Redding, California

Delivered April 10th, 2019. Contributors: Hillary O., Wycliffe O., Victor E., Apple J. and

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Redding, California Competitors, Part 1

Three of the top tourist destinations competing against Redding, California are Eugene, Salt Lake City, and Pasadena. These cities offer similar natural attractions to Redding and are known for their bike trails. The requested information on them has been provided in the attached spreadsheet. 
Redding, CaliforniaRedding is home to some of the most beautiful natural attractions in California, some of which include Lassen Volcanic National Park, Trinity Alps, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, and Turtle Bay Exploration Park.
The city has also been ranked as one of the top fishing destinations in the US and has a stellar trail system for mountain, BMX, and road bike riders.
Currently, Redding's population is 91,320. 
Around 268 million tourists flocked to California in 2016. 
Eugene, Oregon
With a population of 161,649, Eugene is one of the largest cities in Oregon. 
It has been ranked as one of the most bicycle friendly cities in the US. 
Eugene is home to several parks, rivers, and bike trails which visitors enjoy for their picturesque views.  
Some of the most visited attractions in the city include Mount Pisgah, Hendricks Park, McKenzie River National Recreation Trail, Willamette River, Spencer Butte, Alton Baker Park, and Owen Rose Garden.
Up to 300 people visit Spencer Butte per day which means 109,500 (300*365) people visit this park alone each year. 
About 30 million people visited Oregon in 2017.
Salt Lake City, UtahSalt Lake City, Utah is known as one of the best family-friendly and bike-friendly cities to visit. 
The city has a current population of 191,446. 
The city offers several bike trails such as the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, Tanner Bike Trails, Wild Rose Trailhead, and Dry Gulch Trail Head. 
Other top rated natural attractions include Memory Grove Park, Tomahawk Natural Area, City Creek Natural Area, and Parleys Historic Nature Park.
Annually, 3 to 5 million visitors flock to Temple Square, a top attraction in Salt Lake City, Utah. 
Up to 200,000 people visit Red Butte Garden annually, a top rated park in the city.
PASADENA, CaliforniaPasadena's current population is 140,268. 
Pasadena is a pedestrian friendly city in California. 
In 2016, the city reported that it was taking major steps to be more bike friendly. 
Some bike trails in the city are LA River Bike Path, Brookside Park, and Arroyo Seco Bike Path. 
Pasadena offers scenic natural attractions including Eaton Canyon, Wrigley Gardens, Central Park, and Arlington Garden. 
According to the Pasadena's latest annual report, 3.2 million people visited the city in 2016.
RESEARCH STRATEGYIn selecting competitors to Redding, California, several factors were taken into consideration. At first, we sought out the number of tourists or visitors in Redding California as a major factor in choosing its competitors. Upon finding that this was unavailable on the public domain, we examined the top rated tourist attractions in the city. We found that the city is known for having some of the most beautiful natural attractions in California. Reviews from Trip Advisor and Yelp also revealed that people mainly visit Redding for the parks, gardens, and bike trails it offers. We also examined Redding's population and decided to pick competitors with a similar population size. Armed with these criteria, we looked for cities in the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies that are widely known for the natural attractions they offer. We found about 20 cities meeting this criterion. We then weeded out cities that are not bike friendly. In addition, we excluded large metropolitan cities like Los Angeles. Salt Lake City, Eugene, and Pasadena are the only cities that met our checklist. Our next step involved finding the number of people that visit these cities annually. Unfortunately, we were unable to find or estimate the number of annual visitors in Redding, Eugene, and Salt Lake City. For Pasadena, California, the last recorded data on visitors was from 2016.  

