Transcription of Lynn Tillotson for the show Old Port Winter Wellness #170
Lisa: Here on Love Maine Radio we really enjoy speaking with people who love Maine and Portland and actually all parts of Maine as much as we do. Today we have Lynn Tillotson of the The Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau with us and that’s why I specifically say Portland although I know Lynn you’re actually from Saco. You love all of Maine, you love Southern Maine, you love Portland, we’re so glad to have you.
Lynn: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Lisa: Lynn, what does The Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau do?
Lynn: We are a destination marketing organization. A lot of people if I say I’m with the Convention & Visitors Bureau they might look at me little blankly and say, “Oh, the Chamber of Commerce.” I’m like, “No, no, the Convention & Visitors Bureau.” The easy difference is that the Convention & Visitors Bureau stimulates the economy through tourism where the Chambers stimulates economy through business. We really focus on marketing the destination for tourist.
Lisa: You spent time in Orlando, fourteen years?
Lynn: Fourteen years.
Lisa: Fourteen years in Orlando. After growing up in Saco and you came back so you know what it’s like and you worked in Marriott. You know what it’s like to market a destination?
Lynn: I do. It’s interesting because I know what people outside of Maine think about Maine. It really helps us with that marketing effort. Most people say, “You’re from Maine,” they think of us way up in the corner. The next thing they say, “I always wanted to go there.” We’re definitely a bucket list destination and we play off of that. We’ve seen a number of changes in the last I don’t know, 10, 20 years that have significantly impacted Portland for the better. I mean, the cruise ships that we have that are docking are enormous and this is something that when you and I are growing up in Southern Maine we just weren’t seeing.
Lisa: No, not at all. Not at all.
Lynn: We started a cruise consortium several years ago about I’d say six or seven years ago. It’s a collaboration between us, the Chamber of Commerce, the City of Portland, Kennebunkport and Free Port so we all pull resources together to work on marketing the destination.
Lisa: What are some of the numbers that we’re seeing as a result of cruise ships and people putting Maine on their bucket list?
Lynn: When we started the cruise ship consortium we had 17 ships coming. Today we have 74 at the season and 82,000 passengers. I think it’s working.
Lisa: I would say so and it sounds like a great job to have to be able to market a place that you feel very passionately about and really let people know what’s going on here.
Lynn: Absolutely. Absolutely, it’s the best part of my job really. It’s to get out on the road in the winter time most of our staff is not in the office, we’re out of state marketing all over the United States, all over the world even. It’s the best part is to sell our state and talk about the amazing place that we all live in.
Lisa: What are some of the things that someone might come to Portland for?
Lynn: For Portland specifically it really is what we all know about, I mean the recognition of the food that we have here. It really is people all over the world are hearing about it. They want to come here, they want to try it, they hear great things about this little city but it’s the largest city in Maine. To see the culture that we have and just experience what we have right outside our doors.
Lisa: We have food and we also have the proximity to other places that you have mentioned like Kennebunk and Free Port. Do people explore when they come off the cruise ship do people take trips to some of these outlying destinations?
Lynn: They do, they do and it is one of the reasons why cruise ships come here. Many merchants might say, “They all leave and they don’t stay in Portland.” That’s actually not quite true. There are less than 20% of the ship that will go to an excursion but cruise executives need those excursions to help promote the destination. It’s financially viable for them as well. It’s a draw for a cruise ship to come here and be able to see this great city but also to be able to go to Kennebunkport which is there draws the home of the two presidents as well with the shopping in L.L. Bean. It offers a reason to come here but most of them really stay here.
Lisa: You also as part of The Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau, you also have events that you put on?
Lynn: We do.
Lisa: Tell me about this.
Lynn: There’s only one event that we put on actually other than of course our internal events like our annual meeting but the one event that we focus on is Harvest on the Harbor which takes place every year in late October. We started that event seven years ago because Portland as just getting on the map for the food season. Bon Appétit Magazine had just named us the foodiest small town in America.
There weren’t a whole lot of food events happening, there’s small ones here and there so we decided that we wanted to embrace the press that Portland was getting and what was happening that we saw we wanted to bring it to a different light and we specifically chose the fourth week in October because for us it’s about getting tourist here. Typically the tourist season ends after Columbus Day. We chose that fourth week to extend the tourism season. It’s successful, it’s very successful. Tourism businesses are now telling us that their season ends after harvest instead of after Columbus Day.
Lisa: What I like about Harvest on the Harbor is it’s location. I mean the food is great obviously, you have a number of wonderful chefs that you bring in but the location is amazing. Having been to food festivals, when you’re right there, you’re right on the water.
Lynn: It is a great location and we like that it benefits the city as well so even after people are enjoying their time at harvest they can just walk right into town and enjoy everything that’s happening here as well.
Lisa: For people who actually live in Portland and either they have come back as you and I have to live in Maine or they are choosing to move here from bigger cities like Boston, New York. What are some of your favorite things to tell people to do on their staycations?
Lynn: I think that first of all as a Convention & Visitors Bureau we often sell Maine first because they need to get the idea in about coming here. We sell Maine and talk about the amazing things that there are to do. Then we narrow it then down into the greater Portland area. It’s the cobblestone streets, the amazing boutiques, the wonderful restaurants. Every time they turn a corner they are going to have something that they could eat.
The galleries and the art that’s here is outstanding and on top of it, all of this amazing stuff is happening steps from a working waterfront and that the working waterfront truly is a draw. It’s that alluring kind of thing where they are going to see a fisherman right there, they are going to see a lobster man pulling up their traps. They love that idea.
