Open Search

eTraveler: June 15, 2022

June 15, 2022

The E-Traveler is our bi-weekly industry communication email. Sign up to receive them.

New Travel Iowa Website

Traveliowa.com is receiving a refresh and will include a few updates we want to pass along.

  • Accounts will be tied to companies and you can have multiple people under each company with their own login.
  • In your company account, you will be able to manage users tied to your company, maintain your physical, shipping, and billing addresses and update and create your listings and events.
  • You will now place orders for tourism materials through your traveliowa.com account rather than the Simpleview Extranet.
  • City pages will need to be updated through the Iowa Tourism Office.

With the update we are also asking that all events and listings are added by June 24. The ability to create an account, add events or create/edit listings will be removed until the new website is live. We will share more updates during the July 21 bi-monthly webinar.

Soul of Iowa Campaign

Why has Soul of Iowa been successful in breaking through the Midwest travel sea of sameness? Short answer: Drone video. These aren’t necessarily new stories we’re telling. But the way we’re telling them is not only new to Iowa, but to the travel industry as a whole.

Here are just a few results through May!

  • Travel guide downloads increased by 23% YOY from April 20-May 17 (Soul campaign launched April 20)
  • Soul campaign visitors spent 300% more time on site than on traveliowa.com (40,000 total sessions)
  • Paid social has driven 58,000 video completions so far (enough viewers to fill Jack Trice Stadium)
  • Campaign videos were top-performing organic content of FY22 (Okoboji drone flythrough was most popular)

We encourage you to share this experience with your travel audience through our partner toolkit which includes the following:

  • Graphics and photos for social and other marketing channels
  • Links to individual videos and a YouTube playlist
  • Travel Iowa's organic social posting schedule
Download Toolkit

Travel Iowa Wants to Feature Your Content

Your business is part of what makes Iowa so great, and we want to feature you more often on our own social and digital channels!

We use a tool called CrowdRiff to manage our image library, secure permissions to content, and display these images in interactive image Galleries on our site. There are a few simple steps you can take if you are interested in being featured more prominently in our marketing efforts:

  • When posting on social, tag your images with #ThisIsIowa so we can find them easily.
  • Connect with our CrowdRiff using this link to help us find even more great content related to your business.
  • Let jessica.oriley@iowaeda.com know that you are comfortable with us re-sharing any of your social media content on our channels (with credit to you, of course!).

That’s all there is to it! Thanks for your partnership.

Partner Highlight: Iowa City directs $250,000 in pandemic relief dollars to boost tourism

Iowa City is investing $250,000 in pandemic relief funds to spur tourism and economic activity in the city. Think Iowa City will be utilizing a portion of the funds to create a grant program to help fund conferences, tournaments and special events. Think Iowa City's President, Josh Schamberger, has been working with the city for the past 9 months to help drive this initiative. If you'd like to learn more about how Think Iowa City worked on this program you can email josh@thinkiowacity.com.

Learn More

Regional Sports Authority District (RSAD) Program Open

RSAD grants promote tourism in Iowa by funding projects that relate to the active promotion of nonprofessional sporting events in the state. Convention and Visitors Bureaus are the only eligible applicants. RSAD awards are $50,000 and require a 50 percent cash match.

Applications due July 13, 2022 by 4:00 p.m. CT.

Contact Katie Kenne (katie.kenne@iowaeda.com) with questions.

Learn More

USDA and EDA Launch Resource Guide to Boost Development in Rural Communities

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development have released a joint resource guide to help community organizations access USDA and EDA resources to build strategies to boost economic development in rural America.

View The Joint Resource Guide

Iowa in the News

Here are some exciting media highlights featuring Iowa.

2022 Iowa Downtown Conference

The 2022 Iowa Downtown Conference is the premier statewide annual conference for professionals and volunteers involved in preservation-based downtown revitalization in Iowa and neighboring states. The conference will be held in Pella on August 2-3.

Learn More

Upcoming Meetings/Events

  • July 6, 2022 - EITA Annual Meeting
  • July 21, 2022 - Iowa Tourism Office Update (webinar)

Check out the calendar of events for more details and upcoming industry meetings.

Calendar of Events

Return To All E-Travelers

;