base, connect visitors to our local businesses and partners and create a memorable Vermont experience that will encourage them to return again.