HSMAI To Honor Visit Sebring With A Silver Adrian Award for Outstanding Travel Marketing 

Award Winners to be Celebrated at the HSMAI Adrian Awards Gala in New York City

NEW YORK, N.Y. (Nov. 20, 2018) – The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) will honor Visit Sebring with a SilverAdrian Award for digital marketing excellence for its winning entry – the re-designed VisitSebring.com website –  in the 62nd Annual Adrian Awards, the largest and most prestigious global travel marketing competition.

“We are thrilled to have our Tourist Development Council (TDC) recognized again for outstanding work in tourism marketing,” said Jim Brooks, Chairman of the TDC and Highlands County Board of County Commissioners.  “This award, along with the two Flagler Awards we received in the past year, further emphasizes the tremendous job our TDC staff, along with our website company Evok, does in promoting our destination to potential tourists living outside of Highlands County.”

As the county’s official digital home for tourism, the website needed to communicate everything the area has to offer, from world-renowned car racing to championship golf courses to unique arts and culture attractions. The website’s main feature, the Adventure Speedometer, does just this. The speedometer makes the website stand out from competing destinations, letting visitors know that Highlands County is a destination worth visiting.

In less than one year since the launch of the website in August 2017, the website analytics reported an 81% increase in Users, an 85% increase in New Users, a 78% increase in number of Sessions per User and a 29% increase in Page Views.  The TDC also saw in increase in users requesting information about the destination, such as the Visitor Guide, and asking to be added to the E-newsletter list.

“The Adrian Awards celebrate travel marketing innovators whose awesome creativity and hard work are integral not only to the success of their companies, but to the continued growth of the hospitality industry as a whole,” said Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, president and CEO of HSMAI. “HSMAI will be proud to recognize these award winners and their outstanding campaigns at the Adrian Awards Gala.”

Visit Sebring will be honored during the HSMAI Adrian Awards Gala on January 22, 2019 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Attended by nearly 1,000 hospitality, travel, and tourism marketing executives, this elegant affair is a must-attend industry event. The Adrian Awards Dinner Reception & Gala, recognized as a Top 100 Event in New York City by BizBash, will celebrate award-winning work and the people behind it, lifetime achievement, and the HSMAI Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization.

Winning entries will be viewable in the winners’ gallery on the Adrian Awards website. Visit https://www.AdrianAwards.com for more information on the event and competition and to view the Adrian Awards Winners’ Gallery.

About HSMAI

The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) is committed to growing business for hotels and their partners, and is the industry’s leading advocate for intelligent, sustainable hotel revenue growth. The association provides hotel professionals & their partners with tools, insights, and expertise to fuel sales, inspire marketing, and optimize revenue through programs such as HSMAI ROCETAdrian Awards, and Revenue Optimization Conference. HSMAI is a membership organization comprising more than 7,000 members worldwide, with 40 chapters in the Americas Region. Connect with HSMAI at www.hsmai.org,www.facebook.com/hsmai,www.twitter.com/hsmaiand www.youtube.com/hsmai1.

The mission of Visit Sebring/Highlands County Tourist Development Council (TDC) is to promote Highlands County as a friendly, attractive and diverse destination for tourism, thus creating a positive economic impact benefiting the entire community. It serves as a destination marketing organization that works to generate overnight stays, increase tax revenues, stimulate economic growth and strives to constantly enhance the image of Highlands County. For more information, visit www.VisitSebring.com.