| | Canadian Marketing Plan gets boost from Regional Economic Development Grant |
 VBN, together with our counterparts at Niagara Tourism Convention Corp (NTCC) applied for, and were awarded a $195,000 REDC grant to support a $600,000 marketing campaign in Canada. The tourism promotion agencies will contribute $250,000 to the fund and will raise the additional $155,000 from its tourism partners who want to advertise in Canada. The campaign will seek to encourage Canadian shoppers to do more while visiting the region and also has a goal of incrementally increasing visitation. The typical Canadian shopper makes about three trips a year to WNY to shop. “The majority of day visitors plan their visit within a week or so. We believe if they have more information about all there is to do and see here in WNY they will visit more often,” said VBN President & CEO Dottie Gallagher-Cohen. Canadian shoppers spend about $930 million in WNY each year. |
| Buffalo wins 5 year contract for NYS bar exam, worth $29 million to WNY |
The NYS Board of Law Examiners conducts testing for candidates taking the NYS Bar Exam twice per year. Buffalo has been one of the sites for the past three years, and VBN and BNCC successfully won the bid to host both exams each year for five years through 2017.
The February exam is taken by up to 1,800 candidates and the July exam (the only location for candidates from out of state and out of the country) is taken by up to 3,000. Over five years, these ten exams equate to 48,300 hotel room nights with a total economic impact of $29,908,251 as calculated using Tourism Economics EI calculator. The exam is also given in New York City and Albany. Kudos to Paul Murphy and Melissa Burke at BNCC and Linda D’Agostino for putting together the winning bid. |
|  Local Patrick Gallo has guest appearance on Boardwalk Empire |
 Buffalo's Patrick Gallo (center) on the set of HBO's hit show Boardwalk Empire Patrick Gallo was born and raised in Buffalo. In the 1980s as one of the pioneering Buffalo Skateboarders in the Elmwood Village, Pat started to exercise his creativity through extreme sports before performing in his first musical at Lafayette High School. It was there that his fate in the arts was sealed before heading off to The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City at age 19 to start his career. More... |
| 3rd Annual Beacon Awards |
|  Visit Buffalo Niagara and its peers will honor businesses and individuals for their dedication to the tourism industry at the 3rd Annual Beacon Awards, early in May, 2013.
Eight awards will be given in the lodging and tourism categories. In addition, VBN and WGRZ-2 will recognize the second inductee into the Buffalo Ambassador Hall of Fame.
View the categories and submit a nomination here. For more information, contact Cindy Sterner-Kincaide.
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| Holiday season made brighter with a little Buffalove |
|  In addition to visitor information centers at both the historic Market Arcade building and at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, VBN expanded its presence in the retail world with the launch of a new online store, BuffaloNiagaraShop.com in November, in time for holiday shopping. Judging from activity to date, Buffalonians have a love for all things Buffalo . . . and the quirkier, the better! Top sellers through the end of the fourth quarter were chicken wing ornaments, beef on weck for dummies and Zubaz koozies. 100% of the net proceeds from sales of all merchandise at all three locations go back into marketing the region. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a sponge candy ornament! Visit us online at BuffaloNiagaraShop.com or stop by the Market Arcade (617 Main Street) Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00 or Saturdays 10:00-2:00. |
| 2013 Marketing & Sales Plan approved and in motion |
| Visit Buffalo Niagara's 2013 Marketing & Sales Plan has been approved by the Board of Directors and is in the process of being implemented by the team. Among the highlights of the plan is an enhanced emphasis on marketing to Canadian shoppers in order to increase the frequency of their visits to the region as well as how long they stay. VBN’s goal is to help neighbors to the north take advantage of everything Buffalo Niagara has to offer and in the process maximize the economic impact they have on the region. Take a look at the plan here. |
| Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra: All Roads Lead to Carnegie Hall |
|  You may have heard that the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra has been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall as a participant in the Spring for Music festival May 8. The goal is to have 1,500 people from Buffalo attend the concert in New York City – the orchestra’s 24th appearance at Carnegie Hall and its first since Music Director JoAnn Falletta led the orchestra in an appearance there in June of 2004.
"Buffalo and the whole Western New York region going with us to Carnegie and supporting us there, and being proud that we can be musical ambassadors for our city,” is the goal said Falletta in an interview with WBFO reporter Eileen Buckley. VBN is also hosting a series of media events surrounding the event. Said Ed Healy, Visit Buffalo Niagara’s Vice President of Marketing, “We are going to hitch our wagon to their star. We're going to get people that have Buffalo connections, Buffalo roots and the extended Buffalo nation that is out there in the world to really pay attention to what's going on back home to a certain degree."
Best seats and packages are available until February 1 at the BPO box office or online. |
