History Trail Recognized for Uniqueness & Creativity
Experience Cortland, the Cortland County Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), will be honored with a Tourism Excellence Award for the Cortland Curiosities: A Strange & Forgotten History Trail. The New York State Tourism Industry Association (NYSTIA) acknowledges and recognizes the outstanding work of New York State’s destination marketing organizations, attractions, and other tourism-related businesses in all forms of marketing, destination management and stewardship through this annual awards program of the New York State Tourism Industry Association (NYSTIA). The organizations, businesses, institutions and individuals will honored at a special ceremony at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York on September 14, 2023 as part of the 2023 NYSTIA Annual Meeting.
This year’s New York State Tourism Excellence Awards include multiple new awards categories to acknowledge the critical work done in advancing the areas of sustainability, DEAI (diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion), international marketing, travel itineraries and promoting the great outdoors of New York State.
The awards are open to all New York State tourism marketers and are juried by an impartial panel of industry experts under the auspices of NYSTIA. The pool of awards nominations was extraordinarily competitive, surpassing 2022’s total by 40%, and judges were challenged by the diversity and quality of the entries.
“The outstanding work of New York State’s tourism professionals contributed significantly to the post-COVID resurgence of New York State’s tourism industry,” remarked Kelly Curtin, Board Chair of the New York State Tourism Industry Association. “The efforts of both the 2023 New York State Tourism Excellence Award nominees and recipients epitomize the concept of best practice destination marketing, management and stewardship. My admiration and congratulations to all!”
Experience Cortland was honored with Excellence in Tourism Excellence in Tourism Marketing Campaigns, Projects & Programs: Trails & Itineraries for their Cortland Curiosities: A Strange & Forgotten History Trail which was released in October 2022.
“The CVB is honored and thrilled to have been awarded a 2023 Tourism Excellence Award for the Cortland Curiosities trail,” said Michelle Enright, Executive Director of the Cortland County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “I applaud the CVB staff and the county’s tourism partners for working together to dream up this trail and we appreciate the state-wide recognition of the work that we did and continue to do.”
The trail tells the history and lore behind the County’s interesting, wacky and occasionally spooky past. The launch features county-wide themed driving paths and incorporates pre-planned routes with maps, addresses, descriptions and historical photographs. The mobile-friendly website – www.cortlandcuriosities.com – enhances the trail with additional information, historical photos and an interactive map to offer users a self-guided tour of the County’s interesting past and historical landmarks. County accommodations and an ever-updating events schedule are provided to encourage visitors to spend the evening.
The Cortland Curiosities trail was also recently recognized with a Communicator Award presented by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts. The project took home an Award of Distinction for Consumer Marketing & Communications – Website in the travel and tourism category.
The CVB has partnered with ABC Creative, an advertising agency in Syracuse, New York, for logo development, website design and video production services.
