What is Literary Tourism?

Visiting destinations that feature in works of fiction,

Visiting destinations linked to famous authors – their childhood homes, museums, graveyards, etc.

Visiting rare book libraries, used/antiquarian bookstores; attending writers festivals, writing and book arts workshops

Visiting destinations that are steeped in literary history

Why Literary Tourism?

Affluent travelers are seeking personal, authentic vacation activities and experiences

Cultural tourism represents one of the fastest growing sectors in travel

Niche markets are growing in importance to tourism marketers – mass selling is becoming less effective (and more expensive)

Book lovers are typically, passionate, well educated frequent travelers

Who Is The Literary Tourist?

Nigel Beale

– writer, broadcaster, bibliophile, owner & publisher of literarytourist.com- passionate about visiting rare book libraries, hunting through used/antiquarian bookstores, attending author readings and writers festivals and generally enjoying the literary things in life- has developed a database of 10,000+ bookstores, literary landmarks, book fairs, writers festivals and more

Who Is The Literary Tourist?

- LiteraryTourist.com generates over 10,000 unique visits per month and is only 10 months old- now working with destinations around the world helping them to identify and promote their literary assets

Become a Literary Destination

The Literary Tourist Destination Marketing Program:- innovative new turnkey program for DMOs- established four step process - provides new destination content, promotional opportunities, and potential new markets- developed by Nigel Beale, The Literary Tourist and Cathy Kirkpatrick, Tourism Marketing Specialist

Become a Literary Destination

Step One – Audit & Ranking

- literary audit of your destination – personal visit from Nigel- self-guided and planned in advance, little to no coordination required from the DMO- reveals key literary assets, attractions, activities and events- provides your destination with a Literary Tourist City Ranking

Become a Literary Destination

Step Two – Visitors Guide & Marketing Tools:

- development of Literary Visitors Guide as pdf file to post on your site, provide as download; includes:

- photographs of visited destinations- “must-see” assets as determined by The Literary Tourist- preparation of multi-media tool kit for promoting your destination as a Literary destination

Become a Literary Destination

Step Two – Visitors Guide & Marketing Tools

- destination page on literarytourist.com reaching those passionate about literature and travel. Includes mobile app- series of short feature articles written by The Literary Tourist for repurposing in media, blogs & social media (FB, Twitter, You Tube, Trip Advisor)- video(s) and podcast(s) of interviews with key literary people in your city – to be used on your site, You Tube and literarytourist.com- interactive map of literary highlights in your city – to be mobile friendly in 2012

Become a Literary Destination

Step Three – Sales, Marketing & Communications- the Literary Tourist audit identifies location-specific areas of literary interest and expertise for use in generating tourism business- includes a list of organizations, groups and consumer audiences that can be targeted with the marketing tools developed by Literary Tourist; audiences include:

- meeting planners- group resellers, tour operators- niche consumer audiences- media – journalists/bloggers- member and partner organizations

Become a Literary Destination

The Literary Tourist Investment

Become a Literary Destination

Step Four – Literary Tourism Marketing Consulting Services (optional)- opportunity to work with The Literary Tourist team of Nigel Beale and Cathy Kirkpatrick in further development of marketing strategies and concepts for your destination

Case Study: Rochester, NY

What the Literary Audit Revealed

Rochester achieved a Literary Tourist City rating of 93

Rochester has a strong contingent of rare book libraries, that house impressive collections dealing with;

- Graphic Design- Typography- Book Binding- 20th Century American Poetry- Photography- The History of Gaming

Case Study: Rochester, NY

Case Study: Rochester, NY

Case Study: Rochester, NY

Case Study: Rochester, NY

Potential Convention Clients (sectors)

- Book Producer & Seller Associations- Publishers- Game Developers & Companies- Graphic Design & Typography Associations- Photographic Industry Associations

Case Study: Rochester, NY

Potential Niche Consumer Markets

- Gamers- Graphic Designers- Photographers- associations & clubs within key proximity markets

Potential Media Outlets- list of relevant media and online publishers related to these areas provided

Case Study: Rochester, NY

Potential Next Steps

- add literary assets to “Distinctly Rochester” section of visitors guide- add literary as a category of experiences in existing database - promote literary tourist link on visitrochester.com- populate Rochester Tourism social sites with literary content- develop literary packages with overnight stay – engage literary partners to become active in tourism promotion- build a pr and social campaign around Rochester’s Literary Ranking- feature The Literary Tourist as a guest speaker to your next conference or partner meeting

Thank You!