Star power and digital channels enable Visit California to go direct to consumer in high-potential, growing markets

Sacramento, California  -Visit California recently launched $1 million digital campaigns in both China and Mexico, leveraging the star power of in-country celebrities to advertise directly to consumers in these thriving markets for California tourism. Prior to these campaign activations, Visit California relied solely on travel trade and media relations to generate demand for the California experience in Mexico and China. Visit California now goes direct to consumers in a total of six markets world-wide, with Mexico and China joining a roster that previously only included English-language markets - U.S.A., Canada, U.K. and Australia - where Visit California's creative could run without translation.

“Diversifying our international investment is critical as the global travel landscape evolves,” said Visit California president and CEO Caroline Beteta. “Our new global approach yielded efficiencies that enabled us to create distinctly localized digital campaigns that can effectively reach the consumer in high-impact international markets.”

Preliminary 2012 arrival data* ranks China as the number one overseas market for California with 718,000 projected visitors  –  reflecting an astounding +39% growth over 2011, when China was ranked fourth. While total Mexican arrivals (6.9 million) put California's neighboring country in the top international arrivals spot, Visit California's marketing activity is targeted to the Mexican traveler arriving by air – accounting for 485,000 projected visitors in 2012.

June 1 marked the launch of a campaign to drive last minute summer bookings from Mexico. The six-week online blitz is the first phase of a larger $1-million campaign rolling out over the next year. Jacky Bracamontes, Visit California's official spokesperson in Mexico, features prominently in the digital ads that link consumers to special offers from select tour operators that specialize in California holidays.

In April, California Governor Jerry Brown and Visit California president and CEO Caroline Beteta together announced the appointment of the Golden State's first tourism ambassador from Mainland China, model-actress Miss Gao Yuanyuan, in conjunction with the launch of a social media campaign designed to build California's Weibo presence.

“Working with in-market celebrities who embody the California brand and can share their personal California dreams and experiences - in their native language - has proven to be a successful model for Visit California,” said Beteta. “Adding an online media buy layer to drive expanded targeted traffic to our custom web content featuring our tourism ambassadors will ultimately turn more viewers into visitors.”

Miss Gao, who has 20 million Weibo followers, is currently in California filming a video series that will be available online at gocalifornia.cn in coming months. The Jacky Bracamontes videos, blog and curated itineraries have been available on visitacalifornia.com.mx since August 2012.

Visit California (formerly known as the California Travel & Tourism Commission) is a non-profit organization with a mission to develop and maintain marketing programs - in partnership with the state's travel industry - that keep California top-of-mind as a premier travel destination. According to Visit California, travel and tourism expenditures total $106.4 billion annually in California, support jobs for 917,000 Californians and generate $6.6 billion in state and local tax revenues. For story ideas, media information, downloadable images and more, go to media.visitcalifornia.com.

*Source: U.S. Department of Commerce; CIC Research, Inc.; Stats Canada; Banco de Mexico; Visit California; Tourism Economics.