Lisa: That’s actually a really good point, I think sometimes having been to a number of different cities it’s easy to get into a great restaurant but that’s the thing. You’re not right down the street from a tug boat. You’re not seeing what’s actually going on. It doesn’t feel as if you’re right in the middle of the action.
Lynn: It’s true, not too long ago a few years ago we rebranded the Convention & Visitors Bureau and we worked really hard trying to find the right tag line that embraces what this place is and we ended up coming up with authentic by nature. It really is authentic. There are very few places that you can go now that have the culture and the architecture and the working waterfront and not look like a cookie cutter district mall everywhere. Maine offers that.
Lisa: There’s also something about because you talk about branding Maine first and bringing people into Maine first. There’s something about driving over the bridge from New Hampshire. There’s something about just something that opens up in you. Space, the ability to breath, the ability to experience things that a busy brain doesn’t normally allow you to experience. It really is and if you come over the bridge and stop at the Kittery Information Center. I don’t know how many people, how many listeners have actually done this especially if you’re local you might not stop at the Kittery Information Center.
The next time you’re coming north stop at the Kittery Information Center and get out of your car and it smells like pine trees. It’s the most, I don’t know, it’s Maine. It’s just Maine. What I’m struck by is the fact that you grew up in Saco, you went to Thornton Academy, you left, you lived in Orlando and worked I Orlando. After 14 years you wanted a place to raise your children and you said, “I want it to be Maine.” There’s something that’s so special about Maine that you came back and now you’re living your life here.
Lynn: It really is and we look back and it was a big change to come back. It was a really big change. At first we’re like, “Oh my gosh, what have we do. It’s so much slower.” It took that time to adjust and I look back and wow just things happen for a reason and it is the best decision we ever made. They have the coast, living in Saco we’re minutes from the beach but to have the coast and to have everything that Maine offers and we hike constantly and the mountains, we’re a bit skier it just … We love to camp, the kids truly have an experience here that they never would have received living south.
Lisa: Also, it’s a full experience I mean people talk about how cold it gets but that’s the experience of being cold. That’s the experience of watching the leaves change and the experience of having to be hot and humid. Everything to watch the seasons change it mean something.
Lynn: We love it when it snows. Of course Maine tourism destination loves it when it snows. We’re a huge snowmobiling state. You have to embrace it, you have to love to ski and snow shoe and get out and make snowman and do everything that Maine offers and we promote that all the time.
Lisa: I’m not sure that everybody understands how important that is to have organizations like The Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau and like people who are out there branding Maine. Because it’s not really I mean sales are important, numbers are important as sustainable economy is important but it’s really more about the story telling and I think that to have somebody who can go out there and tell the story of the city of Portland or the story of the state of Maine I think that’s pretty critical to our long term livelihood and health and well-being as a state.
Lynn: It really is, I mean the state relies really heavily on tourism and yes the Convention & Visitors Bureau we have this saying that says, “We do what most people think just happens.” We really are out there all the time promoting the state, promoting Portland and it’s not just to individual visitors or cruise ships, we also market for the motor coaches that come in to the area for international travelers. For meetings, event and sporting events, for destination weddings, it’s a whole picture and so we’re constantly out there to all those different markets saying, “Come to Maine, come to Maine.”
Whenever there’s a motor coach that is dropping off 50 people and they are going to spend money in this town it’s been a direct impact of what we do. A lot of the tourism industry is it can be finicky if there’s so many destinations in the U.S. let alone the world that if you’re not there at a show promoting your destination it can be out of sight out of mind. It takes a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of effort but you have to do it. If we weren’t there I think it would make a considerable difference in the numbers that come in to the state.
As much as many of us will notice of the ticking traffic or the inconvenience of some of this good luck. I think it’s still really important to recognize that all of us benefit from the dollars that are being brought into the state. It’s really something that our state relies upon to a significant degree.
Lisa: We really do. I just had somebody bring something to my attention which I thought was a really good piece of information. They were like, everything that we have here in Portland, the amazing restaurants and the galleries and everything that’s happening, a little city of 65,000 people would not be able to support all of these restaurants and everything that’s happening. All the hotels without tourism. It really is critical to our area. Lynn, I know people are going to want to learn more about the work that you’re doing so how can people find out about The Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau?
Lynn: Our website is visitportland.com and I put a little disclaimer that we are working on a new website. That’s a non-stop job, isn’t it? It’s a great website, it has some great information but it’s circa 1990s navigation so we’re working on a brand new website which will be really robust and we’re really excited about that. That will probably come out in the spring of 2015. It’s a big project but certainly they can always contact me as well and I’d be happy to meet with people.
Lisa: Very good. I encourage people to do that. We’ve been speaking with Lynn Tillotson, the President of The Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau. Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm for Portland and the state of Maine with us at Love Maine Radio.
Lynn: Thank you.
Lisa: You’ve been listening to Love Maine Radio. Show number 170. Old Port Winter Wellness. Our guest have included Charlie Mitchell, Kara Wooldrik and Lynn Tillotson. For more information on our guest and extended interviews visit lovemaineradio.com or read about them in the winter issue of Old Port Magazine. Love Maine Radio is downloadable for free on iTunes. For a preview of each week show sign up for our e-news letter and like our Love Maine Radio Facebook page. Follow me on Twitter as Dr. Lisa and see my running travel, food and wellness photos as bountiful one on Instagram.
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