Discover New England 2024 Summit in NH

DNE 2024 summit is scheduled to take place 9-11 April at the Omni Mt. Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, NH.

Supplier registration will open at noon tomorrow 1 November 2023.

Early Bird registration closes 15 December.

Early Bird pricing:

• International tour operators: invitation only
• Domestic Receptive/OTA as buyer: $395
• Supplier single registration table: $1295
• Supplier double registration table share: $1550
• Attendee (no appointments): $495
• Exhibition booth 10x6 with basic furniture: $1250

Online registration closes 7 February 2024.

Hotel room block opens 1 November 2023, closes 18 March 2024. Supplier rate is $270/night. Additional discount available for Receptives/OTAs, inquire.

Event schedule in a nutshell:

Sunday 7 April: International buyers arrive at Boston Logan

Monday 8 April: International buyers hosted by Meet Boston.

Tuesday 9 April:

• International buyers depart Boston for NH tour en route to event venue
• Supplier registration at Omni Mt. Washington Resort
• Supplier education seminars
• International buyers arrive at Omni Mt. Washington Resort
• Evening supplier reception
• Evening buyer reception at Cog Railway

Wednesday 10 April:

• Breakfast
• Luncheon
• Marketplace appointments
• NH Division of Travel & Tourism Development dinner

Thursday 11 April:

• Breakfast
• Marketplace appointments
• Lunch
• Buyers depart for FAMs

Thursday 11 April - Monday 15 April: Buyer FAMs in northern New England

• Vermont and New Hampshire
• Maine and New Hampshire

For more information, email events@discovernewengland.org .

Rebrand features beauty and proximity of the region

"Within Thriving Distance" rebrand of the Monadnock Region begun by the Greater Keene and Peterborough Chamber in October 2020 continues ongoing.

Their website MonadnockNH.com now has an interim home page featuring the rebrand, which is being paid for with $300,000 in CARES Act grant funds from the US DOC Economic Development Administration.

Primary target of the rebrand and associated campaign is New England travelers aged 28-45 seeking a family-friendly destination.

The rebrand and website are expected to be completed in early 2023, in time to be getting business for next summer.

Proposed train service would face competiton from airlines

Fondation Trains de Nuit, a Montreal-based Canadian "personne morale sans but lucratif" (non-profit corporation) has proposed a scheme to organize operation of overnight passenger trains between Boston and Montreal.

Latest proposed route from Boston to Montreal would be 14 hours long and pass through:

• Durham, New Hampshire
• Old Orchard Beach, Portland, Auburn and Bethel, Maine
• Then back into New Hampshire, through Gorham and Berlin
• Island Pond, Vermont
• Coticook, Sherbrooke, Bromont, Saint-Jean-sur-Riehelieu, and Canadiac, Quebec

Organizers have commissioned market research which they say shows that about 4000 people travel daily between Boston and Montreal, and that 1000 of them would opt for train service if available; also that the service would be profitable with 200 or more passengers per day.

Obstacles include:

• Canadian track on the proposed route requires $100M+ worth of work to be made usable.
• Much of the US track on the route is limited in speed to 35 mph.
• A private operator and rolling stock will have to be found.
• Owners of the track - Saint Lawrence and Atlantic Railway, and others - will have to buy in and be paid.
• Recruitment, labor-relations and pay issues with train crews will have to be resolved.
• Border crossing will involve customs control on both sides of the border.

Montreal-Boston passenger train last ran five decades ago. Restart is expected to take at least 2 years.

Google just quoted me an airfare for a one-way non-stop 1 hour 25 minute flight of $209. Would a 14-hour train trip be able to compete with that price today?

I'm skeptical. But stay tuned for possible updates.

The NH Department of Business and Economic Affairs has issued on behalf of the Division of Travel and Tourism Development an RFP seeking a contractor to create a Five-Year Tourism Development Strategy and Implementation Plan for the state.

Paraphrased from the RFP:

The Strategy will...

• recognize the changing character of tourism
• represent a modern approach and vision
• be associated with broader economic development goals
• recognize the fragility of the state's natural resources
• advance growth
• assess tourism assets and audiences
• examine current state of tourism
• identify emerging challenges and opportunities
• create a new set of goals and measurements that quantify "tourism's benefits beyond traditional measures"

Full RFP DBEA 2022-19 is here.

Schedule:

• Proposals due 5 PM 27 July 2022
• Oral presentations - to be determined
• Selection and start of negotiations 9 August 2022 (Est.)

Scope of work (short version):

• Assess current state of NH tourism
• Evaluate 7 existing tourism regions via regional gatherings
• Engage stakeholders in visioning discussions
• Analyze/evaluate NH tourism assets vs. competitors and identify gaps
• Analyze current visitation, recommend ways to increase
• Evaluate usefulness and impact of current State programs
• Develop new strategic initiatives
• Show how tourism can drive broad economic benefit through job growth, tax revenue, etc.
• Develop success metrics
• Develop 5-year Strategy and Implementation Plan incorporating all of the foregoing
• Provide final report by late 2022 or early 2023

Send proposals electronically to Brittany Littlefield at brittany.l.littlerfield@livefree.nh.gov covered by email with subject line "New Hampshire Tourism Development Strategy".

Communication between bidders and NH agency employees is forbidden unless specifically approved.

Proposals must be valid for 180 days following due date or until effective date of contract, whichever is later.

Proposal scoring on 100-point scale:

• Experience and qualifications of staff and subs (30)
• Strategy, approach, methodology (30)
• Creativity/innovation (20)
• Budget/cost effectiveness (20)

Some bidders may be invited to give oral interviews.

FYI, State agencies have declined to answer a question from a potential bidder as to the budget for this project.

See the full RFP document (linked to above) for much fine print.

Portsmouth, NH-based New England regional DMO Discover New England has announced in a media release the selection of Michele Cota as Executive Director.

Most recently Ms. Cota has overseen business, economic development, workforce and broadband policy in the NH office of Senator Jean Shaheen.

Previously she spent 13 years with the NH Division of Travel & Tourism, where among other positions she served as Trade Relations Manager, responsible for international strategy and partnership.

Ms. Cota has a BS in Marketing from Southern New Hampshire University and an MBA from Plymouth State University.

Discover New England is a nonprofit cooperative destination marketing organization that promotes New England tourism internationally in partnership with the state tourism offices of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.