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LCAT Hires Tourism Marketing Consultant
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LCAT Hires Tourism Marketing Consultant
By Dave Maxwell
Staff Writer
 During the regular meeting of the Lincoln Communities Action Team (LCAT) June 25, Holly Gatske announced the non-profit organization has received $50,000 from the Lincoln County room tax board and have hired a tourism marketing consultant.
LCAT hired Dorothy Maitland of Maitland & Associates of Bigfork, Montana. Holly said the room tax board approved the funding for the project during their June 24 meeting.
A short biography of Dorothy Maitland on her website states:
Dorothy H. Maitland, CTP, president of Maitland & Associates Inc. d.b.a. Tours By Maitland, Maitland Meeting Management, and Maitland Consulting, in Bigfork, Montana, was elected to President of the National Tour Association (NTA) in 1993. During her years with NTA she has served as Chair of the International Committee, Education Committee and Membership Committee. Maitland was instrumental in creating the Automation Task Force Committee and served as its chair. In 1985 she was named, “Tour Operator of the year by NTA.
In addition to NTA, Maitland has served on various National and International committees. She was chair of the Product Development Committee for the first White House Conference on Tour and Travel. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown appointed her to the United States Tour and Travel Advisory Board. Maitland served on the National Board of Directors of the United States Chamber of Commerce.
In 1990, Maitland received the NOAH Award, which honors outstanding international leaders. In 1997 she was honored with the FREEDOM OF TRAVEL award for her outstanding dedication to travelers with disabilities. Maitland has served on the President’s Advisory Board for Montana State University. She received the “Outstanding Alumnus” award from her alma mater, Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA. Maitland currently serves as National Chairman of the Tony Orlando Yellow Ribbon Scholarship. She also served on the Board of Trustees of the National Tourism Foundation.
Maitland lives in Bigfork, Montana with her husband Jim. She has 3 grown sons.
Gatzke said Maitland & Associates are ready to start a nine-month, three-part project to study and market tourism in Lincoln County. Part A is the feasibility study “to discover items needed for creation of travel packages such as motels in the area, access to motor coach services, size of restaurants, parking, attractions, museums, recreation opportunities, and hands-on experiences that can be shared with guests.”
The Maitlands plan to spend several weeks in each of the five communities in Lincoln County to get to know who and what is there, and work with the Chamber of Commerce, tourism, businesses, government officials, economic developments, schools, service organizations, etc. A database will be compiled from the studies that will also include research and findings already in place.
Part B calls for building a foundation through education. Sample packages for tours in the county will be prepared for what can be done with tourism packages and teach the local people how to create the package and carry it off successfully to present to various travel agents, tour operators, RV caravan planners, adventure individual travel operators.
Holly said the plan gets the local people involved, “because the local people have to know what the tourist wants.” She added, “Travel agents, tour operators, RV caravan planners, adventure individual travel operators all look for a special treasure in a community that will set them apart from their competition. But what thread remains constant is the necessity for outstanding customer service.”
Gatzke went on to explain Part C is sales and marketing and “how do we market ourselves” to wholesalers, tour operators, travel agents and individual travels within Nevada and neighboring states. Travel writers with various publications will be contacted about what Lincoln County has to offer and hopefully will be able to spread the word about Lincoln County tourism.
The Maitlands plan to come to Lincoln County September 1, 2009 and get started right away. Gatzke said in mid-September the National Tour Association is having its national convention in Reno and the Maitland’s said they would like to attend, along with one of the LCAT members, and start promoting Lincoln County to the right people and interested groups.
Gatzke said she thought Maitland would be the right person to “put us over the top on some of the things we have been stumbling to get past and getting to that next step we have never done.” Board member Don Shanks said he is very confident Maitland will “make it happen.”
The Maitlands are well known in the Las Vegas area as well, Holly said, as they often spend the winter in Boulder City. Their website is www.justaskdottie.com.
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