We implemented various strategies to find or estimate the number of annual visitors in Redding, Eugene, and Salt Lake City. The first step involved locating each city's tourism website. We then looked at news and press releases on these websites for any possible data on annual visitors. We also explored different sections of these websites including their "about us" page but this led to a dead end and produced nothing fruitful. Next, we located annual reports by each tourism bureau. The most recent annual report by the Redding Convention
 & Visitors Bureau was from the 2013/2014 fiscal year. Other cities had more recent annual reports but none of them provided the exact number of annual visitors they have. Instead, they provided financial figures such as the amount of money most tourists spend while visiting. We then went through travel magazines and news publications specific to each city, some include Oregon Live and Redding Record Searchlight. With the terrible forest fires in California this year, we hoped there would be local news articles mentioning a decrease in the number of people visiting Redding or an increase in the number of visitors in any of the other cities. Unfortunately, this was also a blank wall. Other strategies include thoroughly examining the websites of the counties and states these cities are located in, as well as the annual reports of these counties and states. Still, no related data could be found. 

As an attempt to further look for the number of visitors in Redding, Eugene, and Salt Lake City, we expanded our search and tried to figure out the number of visitors in the top rated tourist attractions in each city. This was a successful strategy for Eugene and Salt Lake City. Since we were still unable to determine the number of annual visitors in Redding, we searched for the number of tourists in Shasta County, California (where Redding is located). Again, this was an unsuccessful attempt. 

Our triangulation strategies include trying to find the total income in each city from tourism and the total tourism income in the states they are located in. Our plan was to use this ratio to estimate the number of visitors, having found statewide data for visitors. However, this was a shot in the dark which ended up being a failed strategy due to the fact that some of the figures we needed to use for our calculations could not be located for Redding, Eugene, and Salt Lake City. We did find a 2008 annual report which mentioned that Redding, California had over 150,000 visitors in 2007. Considering how old this data is, we decided not to use it. 

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Redding, California Competitors, Part 2

Some of the top attractions of Redding, California are: Turtle Bay Exploration Park, Sundial Bridge, Whiskeytown Lake, Sacramento River Trail, and the Bethel Church while Eugene, Oregon has significant attractions like the Alton Baker Park, Autzen Stadium, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, Cascades Raptor Center, and Hendricks Park.  
Redding, California 
Overview of visitor perception 
Generally, tourists enjoy visiting Redding because of its fascinating sight-seeing attractions. Based on the visitor reviews, Whiskeytown Lake is one of the major attractions for deep divers and swimmers. The lake has clear water, a nice beach, and a beautiful view. It also provides great water skiing and a wonderful hiking trail experience. 
Tourists also enjoy exploring the Sundial Bridge because it’s a nice place to walk. Some tourists also love the idea that it is a busy park with garden and a bike/walk path.
Visitor demographics
In 2018, the estimated number of tourists that visited Redding was 280 million. Averagely, each tourist spent $485 during the trip. 
In 2017, the top international market for the Redding was Mexico, welcoming 7.7 million tourists who spent approximately $3.3 billion. Other highest level markets included Canada with 1.6 million visitors, China with 1.5 million visitors and the UK with 720,357 visitors.
Based on the visitor review by Trip Advisor, most of the tourists visiting Redding include families, solo visitors, business people, couples, students, and friends.
Top attractions 
Based on visitor reviews, the top attractions of Redding, California are Turtle Bay Exploration Park, Sundial Bridge, Whiskeytown Lake, Sacramento River Trail, and the Bethel Church.

Eugene, Oregon 
Overview of visitor perception 
Tourists love touring Eugene because of its unique, fascinating attraction sites. Top on the list is the Cascades Raptor Center which has attracted thousands of visitors. The site has variety of raptor and non-raptor wild birds that create a delightful atmosphere. 
Most visitors feel that the center is a cool place with interesting and informative experience. Eugene is also considered a visitor-friendly attraction with accommodating workers who are very friendly and knowledgeable. 
Visitor demographics
As per visitor reviews by Trip Advisor, significant tourists to Eugene include families, couples, solo visitors, business people, and friends. 
In 2017, Oregon hosted approximately 28.8 million visitors. Top five countries where the visitors came include Germany, Canada, the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands.
Top attractions 
The top five attractions of Eugene, Oregon include Alton Baker Park, Autzen Stadium, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, Cascades Raptor Center, and Hendricks Park. 
YOUR RESEARCH TEAM APPLIED THE FOLLOWING RESEARCH STRATEGY:To compare Redding, California with Eugene, Oregon, we seek to find the visitor perception, top attractions, and the demographics of visitors for both tourist destinations. The research team began the research by looking for information on visitor perception and top attractions for each competitor. We were able to find reviews from Trip Advisor and Yelp revealing why people mainly visit Redding and Eugene. We used these reviews to compile the perception of visitors in both destinations. To locate the top attractions for each destination, we searched for compiled reviews and industry reports where we were able to get information for both.

