Destination NEXT - Help shape the future of tourism in your region!

The Maine Office of Tourism is working with Destinations International and Maine’s eight regional marketing organizations to explore the strength of our tourism destinations and community engagement. MOT will receive a statewide report as the result of this work, and each region will receive an individualized report outlining strengths and areas of opportunity.

Please take the online survey to give us your input regarding tourism in your region, and also forward to your contacts in local government and community organizations.

VisitMaine.com Redesigned - We are pleased to introduce the new VisitMaine.com website launched last week! The re-designed site will help Maine compete in global markets by providing web content to pique the traveler’s interest and consideration of Maine, in a format that will translate more seamlessly to mobile platforms.

New Maritime Quarterly - The most recent Maine Thing Quarterly, “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” was published in October, integrating stories from the new Experience Maritime Maine podcast. We invite you to join us in featuring this exciting and informative content by sharing this media-rich experience on your website and social media channels. Use the Maritime Quarterly digital content kit that includes photography, social posts and a campaign badge.

@VisitMaine Instagram Takeover - Outdoor catalog retailer Huckberry did a take-over of the @VisitMaine Instagram page this past weekend to share images from their recent Fall 2017 catalog shoot in Maine. A Q&A about the shoot is featured as a Maine Thing Quarterly article on VisitMaine.com.

Tourism Marketing Grants - A reminder -the deadline to apply for a Fall 2017 Tourism Enterprise Marketing Grant or Special Event Marketing Grant is November 3rd. Online applications are now being accepted at www.motgrants.com. Grants are reviewed and awarded biannually, and range from $2,500-$10,000.

The Tourism Enterprise Marketing Grants program was established in 2014 to support the tourism-related projects of smaller organizations with funding that can help them grow or launch new initiatives. For more information see the MOT Marketing Grant Guidelines at http://visitmaine.com/mtmpp/

2018 Maine Motorcoach Network Profile Book - As the Maine Motorcoach Network and Maine Office of Tourism work to promote group travel to Maine each year, one of the major fulfillment pieces to complement trade show attendance, sales missions, and familiarization tours is the annual profile book.

2018 profile sheet and payment submissions are due prior to December 28, 2017.  Invoices will be e-mailed to you with payment instructions. Or, to re-use your 2017 profile sheet or to submit a new one please CLICK HERE. 

Group Sales initiatives that complement the Profile Book include: 

Ontario Motorcoach Association - 2017 Marketplace 

National Tour Association - Travel Exchange

American Bus Association - 2018 Marketplace 

2018 MMN Sales Mission 

Discover New England Launches Refreshed Branding Platform - Discover New England (DNE), the nonprofit cooperative destination marketing organization that promotes New England tourism internationally, has completed a comprehensive rebranding process positioning New England as a vibrant and relevant destination for today’s travelers. The new brand identity will be officially launched and on display starting with World Travel Market in London on Nov. 6, 2017.

As part of the refreshed brand identity, DNE is rolling out a new logo. The clean, modern logo captures the colors and diversity of New England's natural beauty.  All industry and consumer touchpoints are being updated, including social media platforms and DNE’s website, discovernewengland.org. The new brand identity style guide can be found here.

To learn more about how you can become involved with Discover New England, go to  http://www.discovernewengland.org/dne-valued-partner-programs. 

Foliage Reports - MOT has wrapped up 2017’s six-week fall foliage weekly reporting series in collaboration with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Enhancements to the program in 2017 included expanded social media and video posts on @MaineFoliage Facebook and Instagram pages to support the weekly press releases and updates to the foliage map at mainefoliage.com. Results include a Boston.com feature about leaf peeping in Maine.

Earned Media - Recent results of Maine’s PR program include: a Field & Stream story about Maine’s iconic sporting camps; a Luxury Travel Blog feature about 10 Astounding Road Trip Stops in Maine; a Yankee Magazine story about the Maine Beer Trail;  a Boston Globe story about the new Langlais Sculpture Preserve; a CNN.com story and video about taking a lobster cruise on Lucky Catch; a Two Drifters blog posting about Bar Harbor and Acadia; and social media influencer Travel the World blog,  Facebook, and Instagram postings about hiking the Pinnacle Pursuit trails near Moosehead Lake.