Necessity became the mother of invention this year for the R.I. Tourism Division when it faced the threatened extinction of something most Rhode Islanders take for granted – the official state map.
All state departments are scrambling to fill a projected $450 million budget hole for the next fiscal year. The R.I. Department of Transportation early on decided to slash the $53,100 expense of printing 265,000 maps that are distributed free of charge to hotels, universities and visitor centers throughout the state, as well as to prospective visitors.
R.I. Tourism historically has partnered with RIDOT to provide content and to distribute the maps. But it needed more to make the map a reality.
So the tourism division acted quickly to save the map by finding strategic, private-sector sponsors to cover the printing expense. In return, each sponsor will receive an ad on the back of the map, said David DePetrillo, the state’s director of tourism.
“With the map being something everybody wants, all the regional tourism organizations got behind it,” he said.
Sponsors such as the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau, Newport County Convention & Visitors Bureau, South County Tourism Council, East Bay Tourism Council, Block Island Tourism Council, Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, the Warwick Department of Tourism and the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority are funding the 2008/2009 map.
“We think it’s a good solution, especially in these times,” he said, adding that advertising on the map is a natural fit for the sponsors as well.
The state’s turnpike and bridge authority, for example, has a big interest in promoting travel over its bridges, DePetrillo said. What better way to do so than by funding a map?
RIDOT still will provide the transportation data, including a new bike trail guide. But instead of writing the information about destinations on the back, the tourism division plans to leave that work to representatives of the destinations (meaning the tourism councils and CVBs).
That opportunity is part of what made Myrna George, president of the South County Tourism Council, decide to sponsor the map. She plans to highlight South County’s 17 public golf courses.
“We are more than just 100 miles of beautiful beaches,” she said. “We promote this area as the golf course coast.”
DePetrillo said it felt natural to take over the project from RIDOT because the map is crucial to the tourism division’s mission of promoting the destinations, the restaurants and the hotels in the state.
And this isn’t the first time the division decided to leverage its resources with the private sector to produce something the public demands.
When the tourism division wanted to save money several years ago, DePetrillo and staff decided they could sell advertising to the private sector to fund their tourism guide.
This year, they knew they wanted to continue producing the map, even though more people are using the tourism division’s Web site.
“People still like to have the printed materials as well,” he said.
And it was easy to find advertisers for that publication as well because the travel guide goes out to a targeted audience.
“The advertisers know it’s a good way to get visibility,” he said. People who need a map “are likely to visit Rhode Island.”
The state’s tourism division also has had success on past projects partnering with other tourism groups, such as Discover New England, to help pay for advertising in magazines. Doing so saves money that can be used elsewhere.
“We have been taking this approach for a number of years … so we had some level of confidence,” he added. “It’s with that history, particularly during these times, we thought this would be a good way to approach this.”
When asked if this approach could be used in other departments of state government, particularly in the time of a severe budget crunch, DePetrillo said it could. He added, however, that departments that don’t typically work with the private sector might find it more difficult than others to raise funds. •
