The prestigious Visit California Poppy Awards, a biennial contest that honors the best and brightest of California tourism promotion, has awarded the CA Highway 1 Discovery Route in San Luis Obispo County for its commitment to community. A panel of industry marketing experts in 10 categories grants the awards every other year in even-numbered years. Several unique programs demonstrate why the CA Highway 1 Discovery Route was awarded for its commitment to community.
“The Stewardship Travel Program, with its unique and committed regional stewardship travel ambassadors and staff, help to deepen the connection between tourists, locals and nonprofits supporting conservation and/or preservation,” Administrator for San Luis Obispo County Tourism Business Improvement District Cheryl Cuming said. “We are thrilled that Visit California also recognizes the importance of connecting tourism to commitment to community. We are honored to be awarded for our county business improvement district board’s innovative vision to connect tourism promotional efforts to the stewardship of, connection to, San Luis Obispo’s history, natural resources, and culture as well as share our passion for learning and teaching more about it.”
The prestigious Visit California Poppy Award category ‘Contribution to Community’ awarded to the Stewardship Travel program, was judged by: creativity in strategy and execution, achieving program objectives, affecting positive change through sustainable practices, and infrastructure improvements or other contributions to the community.
Located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Highway 1 Discovery Route is made up of 10 diverse artisan towns and seaside villages starting just south of Big Sur from Ragged Point & San Simeon, Cambria, Cayucos, and Los Osos/Baywood Park, to Avila Beach & Valley, Edna Valley, Arroyo Grande Valley, Oceano and Nipomo, just south of San Luis Obispo.
The CA Highway 1 Discovery Route’s Stewardship Travel Program was developed to meet the challenges of integrating sustainability, environmental education and natural resource conservation with the impact of promoting increased tourism throughout its 10 destinations in unincorporated San Luis Obispo County. Diane Strachan, the Highway 1 Discovery Route Stewardship Travel Program consultant and director, co-designed and coordinated the 70 preservation-and conservation-oriented Stewardship Travel Program experiences, education, and contribution opportunities so that visitors can connect with the land, wildlife, history, people and culture of the places they visit. As a result, the destination leaders, residents, and businesses are learning to view tourism opportunities differently where locals and tourists connect within the communities they love, and appreciate the local beauty and its attractions as resources to not only enjoy, but to protect and preserve.
“The support and unique collaboration of the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors, residents, businesses, nonprofit organizations, parks, cities, and resource agencies, has been greatly appreciated,” Strachan said. “This exciting collaboration is greatly responsible for making stewardship travel an award winning and vital sustainable step for the tourism industry. Due to the vision and perseverance of the San Luis Obispo county business improvement district board, Stewardship Travel is being recognized for setting new standards and creating a new tourism models for helping regions balance thriving economic development with visitor learning, enjoyment, and caring for natural, cultural, and historical heritage.”
“The Stewardship Travel program has helped to promote and highlight the importance of science education and marine conservation by partnering with us at the Coastal Discovery Center at San Simeon Bay,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s director of the Coastal Discovery Center, San Simeon Bay Carolyn Skinder said. “We educate thousands of tourists visiting the central coast at the Center and include important wildlife viewing etiquette information.”
The 10 destinations along the CA Highway 1 Discovery Route are serious when it comes to their annual Coastal Discovery & Stewardship Celebration. Locals and visitors alike participate in more than 35 fun and educational Coastal Discovery events and planned Stewardship Travel Program activities throughout the Highway 1 Discovery Route during this celebration that takes place annually at the beginning of every year. These special events and activities connect visitors with the land, wildlife, history, people and culture along the Highway 1 Discovery Route and include the second annual Paso Robles Wine Country BlendFest on the Coast event and a free film festival at the Hearst Castle Theater. Guests are also invited to explore marine life from abalone to elephant seals, learn about nature preserves, participate in fun citizen science activities, beach clean-ups to protect wildlife, and enjoy the many seaside docent led hikes found on the Central Coast. There are other signature events like Sharks after Dark at the Central Coast Aquarium in Avila Beach that are great for the whole family.
The Highway 1 Discovery Route is also a participant in The Whale Trail Project, a series of websites designed to share information with the public on where they may view orcas, other cetaceans and marine mammals from shore. The project’s mission is to inspire appreciation and stewardship of whales and our marine environment by establishing a network of viewing sites of the whales’ trails along the Salish Sea and the Pacific Coast. The Whale Trail Project’s goals are: to increase awareness that California’s marine waters are home to orcas and other species, to connect visitors to orcas, other marine wildlife and their habitat, to inspire stewardship and build community, and to promote land-based whale watching.
The Stewardship Travel program launched in August 2013 as part of the CA Highway 1 Discovery Route destination brand and is managed by the unincorporated San Luis Obispo County Tourism Business Improvement District. Each Stewardship Travel activity, including the annual Coastal Discovery and Stewardship Celebration, is listed on the website at www.Highway1DiscoveryRoute.com under Stewardship Travel and is creatively and collaboratively promoted through events, public relations, social media and digital advertising executed by the Highway 1 Discovery Route core marketing team of Mental Marketing and TJA Advertising. Every Stewardship Travel activity includes an opportunity for visitors to contribute to a nonprofit and there are 10 regional Stewardship Travel Ambassadors who facilitate stakeholder collaboration, cross-education, and promotion for their unincorporated region.