We implemented various strategies to find the demographics of visitors in the two destinations. The first step involved locating each city's tourism website. We then looked at the news and press releases on these websites for any possible data on annual visitors. We also explored different sections of these websites including their "about us" page, but this was not fruitful. Next, we located annual reports by each tourism bureau. The most recent annual report by the Redding Convention & Visitors Bureau was from the 2013/2014 fiscal year. Although Eugene had more recent annual reports, none of them provided information on visitor demographics. Instead, they offered financial figures such as the amount of money most tourists spend while visiting. 

We then went through travel magazines and news publications specific to each city including Oregon Live and Redding Record Searchlight. Other strategies included thoroughly examining the websites of the counties and states these cities are located in, as well as the annual reports of these counties and states. This was a successful strategy as we were able to determine the number of annual visitors in both California and Oregon. We assumed that the number of visitors in each state was similar to those who identified each destination. We also identified the type of visitors for each destination based on the review websites. Our findings have been compiled in rows 4-7, Columns C-D on the attached spreadsheet.

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Redding, California Competitors, Part 3

Some significant tourist attractions in Salt Lake City Utah include Temple Square, Natural History Museum of Utah, Park City, and others, while Pasadena, California, has significant tourist attractions such as Norton Simon Museum, the Gamble House, Old Pasadena, and Huntington Library, and others. According to visitor reviews on Trip Advisor, the different set of people who visit these cities include families, couples, solo visitors, business people, and friends. 
Redding, California Competitors: Salt Lake City and PasadenaAs requested, we filled the required tourist attractions details for Salt Lake City and Pasadena in rows 4-7 and columns E-F in this attached spreadsheet. 
Research Strategy:To identify the top attractions for people visiting Salt Lake City and Pasadena, we examined the best tourist attractions listed on portals such as Trip Advisor, US Travel, Trip Savvy, and Yelp, respectively. Then, for each city, we chose the tourist attractions with the most number of reviews on these directories, as a proxy for determining the top attractions. Also, to discover what tourists liked about each city, we examined the reviews on these directories as well as other reports, which signified what attracted visitors loved most in each city. Unfortunately, there was no visitor demographic information such as age, income level, sex, and others, except a visitor review-grouping by Trip Advisor, which showed that the five types of people visiting each of these cities include families, couples, solo tourists, business people, and friends.

Thus, for Salt Lake City, we investigated websites such as Utah.com, SLC Travel, Visit Salt Lake City, and others with the hope to identify reports revealing the demographic information of people visiting the city. Again, such information was not available in public domain; however, we located a study by the University of Utah that revealed the top international and domestic areas accounting for the most tourists to the state of Utah. Unfortunately, this report did not have any insights into the profile of people visiting Salt Lake City. So, we included some relevant state-wide info from the study in this report. 

For the city of Pasadena, we researched websites such as City of Pasadena, South Pasadena, City Own Info, and others. Still, the demographic information of tourists to this city was not available in the public domain. The only information on these portals was on the demographic profile of the entire city and nothing pertinent to visitors, which made them irrelevant to this request. 

Furthermore, we investigated reports on trusted media websites including Forbes, Business Insider, Inc., HuffPost, and others in search of any insight into the demographic information of people visiting Salt Lake City or Pasadena. Still, information available on these portals only highlighted the top visited places in each city and nothing related to the profile of their visitors. Hence, showing that information pertinent to the demographic details of people who visit these cities was not available in the public domain. Based on our research, it is likely that such study has not been conducted for either Salt Lake City or Pasadena, which is likely responsible for the lack of it in the public domain as well. 

