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Visit Roswell, the city of Roswell’s official destination marketing organization, recently launched its new mobile visitor center, dubbed “The Channel.” A channel is defined as, “the bed where a natural river or stream runs,” as well as, “a system used for sending something (such as information or supplies) from one place or person to another.” The name was chosen as a nod to the region’s famously known Chattahoochee River, as well as the vehicle’s use as a means for disseminating area tourism related information to visitors to the city.
The new mobile visitor center is a Freightliner Sprinter 3500, fully-wrapped in branded graphics and built out with commercial shelving. It houses a variety of local partner brochures and collateral, Predator 3500-Watt Super Quiet Inverter Generator, Electro-Voice EVOLVE 30M PA system, LED up-lighting, 55” television and retail rack for destination-branded apparel and other items for sale. The purchase of the vehicle, including add-ons, was made possible in its entirety by sponsorship support from local businesses and organizations. The shift to the mobile model occurs during a time when traffic to the physical visitor center is slowing.
“Travelers have an immense number of resources at their fingertips with today’s available technology and online platforms. We’re seeing that when visitors come to Roswell, they’ve already mapped out their plans and know what they want to do before they even arrive,” said Andy Williams, Executive Director of Visit Roswell. “Moving to a mobile model allows us to not only to get in front of a more diverse audience base to provide info and influence additional engagements, but to also support many areas of the destination geographically. It’s a win-win for visitors and for our local businesses, attractions, special events and parks system.”
The Channel will rotate from location to location each week, from Wednesday through Sunday, and will be active during strategic peak times of traffic in those respective locations. Additionally, event organizers can request to have The Channel on location at upcoming special events, utilizing a request form on the DMO website VisitRoswellGA.com. While mobile visitor centers are not new, Visit Roswell may be the first organization to shift 100% to this new model. And, other DMOs within the state of Georgia appear to have similar interests in the near future. “We’ve received several phone calls, emails and meeting requests from other tourism marketing organizations to discuss what we’re doing,” said Williams. “There’s undoubtedly a great deal of interest in this, but the idea of mobilizing information services can be daunting. Now, we know how to do it, and we’re looking forward to sharing the process with others.”
The Channel was made possible by sponsors that include Greintime Productions, LGE Community Credit Union, Gate City Brewing Co., Georgia Power, Randall Paulson Architects, Rock N Taco, tempest, Ashman Realty Group, Casa Robles, Chattahoochee Nature Center, Deep Roots Wine Market & Tasting Room, From the Earth Brewing Co., Home2 Suites by Hilton Roswell, The Mill Kitchen & Bar, Osteria Mattone, Sunshine on a Ranney Day and Sunny & Ranney, Table & Main, Tolbert-Yilmaz School of Dance/Roswell Dance Theatre, Variant Brewing Co., West Alley, LLC., Historic Roswell Kiwanis Club and Roswell Rotary Club.
