Tactic A5.3
‘Sedona Sensitive Visitor’ Pledge (mid-term goal)
Develop a ‘Sedona Sensitive Visitor’ Pledge to help connect and engage visitors.
Destinations around the world use a “pledging” process to connect visitors to their sustainability goals.
A Sedona Pledge will engage visitors and heighten awareness of sustainability practices.
The SCC&TB would work with supporting organizations to ensure the Pledge has broad support and is prominently presented to visitors.
IMPACTED PILLARS
TIMEFRAME Mid-term (2-3 years)
LEAD PARTNER SCC&TB
SUPPORTING PARTNERS City of Sedona, Keep Sedona Beautiful, Sustainability Alliance, Sedona Businesses
ALIGNING RESEARCH Industry Best Practices
TARGET / STATUS TO DATE FY22
1. Development of a pledge - Completed October 2019
2. Number of visitors taking pledge - TARGET = 1,000 / STATUS = 1,659 as of April 2022
3. Benchmark through visitor surveys - TARGET = 90% favorable visitor perceptions of Sedona as a sustainable destination / STATUS = 96%
PROGRESS TO DATE
Sedona Cares Pledge - visitors (mid-term goal)
Develop a "Sedona Sensitive Visitor" Pledge to help connect and engage visitors
FY22:
In the fourth quarter of FY22, the SCC&TB in partnership with the City of Sedona erected 50 light pole banners along SR179 and 89A in Uptown advocating for the Sedona Cares Pledge as well as the Seven Principles of Leave No Trace. The banners are viewable from tens of thousands of cars daily.
A simplified form is online at SedonaCares.com. Through our consumer eNewsletter and signage with QR code at the Visitor Center, the SCC&TB is encouraging more signers. The SCC&TB is creating social media graphics, one per pledge point. As of late in the fourth quarter of FY 22, the number of “Pledges taken” stood at 3,678.
FY21: The Sedona Cares Pledge has made frequent appearances in the SCC&TB’s communications outreach throughout FY21 on many platforms.
On the VisitSedona.com Trip Planning menu, the SCC&TB presents the Pledge to potential visitors as an integral part of visiting Sedona.
Residents have seen the Pledge explained and promoted in the SCC&TB’s Red Rock News articles and blog pots in November, February, March and April and June.
Out of town opt-in recipients of the SCC&TB’s emailed consumer newsletter saw the Pledge as part of the February edition. The newsletter went to 156,627 recipients and had a 25.3% open rate.
In March, the SCC&TB featured the Pledge in the Media Roundup e-Newsletter sent to 890 media around the country, with a 30.9 % open rate and 10.9 % click-thru rate. At approximately the same time, the SCC&TB added a high-profile Pledge poster visible to walk-in travelers at the Visitor Center.
During Earth Month in April, the Pledge again took a prominent position in SCC&TB outreach, with stickers included in the Appreciate AZ clean-up kits shared with visitors at Slide Rock Park on Earth Day, April 22. It was also featured in several social media posts on VisitSedona and Sedona Chamber FB, Twitter and LinkedIn.
In June, the Pledge was promoted in the presentation at the SCC&TB Annual Meeting and included in revised Sedona Secret 7 web copy in June.
The Pledge appeared in the November 2020 consumer newsletter, sent to more than 144,000 opt-in subscribers.
The Pledge had been taken 462 times as of January 2021. More than 380 of signers were out of town visitors.
At the end of FY21, the SCC&TB began planning language and navigational changes to the Sedona Cares Pledge website.
FY20: The SCC&TB launched the Sedona Cares Pledge before an appreciative audience of more than 170 at the SCC&TB’s Annual Meeting in October, with all attendees raising their right hand to recite it. The reveal was immediately followed by a newly-launched SedonaCares.com landing page with slider images and a SimpleView form for tracking pledges. The SCC&TB promoted the Pledge with a large banner ad on VisitSedona.com, which replaced the Sedona Secret 7 slot on the home page.
The Pledge received positive news coverage and was followed with an article in the November consumer e-news to more than 150,000 subscribers, as well as mentions in the SCC&TB Red Rock News articles and blogs in October, November, December, January and February.
The Pledge became part of the SCC&TB Outlook email signature in the fall of 2019 and was featured in the Experience Sedona Guide. The SCC&TB also produced and distributed Sedona Cares Pledge canvas bags and Sedona Cares Pledge rack cards.
When the pandemic struck, the SCC&TB added a new Pledge point regarding practicing CDC safety guidelines.