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Redding, California Competitors, Part 4

Both Redding, California and Eugene, Oregon mainly rely on digital marketing channels like blogs, banner ads, and social media. While Redding focuses more on its social media platforms, Eugene is focused on publishing a lot of videos that attract visitors. Detailed information on these digital marketing strategies have been entered into the attached spreadsheet.  
Redding, CaliforniaBLOG:
Redding, California has a tourism website called Visit Redding managed by Redding Visitors Bureau. 
Redding Visitors Bureau has a blog with catchy article titles like "The Best Waterfalls in Northern California."
Through its blog, Visit Redding is able to target potential visitors and educate people about the tourist attractions it offers. 
SOCIAL MEDIA: 
The city's tourism bureau also has a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube account. 
On YouTube, videos showing off the city's trails, lakes, and rivers are posted regularly.
More than 50 videos have been released by Visit Redding on YouTube, these videos have now garnered over 500,000 views on the platform.
One of the most viewed videos by Redding Visitors Bureau is titled "Redding - Where Fun Meets Adventure." 
The video, which now has 96,061 views, takes advantage of the fact that Redding is one is a top fishing town with well-known hiking trails. 
 Redding Visitors Bureau has 5,057 followers and 1,050 posts on Instagram, 3,923 followers on Twitter, and 30,511 followers on Facebook. 
On Instagram, the city publishes pictures of different landmarks, waterfalls, parks, and mountains several times a month.
On each Instagram post, several hashtags are used such as #CAtourism, #Redding, and #VisitCalifornia.
These hashtags increase visibility on Instagram and lead to higher engagement. 
On Twitter, Visit Redding describes the city as a "CA town with the giant sundial, 225+ miles of trails, 2 lakes, a river, 300 sunny days/year, & the West's best fishing." 
Similar pictures of the natural attractions in Redding are mirrored on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.  
Redding Visitors Bureau also organizes a lot of events which is promoted on its social media pages. 
BANNER ADS:
Redding Visitors Bureau leverages banner ads as a digital marketing strategy.
Most of its banner ads have "where fun meets adventure" on them.
Other taglines on these banner ads include "225+ miles of trail" and "Any Adventure! Any Day!" 
These banner ads help increase website traffic and draw in visitors.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Since Redding Visitors Bureau has started strategically marketing the city on social media, its impressions on social media have increased by more than 110%. 
In the 2017/2018 fiscal year, the city's social media impressions reached 1.78 million, compared to 840,408 the previous year.
Some non-digital marketing tactics employed by Redding Visitors Bureau include partnerships, organizing events, and sponsoring conferences.  
From its videos and general advertising tactics, it appears Redding Visitors Bureau targets cyclists, hikers, and adventure seekers. 
EUGENE, OREGONBLOG & WEBSITE TRAFFIC: 
 Eugene, Cascades & Coast is in charge of tourism in Lane County, where Eugene is located. 
The association has a blog where it publishes SEO-like articles about different landmarks and attractions in Eugene and other Lane County cities. 
A recent article titled "Discover Fall Hikes in the Eugene, Cascades & Coast Region" mentions Spencer Butte as one of the best places to hike in the city.
Eugene, Cascades & Coast includes its blog as part of its official website in order to fully maximize SEO. 
These blog articles helped increase the website's organic search by more than 7% to 500,000. 
Their website also had 700,000 unique visitors in 2018.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Eugene, Cascades & Coast is active on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. 
The association leverages influencers on these social media platforms.
Eugene, Cascades & Coast has 501 followers on Pinterest and categorizes pins by activity and type of traveler.
Some of its pin categories are "Camping & RV Travel," "Kids & Family Fun," and "Adventures." 
On Instagram, the association has 7,652 followers
 and 1,266 posts. 
Eugene Cascades Coast has 6,322 followers and 6,121 tweets on Twitter. 
On Twitter, they leverage hashtags to reach a wider audience. 

