The New Year Brings 2017 DeKalb County Visitors Guides and More!

January DCCVB Partner Newsletter

Happy New Year!

We are excited to embark on another year working with you, our amazing partners, to promote DeKalb County to business and leisure travelers. The new year brings IHSA State Football Championships back to DeKalb County, must see shows and theatre, DeKalb County staples and more.

Here's to a profitable 2017!

Quick Links:

DCCVB Website

Download CVB Brochures

Interactive Visitors Guide

Interactive DeKalb County Attractions Map

Calendar of Events

Submit an Event

2017 DeKalb County Visitors Guides Now Available!

The 2017 Visitors Guide features the newest DeKalb County attraction, Jonamac Orchard's Cider House, on the cover and contains the very latest information about DeKalb County tourism and events.

State wide distribution

Visitors guides are distributed to Northern Illinois University (7,500), municipalities, hotels, attractions and chambers throughout DeKalb County.
The DCCVB pays to place the guide in visitor kiosks across Chicago-land, Wisconsin, the Quad Cities and beyond.

The kiosks are located at tollway oasis (Belvidere, DeKalb, O'hare, and Hinsdale), Chicago's Union Station, popular attractions like Navy Pier and seven tourist information centers.

19,000 of the 30,000 guides printed have already been distributed.

Available for local Businesses and Organizations
The Visitors Guide is the premier marketing piece for DeKalb County. Your distribution efforts will help increase visibility for our local attractions. The guide also makes a great recruitment tool to highlight what the region has to offer.

Contact the CVB at 815-756-1336 to reserve your supply today. We will prepare them for you to pick up.

Add the guide to your website

The DCCVB is pleased to again provide an interactive edition of the Visitors Guide.

The interactive guide is available for you to embed on your website.
As much as 79% of travelers use the internet to plan some part of their trip.
Tools like the interactive guide make it easy to discover DeKalb County.

Digital DeKalb County Visitors Guide PDF Download

NIU partners, get your guides right on campus!
Contact Ian Crone ( icrone@niu.edu) 815-753-4409 to get guides for recruitment, welcome packets, event distribution and more.

DeKalb County Convention & Visitors Bureau Launches New
Ad Campaign

The DCCVB has started a new wave of social media ads. Over the last few months, these ads have featured Fall and Winter events & attractions, the Interactive Map & Visitor's Guide and more.

Engage visitors 50 miles outside our radius
Our last ad, featuring winter travel ideas, has a reached of over 41,600 on Facebook and Instagram.
Our total reach over the course of this fall/winter campaign is over 220,000!

We have created, new, engaging print ads to help highlight what DeKalb County has to offer. These ads have been running in Northwest Quarterly and Chicago Parent magazines.

We are also planning for the future and are creating new video ads. Two are currently completed (click the images below to watch) and feature Fall Family Fun and Winter Family Fun. We have several more in the works and can't wait to share them with you and visitors.

DCCVB Website gets a New Look!

DeKalbCountyCVB.com

Launched new design in October
Monthly Website Page Views: 10,463
Top 5 pages:

Social Media Reach Grows


2,267 "likes"	777 followers	250 followers

Monthly Reach Across Social Media: 27,400


NIU Cares Day Sign-up The 11th annual NIU Cares Day will take place on Saturday, April 22, 2017 from 9:00am - noon! NIU Cares Day is a day of community service hosted through Northern Illinois University. Volunteers comprised of NIU students, faculty, and staff come together to complete projects that benefit DeKalb County's not-for-profit organizations and community agencies. All not-for-profit organizations, community agencies, and individual homeowners are eligible to apply. Remember to think outside the box and find fun, creative ways this project can help your organization. Learn More & Register Today.	Illinois Meeting & Events Magazine Features DeKalb County The Illinois Meetings & Events Magazine featured DeKalb County in their Winter 2017 issue. The feature is in their "Get to Know" segment and highlights the convenient location, must see attractions, hotel and conference space, restaurants and how the DCCVB helps event and meeting planners create a great event. Check out the full article through the web edition or in the digital edition of the magazine.	Illinois Bicentennial Illinois turns 200 on December 3, 2018. The state officially unveiled the #Illinois200 logo on January 12th at the first Bicentennial Commission meeting. Illinois will celebrate its 200th year from December 3, 2017 through to the state's official birthday on December 3, 2018. Look for special events on August 26 & December 3, 2018. Learn more.


