Wellness Whitepaper Becomes One DMO’s Most Popular Tool for Planners

April 23, 2019
By Kerrie Yancey

Here’s an interesting stat: Wellness tourism grew twice as fast as overall tourism in 2018*. That little fact helped light the bulb in creating one of our most popular resources for our friends at Visit Park City.

That, and Digital Edge is constantly thinking of ways to elevate the efforts of a DMO’s sales team. What can we take off their plates? How can we help them hone and sell the unique attributes of their destination? How can we help them build relationships with the right meeting planners? How can help them show success to their board?

We came from DMOs, so we get DMOs.

And in early 2019, Digital Edge wrote a wellness whitepaper for Visit Park City as a source and in-depth planning tool for planners looking to integrate wellness into their meetings and events.

“The whitepaper has been downloaded by planners around the country so many times, it has quickly become one of the most popular meeting planning tools the organization has ever issued.” – Visit Park City press release issued in April 2019

To date the Wellness Whitepaper has been downloaded numerous times and has resulted in four new meeting planner contacts and six online RFP’s. The landing page for the Wellness Whitepaper has been visited more than 200 times in less than six weeks.

When you have a client like Park City, UT, you jump on the chance to create an authoritative piece of content for them, especially when it relates to a leading industry initiative. Not every destination can transform attendees like this city.

“Our region is so robust with wellness opportunities. We have long advocated for incorporating these activities when meeting in our area because wellness is a part of our daily lives in Park City. So we were a little surprised by the overwhelming response to our whitepaper. Planners have just loved it and we are excited knowing that they will use our resource as a checklist, whether meeting here in Utah or around the country.” – Tonya Sweeten, VP of Meetings & Events for Visit Park City.

Today, attendees expect more – more consideration put into wellness and more thought beyond a few mindful F&B options. We understood this. We also knew that it’s not always easy for planners to merge this leading industry initiative into their programs, or find a destination that can truly support well-being pursuits. Sales and marketing teams at destination marketing organizations have a strong opportunity to help planners carry out these initiatives.

In the Incentive Research Foundation’s 2018 Trends Survey, 38% of respondents expected the inclusion of wellness and well-being components in their programs (the largest # of net increases reported by respondents in the survey). These were just a couple of the many stats that showed us how wellness integration for meetings and events has shifted from a trend to an outright expectation.

Park City holistically epitomizes wellness, from the food, eco-friendly lodging and well-being activities right down to the mountain-fresh air that flows throughout the resort community. It has even proposed one of North America’s most ambitious climate goals.

The destination seamlessly intertwines local, organic and delectable foods, outdoor activities, inventive meeting spaces, inspiring scenery and more to create a transformative experience for attendees – one that elevates imagination, engagement and sense of well-being.

Digital Edge is marketing this piece of content through an email marketing campaign, social media campaign, display advertising and promotion via the sales team’s email signature.