Thursday , August 14, 2008
South Texas Nature Tourism, a cooperative of Chambers of Commerce and Convention and Visitors’ Bureaus in the Valley, is looking overseas for more business. Concentrating on the UK and Germany, two countries known for their high number of birders, the organization is finding new, practically untapped markets for the Valley nature tourism product.
“We’ve been marketing ourselves as a region to the international birders for five years now,” said Nancy Millar, Vice President and Director of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce. “There are millions of birders outside of North America, and our coop is determined to get its share.”
The coop, consisting of the destination marketing organizations from McAllen, Mission, Edinburg, Pharr, Alamo, Hidalgo, Weslaco, Harlingen, South Padre Island and Brownsville along with the World Birding Center, have joined forces to promote the Valley as one destination.
“We know that when birders come to the Valley, they tend to bird it all, from the Island to Zapata,” said Millar. “It makes good sense to coop in this area. We all have the resources, and all reap the benefits. It makes sense that we all participate to bring the nature tourists here.”
And they do come. “We’ve seen a marked increase in the number of international birders, so we know our efforts are paying off.”
The organization attends the British Birding Fair each year, an event that draws 18,000 birders. In addition, the organization makes calls on media and tour operators, spreading the word about the Valley’s natural resources. And, once the journalists are sold, the group then hosts them while they visit, bird and write their stories. “We’ve been hosting domestic journalists,” Millar said. “And each year, the percentage of overseas journalists rises. We’re seeing good coverage, especially in England.” She added that the group is now looking to expand its reach to other countries as well.
Nature tourism brings in $125,000,000 a year and is responsible for retaining 2,500 jobs. “Our goal,” said Millar, “is to increase those numbers significantly.”