Mesa Verde National Park is well known in some segments of the nation partly because the park uses electronic and print advertisements to entice people to visit.
Thelma Dena, director of sales and marketing for Mesa Verde National Park, said the print and electronic ads are sent across the nation and abroad, adding that they use different types of ads for different segments of the population.
The park uses electronic ads much more than print ads, and this gap is growing larger every year, Dena said.
She also said that the parks uses publications from organizations such as AAA and AARP, and uses electronic ads through Google, Yahoo, Expedia, Colorado.com and its own website at visitmesaverde.com.
The Four Corners area is where most of the national parks traffic comes from, but people from other states come to the park as well, Dena said.
Forty percent of Mesa Verdes visitors are from outside the United States, Dena said. The park has about 500,000 visitors annually.
Mesa Verde National Park is the end destination for many travelers, especially people traveling on a tour bus.
If you are just a family who is staying in a lodge you are probably at the end destination, she said. It depends on the type (of traveler). It depends on what the person is trying to accomplish.
Lynn Dyer, tourism director for Mesa Verde Country, said the agency markets all of the attractions in Montezuma County and the surrounding areas, which includes Mesa Verde National Park.
The goal is to encourage visitors to take advantage of other activities in the area as well as visiting the popular national park, Dyer said.
Mesa Verde Country sends out 150,000 visitor planners to various organizations in an attempt to let people know what is happening in Montezuma County, Dyer said.
We know people want to see Mesa Verde, but we want them to stay longer, Dyer said. Mesa Verde might be the first thing that they want to see, but we want them to stay.
Mckenzie Griffin, public relations coordinator for Riester Advertising, said it does market Mesa Verde by reaching out to local publications that visitors may pick up when visiting the area.
Griffin also said they try to use freelance writers that like to write about their past traveling experiences and tries to post these articles in travel publications, like Outside Go.
We use a lot of these publications, she said.
She said that Riester, which is based out of Phoenix, tries to market to people living in Arizona, New Mexico and other nearby states.
The vast majority of people living in the area already know about Mesa Verde, so advertising locally may not be the best investment, Griffin said.
Dena said a typical visitor to the park spends 1.5 to two days there. Those camping at Mesa Verde spend two to three days.
We can keep them busy inside the park for three days, she said.
Dena said 60 to 70 percent of the visitors to the park are 50 years of age or older, with the largest group of visitors coming from bus tours.
She also said families tend to come to the park during the summer months when children are not in school.
Mesa Verde is one of the best places to be totally inspired and to be educated too, she said. It is so interesting and fascinating. Its a fantastic place to visit.
Reach Michael Maresh at michaelm@cortezjournal.com
