South Jersey Tourism Corporation (SJTC) is stepping up efforts to connect potential visitors with the region’s events and attractions, further developing the area into a leading travel destination on the mid-Atlantic seaboard. The official tourism marketing organization for the Delaware River region of New Jersey has chosen Unreal Marketing of Narberth, PA, to develop and implement an online campaign that will build on the awareness and economic development in the South Jersey region.

Unreal, an innovator in results-driven online marketing services, recently launched a search engine marketing campaign that will increase the likelihood that the regional tourism website - www.VisitSouthJersey.com - will appear when Internet users search for keywords related to the website or its marketing content. Also planned is an e-mail newsletter designed to interact with and expand SJTC's rapidly-growing consumer base by providing valuable travel information on a regular basis.

SJTC turned to Unreal after hearing of its success with the visitor traffic generated for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporations’ (GPTMC) GoPhila site. GPTMC sought Unreal's guidance to increase booked packages and build awareness for the "Philly's more fun when you sleep over" campaign. Unreal’s campaign helped GPTMC create a recognized online brand and increased hotel room bookings through the website by 40%. Over a three-year period working with Unreal, GoPhila.com established itself as the online destination to book travel to Philadelphia - with more than 90,000 unique interested travelers visiting the site during the four month “Philly’s more fun” campaign last summer.

"The number of Americans using the Internet to research travel options is skyrocketing, so it's become a top priority to focus on results-driven online marketing campaigns," says Judi London, president, South Jersey Tourism Corporation. Unreal has already demonstrated results for several tourism campaigns, so it was a natural choice," adds London.

"Having worked with other tourism clients, we are very familiar with this space and have created a number of successful campaigns, " says Unreal CEO Michael Stalbaum. "We’re looking forward to leveraging that knowledge and helping SJTC make South Jersey a national travel destination."

Unreal has managed online campaigns for several tourism-related clients including of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, American Travel (CheapAir.com), Priceline, Australia.com, Cruise411.com, and several American Express agencies. Unreal developed and implemented an online campaign for CheapAir.com that garnered more than 2,000 online bookings per month - a 700% increase from the campaign goal of 300 per month.

About South Jersey Tourism Corp.

The South Jersey Tourism Corp. was created in 2003 through a grant from the Delaware River Port Authority to develop and promote tourism assets in Burlington, Mercer, Camden, Gloucester and Salem counties in New Jersey. The mission of the SJTC is to promote the South Jersey Delaware River counties as a destination and increase visits to its many attractions and cultural and heritage sites, thereby stimulating economic growth and maximizing the value that tourism brings to the region's communities. Its core objective is to increase tourism-related expenditures, including money spent by visitors at local hotels and motels, and employment in South Jersey communities bordered by the Delaware River. Contact: Carmen E. Gonzales, Director of Communications at (856) 757-9400.

Posted 03/20/06

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