DeKalb County Itinerary featured in Group Tours Magazine Our DeKalb County History and Heritage tour gives visitors and group tours a glimpse into the rich and varied history our county has to offer. The itinerary is featured in the February Group Tours magazine that reaches over 15,000 group tour operators, leaders, travel agents and bank tour operators. Click HERE to digital edition of the magazine, the itnerary feature is on page 18!	Whiskey Acres featured in Wall Street Journal As you may have seen on Facebook, Whiskey Acres Distilling Co. was featured in the January 10th Wall Street Journal. The article was in the business section and focused on what farmers are doing to compensate for lower grain prices. Whiskey Acres is the article's featured example of value-added grain production. You can view the full article using WSJ's 24 hour pass feature here: https://t.co/sfv99p4fLB Thank you and Congrats to Whiskey Acres for being a great ambasador of, and shining a light on DeKalb County Tourism!	IHSA State Football Championships IHSA Destination DeKalb is in full swing! The 2017 IHSA State Football Championships will be back in DeKalb County at NIU's Huskie Stadium Nov 24th & 25th. Learn more . Volunteer Sign-up is now open. Positions include usher, ticket taker and parking attendant. If you're interested in being a sponsor or making other donations to IHSA Destination DeKalb please Contact Wendy West-Krauch (Wendy@siepertwest.com), Brad Hoey (bhoey@niu.edu) and Debbie Armstrong (darmstrong@dekalbcountycvb.com)


IESA Wrestling is back at NIU Convo The DCCVB and Northern Illinois University are proud to welcome The Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) State Wrestling Finals back to NIU for its 19th year! The wrestling state finals are March 10th & 11th and are open to the public. Welcome them all to DeKalb County and cheer on the State Finalists! Learn more.	The Road to the IHSA Boys Basketball goes through the NIU Convocation Center! The Illinois High School Association Boys Basketball Super-Sectionals is be back at NIU for it's 20th year March 7th & 14th. The Super-Sectionals are open to the public. Wish them luck and cheer them on this March! 1A/2A Super-Sectionals 3A/4A Super-Sectionals

Vacations are powerful. They have the ability to recharge and better connect us to the world - all while making lasting memories. They have the ability to lift up the communities to which visitors travel. Vacations can be to far-flung locales, but they can also just as easily be vacations closer to home or in your own backyard.

The number of vacation days Americans take has been on a steady decline for years. Between 1976 and 2000, Americans took an average of 20.3 vacation days each year. In 2015, the average decreased to 16.2 - that's the equivalent of nearly an entire week of paid time off wiped away.

Consider this: If Americans were to use their allotted vacation days, it would deliver a $160 billion jolt to the U.S. economy, create 1.2 million new American jobs and generate $21 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues. In fact, in Illinois, the tourism industry generated $37.1 billion in direct spending, $2.9 billion in state and local tax revenue and 314,380 jobs in 2015. Moreover, tourism spending saves the average Illinois household $1,300 in taxes annually.

That's why DeKalb County Convention & Visitors Bureau is joining tourism professionals across the country in supporting the U.S. Travel Association's 'Project: Time Off' coalition to encourage Illinoisans to use their well-earned vacation days with a simple strategy: take two- or three-day weekend trips right here in Illinois.

As this new calendar year begins, the tourism industry across Illinois is inviting Illinoisans to #PlanForVacation in Illinois, including these great trip ideas in DeKalb County:

Explore DeKalb County on the Bold Spirits: Wineries, Distillery and Breweries self-guided tour
Take in a show at the historic Egyptian Theatre: LAVA Rock presents Legends of Rock February 4th, The Best of the Second City February 10th, Gaelic Storm March 24th
Get away from it all and hike, bike and enjoy DeKalb County's forest preserves and state park. The newest preserve, the Sycamore Forest Preserve, has a planned opening of May 2017.
Tour the Ellwood House and Glidden Homestead, the homes of the inventors of barbed wire
DeKalb County comes alive in the fall! Take in DeKalb Kite Fest & Corn Fest, Sycamore Pumpkin Fest, Jonamac Orchard and more! Stay the weekend and play in DeKalb County.

Visit dekalbcountycvb.com/calendar/ for attraction opening days and a full list of event dates.

Need an excuse to start planning? Celebrate National Plan for Vacation Day on January 31st and start planning your trip to DeKalb County!

The DeKalb County CVB has resources to help you explore and plan.

Visit www.DeKalbCountyCVB.com to download your free visitors guide to start planning your trip. You can also find trip ideas at www.EnjoyIllinois.com.

2017 Illinois Governor's Conference on Travel & Tourism

This annual conference serves as the hub for Illinois tourism; where industry professionals get together for opportunities to network, discuss tourism trends in Illinois, and engage in great content through keynote speakers, educational tracks and knowledgeable peers in the industry.

DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Debbie Armstrong attends this annual event each year. And this year, DCCVB Board President, Brad Hoey, will also be in attendance representing NIU, NCAA Div 1 Golf Championships and the DCCVB. We would like to encourage you, our partners, to attend this informative and helpful conference.

Details and registration information is below. If you're interested in being a conference sponsor or trade show exhibitor, please let us know and we'll get you in touch with the conference organizers.

WHEN: March 19-22, 2017

WHERE: President Abraham Lincoln Springfield - a DoubleTree by Hilton; 701 E Adams St, Springfield, IL 62701

REGISTRATION: $395 per person