Discover Prince William & Manassas wins two VIRGO Awards

Discover Prince William & Manassas, the area’s tourism marketing agency, received two VIRGO awards at the Virginia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus quarterly meeting April 10-11.

The 2014 VIRGO awards pay tribute to individuals, groups, businesses and destination marketing organizations that significantly contribute to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s economy through tourism promotion and development.

VACVB awarded Discover Prince William & Manassas in the categories of Advertising & Promotions for its website,www.discoverpwm.com and for the Regional Marketing Initiative for its work with “Virginia By Rail,” a collaboration by four Virginia CVBs.

Website traffic increased dramatically with the launch of DiscoverPWM.com in March of 2013, with an increase in visits of over 1,000 percent, according to a news release.

As the center of the CVB’s digital footprint, the website allowed enhanced targeting for digital advertisements, increasing the effectiveness of digital campaigns.

The website also provides fresh content for social media channels, resulting in increases in following and engagement, including 1,433 additional likes to the Facebook page in 2013.

The launch of DiscoverPWM.com has increased the digital presence of Prince William & Manassas, creating content and tools needed to effectively showcase the area as a tourism destination.

Discover Prince William & Manassas also won the VIRGO award for its work with Fredericksburg Regional Tourism Partnership, Richmond Region Tourism, and VisitNorfolk for the “Virginia By Rail” promotion.

This promotional initiative was a collaboration of Virginia CVBs to create a regional itinerary for visitors demonstrating Virginia’s key destination and experiences which are easily accessible by rail.

At the recent IPW tradeshow, produced by U.S. Travel Association, Discover Prince William & Manassas along with Richmond Region Tourism representatives met with 40+ international tour operators and travel writers and discussed the itinerary initiative, the news release stated.