Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/107253
UPFRONT face time P H OTO G R A P H B Y B i l l K ap i n s k i / I M A G E S T U D I O S , F O R I N SI G H T Pam Seidl Pam Seidl, who served for 10 years as marketing and communications director for the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau, was recently named executive director, replacing Randy Prasse. Seidl is one of the catalysts behind the bureau's Wisconsin Shopping Place brand and has served on the Governor's Council on Tourism marketing committee. She spoke with Insight Associate Editor Nikki Kallio about the region's tourism efforts. w w w. i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m on Fox Cities tourism T h i s a r e a ha s r e a l ly urbanized itself since I've been here. When I came we were searching for a brand – we didn't quite know who we were, especially as a leisure travel area. We've developed the Wisconsin Shopping Place Brand and really focused on how we are an urban area, we are a great place to come for a city getaway. We have wonderful performing arts, great museums, incredible dining for a market of our size, and of course, shopping is our big lure. We've really settled into that kind of big city feel, and yet have the small town ease of access, affordability and safety. The interesting thing about the downturn in the economy is while spending may have declined, shopping hasn't declined. It's about getting away together, and we're still seeing groups of families travel together. Shopping isn't necessarily what they're doing when they're here all the time, and I think we have great complementary activities that pull people into the area. The Wisconsin Department of Commerce offered a grant program called the Tourism Diversification Grant and targeted smaller communities that were losing an industrial base. We leveraged it (in 2004-05) because we saw a downturn in business travel. As some of [continued] » F e b r u a r y 2 013 • Insight | 19