JUST IN TIME for the summer travel season, United Airlines' in-flight magazine, Hemispheres, has a printed a 24-page spread on the charms of Ventura. It's packed with outdoor adventure ideas, lures for the foodie set, an extended piece on our thriving arts community and lots of ads for local businesses.
There's a guide to the local economy, an ad for our high-tech business incubator and even a short story on our efforts to preserve open space.
We all knew we had a overlooked gem here and now the secret is definitely out. If I didn't already live here, this would surely convince me that Ventura is much more than a stopover between Mailbu and Santa Barbara.
It couldn't have come at a better time for the sluggish local economy, according to City Manager Rick Cole. "If there is a silver lining anywhere, it would be tourism. With the fall of the dollar and rise in airfares, we may get more local tourists from Los Angeles and the Central Valley. That's the best hope for our restaurant- and gift store-heavy Downtown."
As I wrote in a previous entry, one of the bright spots in the local economy is that our Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) collections are up. More and more tourists are coming here and staying in our hotels. And they're also visiting our local businesses.
"The process of getting the feature in Hemispheres began over a year ago when our PR rep met the publisher of the Insights section of the magazine while attending Pow Wow, an annual travel industry trade show," explained Jim Luttjohan, executive director of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau. "They told her they were about to do a piece on Santa Barbara, and she recommended they check out Ventura along the way. Last March we were contacted by the publisher asking us to help him on a site visit to town, and while here he fell for Ventura and decided to do the feature.
"After that we got together with city and Chamber folks to get the word out to each of our supporters, and viola! -- a 24-page spread on Ventura in United Airlines' in-flight magazine during one of the heaviest travel periods of the year," Luttjohan said.
He's obviously pleased with the spread and added that the advertising value of the free editorial content is over $800,000.
It's a good read for locals, too. If you're flying this summer, pick up a copy. It may help you rediscover your own town.
