Visit Grand Prairie Wins Two Destination Excellence Awards
Published on August 21, 2024
The Texas Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus (TACVB) is pleased to announce that VISIT GRAND PRAIRIE won two, first-place Destination Excellence awards in the Over $1,000,000 budget at conference in Austin, Texas on August 21, 2024.
The Awards were in these categories:
- Community/Local Engagement Promotion (Presented for the Solar Eclipse Campaign)
- Leisure/Tourism Marketing Campaign (Presented for the ICC T-20 Men’s World Cup)
TACVB’s Destination Excellence Awards promotes excellence in destination marketing. Goals of the Destination Excellence awards are to generate awareness of the quality work done by CVB’s from across the state as they promote their destinations to leisure and business travelers.
Community/Local Engagement Promotion
Competing in the $1 million dollar and over budget category, Visit Grand Prairie received 1st place Destination Excellence award in the Community/Local Engagement Promotion category for their Solar Eclipse Campaign.
Grand Prairie was in the path of totality for the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse. Visit Grand Prairie hosted a true Solar Eclipse Extravaganza! This included a watch party at EpicCentral with live music, community leaders, and vendors that brought more than 6,000 people together. They also partnered with Grand Prairie ISD and the John Carl Pogue Planetarium to offer educational showings of “Totality over Texas” in both in English and Spanish.
By leveraging social media, print advertisements, email newsletters, and a dedicated landing page; the event saw widespread engagement, amplified even further by a collaboration with a local influencer. Participants could purchase custom-designed commemorative t-shirts and glasses before and during the event, adding a unique touch and a lasting memory.
These efforts resulted in over 1.2 million social media impressions, 36.6k website impressions & more than 6,000 people in attendance at the watch party on the day of the eclipse. The financial result of the event, brought in more than $15,000 to the visitor center with sold eclipse merchandise, increased hotel occupancy, and significantly raised attendance at our local restaurants.
Leisure/Tourism Marketing Campaign
In addition, Visit Grand Prairie received first place in the Leisure/Tourism Marketing category for the marketing and promotion of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The goal of this campaign was to increase awareness of the world cup, promote local watch parties happening at EpicCentral and generate excitement and anticipation for upcoming matches.
Visit Grand Prairie hosted the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in June, hosting four matches at the Grand Prairie Stadium and watch parties at EpicCentral for six others including the finals match. The matches were attended by thousands of cricket fans from across North America, with hundreds attending watch parties.
The success of the events can be attributed to Visit Grand Prairie's comprehensive marketing strategy. Through a well-executed social media campaign, targeted digital and print advertisements, strategic local partnerships, and a user-friendly website landing page, they were able to effectively promote the tournament and attract many cricket fans to attend the sold-out matches and watch parties.
The success of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup resulted in an estimated economic impact of more than 1.9 million to our local economy. Through sold out tickets sales, we know that 77% of all attendees were from out of state which resulted in positive revenue for our hotels, restaurants, car rental facilities, attractions and more!
