As a Tourism Manager I get asked all the time what exactly it is that I do...usually by my boss. People have a lot of ideas as to what the title means. Some folks think I'm a tour guide, others think I sit in a hammock and sip mai-tais all day.
Well, neither one of those is correct. I don't lead tours and I rarely even spend half a day in my mai-tai hammock.
So what exactly is it that I do?
My job as a Tourism Manager is to promote the Sacramento region as a travel and tourism destination for tour groups and to make it as easy as possible for tour operators to include Sacramento on their itineraries.
Sure, we're not the huge draw that nearby tourism favorites like San Francisco are, but Sacramento has definitely found its niche as a popular overnight stop on California-based itineraries. We're a pretty cool town and travellers from all over the world are taking notice.
From the Squeezeburger to the farmer's markets and from the Railroad Museum to the bike trail, there's no shortage of cool stuff to see, do, eat and drink in Sacramento.
So we in the Tourism department spread the good word about our city and we help tour operators find the right Sacramento area hotels, restaurants and attractions for their group tours. Basically we save our clients the hassle of blindly calling around to dozens of possible options. Oh and our services are free of charge. It's a pretty sweet deal.
We develop marketing materials, represent Sacramento at trade shows, keep contact with our hotel and restaurant partners, host potential clients on familiarization tours of the region and mostly we send a lot of emails and make a lot of phone calls.
And as soon as I figure out how to do all that while gently swaying in a hammock, I'll be all set.
