On Thursday, December 4, President and CEO of the Sullivan County Visitor’s Association (SCVA) Michael Martelon presented three tiers of a potential budget for the SCVA to the Sullivan County Legislature, which is the body that holds his organization’s purse strings. 

He reminded legislators of this fact when he said: “I work for you.” His PowerPoint presentation laid out a justification for the SCVA budget and gave details about his data-driven innovations that he believes will bring Sullivan County into the new era by investing in marketing to raise awareness of our region’s tourist offerings and tap into untouched markets. 

Martelon’s proposal would increase investment into the Visitor’s Association from $3.1 million to $4.2 million, which he said would create the potential for increasing sales tax revenue by approximately $34 million.

“In the tourism industry, it boils down to reach and frequency; how wide are you going, and how many times are you touching the individuals. Because you need to touch them at least a dozen times before they take action,” said Martelon, who cited the relevance of the AIDA advertising model: Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. 

The $4.2 million budget that Martelon hopes to harness for the SCVA proposes to spend 52.4% on marketing, 6.5% on group sales and partnerships, 10.7% on research, analysis, and technology, 7.1% on community development, and 23.2% on administration and operations. 

Martelon then invited legislators to attend the SCVA’s annual meeting on December 18, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Bethel Woods, to see the new marketing campaign and branding for the SCVA. “I’m really excited for you guys to see what we’re doing,” he said. 

Martelon said that upon leaving the annual meeting, the new destination magazine will be available. “You’ll see the new creative, you’ll see the new logo, you’ll see some concepts for what would be a mobile visitor’s center, or multiple mobile visitor’s centers, so there’s a lot to see, I really hope that you come,” he said to the legislators. 

Legislature Chair Nadia Rajsz asked Martelon, “What are these mobile visitors centers going to do, are they going to travel?”

“They will,” Martelon answered resoundingly. “Because of how large we are, we’re a huge county.” Martelon testified that in the eight months he’s headed the SCVA in Liberty, he hasn’t seen people coming to their headquarters to connect. 

“We want to start to have a relationship with [visitors],” he said. “So if we have mobile visitor’s centers that are packed with satellite Wi-Fi, that can pull into Narrowsburg and be a photo op and an educational component. And if they want to get free Wi-Fi, they give us their email so that we can continue the conversation with them when they’re no longer here.”

“It’s an interesting concept,” said Rajsz. “And you’re right, not everybody’s going to land in Liberty… and the enticing thing is they are providing Wi-Fi in areas that don’t have that.”

Martelon pitched another idea: doing “pop-ups” for specific towns with the mobile visitor’s center. “Instead of waiting for the visitors to come to us in a brick and mortar, we’re going to go to them and hopefully have a deeper relationship with them,” said Martelon.