NBA may bring more visitors
BY JULIE BISBEE
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Published: October 14, 2008
Securing an NBA team may have put Oklahoma on the national map, and now the state’s tourism industry needs to keep its efforts strong to promote the state, officials say.
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In the past year, the Tourism Department’s call center took about 25,000 calls from people wanting information about visiting Oklahoma. The center has answered 2,000 e-mails and processed 77,000 brochure orders. The marketing campaign has also been successful in reaching international visitors.
Watkins said the center received information requests from 20 to 30 countries a month. International visitors are a growing group. The state’s marketing campaign is targeted at travelers from Britain and German-speaking Europeans, Watkins said. On average those travelers stay in Oklahoma 15 days and spend about $3,000 per visit.
"The come here because they know it’s a great vacation, and they want to experience real America,” Watkins said.
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Basketball, Sports, Culture and Lifestyle, Business, Travel and Tourism, Marketing Campaigns, Marketing, Men's Professional Basketball
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Yeah, keep those darned "coasters" from ever coming here and spreading their attitude, y'all like your own attitudes more, and they're more opinionated than any coaster I've run across..
The nightlife sucks, there's nothing to do unless you like museums, and most places mentioned are better destinations...this all said by Okies and not "coasters" with "attitudes".....imagine that.....
Whats not to give a person a bad attitude about this place anyway?
I may live here but to be honest, no pun attended, you can't afford to vacation here for three days unless you're into museums and such. There's little to do here with the exception of bricktown. And nightlife is mediocre; many clubs caters to 18 & over crowd, not 30 or so. However, most cities like Tulsa, Wichita are down right boring. I've been to many places like Denver (nightlife sucks though), San francisco, Lsa vegas, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Chicago. Those places have a lot to offer than our own. And to the one who says that Dallas doesn't offer a whole lot; I disagree to some extent. Sure, there's shopping but the whole place including Ft Worth has a lot to be explored. I goes there whenever I want to go to a big city. And when I do I ever gets bored; unlike Wichita. Nightlife is better than ours. Besides, many okies goes there for a weekend getaway.
And let's be real; our roads and bridges suck and too many turnpikes; is that you want out of town visitors to experience when they get here. A few that I herd from the past say that even though they like visiting here, they don't like the roads and won't ever come back. Experience real America; that is if you don't mind being shaken, rattled and rolled by our crappy, disgusting infrastructure.
*CLAY BENNETT IS DISHONEST AND A THIEF - I HAVE PUT THE CURSE OF SODO MOJO ON OKC THUNDER - MEANING MORE LOSSES AND NO CHANCE OF PLAYOFFS - HEY CLAY WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND - BTW - HOW ABOUT MAKING CHECK REQUEST TO GET PJ SOME MORE GLASSES - HE CANT EVEN SEE WHO HE IS GOING TO BE ON THE STARTING LINE-UP!!! LOL!!
Honestly, the people interviewed for this article actually believe that it takes an NBA Bassaball team to bring recognition to OKC? How pathetic is that anyway? Did they really feel that this place is so much of a flyover city/state that it had no appeal until a bassaball team got here?
Save your money People! If the NBA is the only reason you'd come here, go to another NBA city instead, you'll be more satisfied........