Eugene Cascades Coast has 65,763 followers on Facebook and maintains a 4.9 out of 5 rating on the platform.
Across all its social media platforms, Eugene Cascades Coast offers a glimpse of waterfalls, trails, rivers, and other attractions that visitors will get to experience in Eugene and other cities in Lane County. 
GO CAMPAIGN:
In 2016, Eugene, Cascades & Coast launched a "GO Campaign" to target more regional and local visitors.
The campaign, which is an ongoing marketing tactic, makes use of several digital marketing channels including social media and banners to strategically place ads in places that regional and local visitors can easily see. 
In Eugene specifically, Go Campaign was featured on radio stations and cable television, as well as, Pandora, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
People who click on the Go Campaign ad are redirected to a website with information on different activities in Eugene and other cities in Lane County. 
In 2018, the campaign led to 9.1 million impressions and 189,592 clicks with a 2.08% click through rate. 
VIDEOS:
 Eugene, Cascades & Coast reported that it fully utilized internal and external resources to shoot videos at 65 locations in Lane County. 
Publishing videos with new content helped attract more views. 
In Eugene, videos were shot at the Cascades Raptor Center, Mckenzie River Confluence, and Holiday Market among other events and locations.
These videos were published on YouTube and have garnered thousands of videos. 
Some of these videos have been presented to visitors at popular spots like the Eugene Airport and the Eugene Visitor Center. 
In total, Eugene, Cascades & Coast has 213,203 views on YouTube.
Banner Ads:
Eugene, Cascades & Coast leverages banner ads to grab the attention of potential visitors.
Most of its banner ads are related to the Go Campaign. 
Based on these banner ads, its main tagline is "Plan Your Getaway." 
Other taglines are "Discover Waterfall Wonders" and "Meet Inspiration."
TARGET AUDIENCE
According to Eugene, Cascades & Coast's annual report, they target millennial visitors due to the large university in Eugene. 
There are also videos of a lot of families which means this could be its target audience as well.
Generally, nature lovers are targeted, as evidenced by its pictures and videos on social media. 

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Redding, California Competitors, Part 5

Salt Lake City, Utah, and the City of Pasadena, California, both took advantage of the power of social media in this digital age to broaden their reach and promote their respective cities. They also launched and run several digital banners throughout the years. The messaging in both cities, Visit Salt Lake for Salt Lake City and Visit Pasadena for Pasadena City, is consistent all throughout their materials across different marketing channels. The details of their marketing strategies can also be found in the spreadsheet attached. 


SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
MESSAGING/TAGLINES
In partnership with Salt Lake County, Visit Salt Lake is a private and non-profit organization responsible for promoting Salt Lake City as a travel and convention destination. This NGO comprises over 650 individuals and businesses who support and promote Salt Lake City through membership with Visit Salt Lake. 
Aside from being the name of the agency, Visit Salt Lake has also become the city's tourism tagline and messaging as it is consistently present across several marketing channels. 

SOCIAL MEDIA
Visit Salt Lake has an active Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. The organization posts about events, tourist spots, adventurous things to do, food and restaurants, accommodations, visitor's guide, and articles from third-party sources about traveling in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake City as a whole. 
On their Facebook page, they always put a link about the event, adventure, hike, guide, and other similar contents they post, not necessarily to Visit Salt Lake's City's official website, but to other helpful websites as well, like The Planet D, Yelp, Seven Canyons Trust, and Natural Museum History of Utah. 
On their Instagram account, they use the hashtag #VisitSaltLake in many of their posts. They also encourage people to use the hashtag to give the organization permission to repost their photos on their social media accounts, of course crediting the photographer or the owner of the photo. 
Aside from retweeting relevant contents from other organizations and people, their Twitter account almost have the same content as their Facebook and Instagram pages. 
Visit Salt Lake City also has an active Pinterest account, with the last pin saved two weeks ago. Their Pinterest page gets 183,700 monthly visitors. They have Pinterest boards like Things to Do in Salt Lake, Activities for Kids, Hike Salt Lake, Salt Lake Eats, Bars & Nightlife, Cooking Elevated, Trip Planning, Connect Pass, BeUTAHful Salt Lake, Ski City, and others. 
Visit Salt Lake has 150 videos on YouTube with 286,250 total views. These videos feature Salt Lake City's tourist spots, interesting locals, restaurants, events, the food scene, the holiday season, testimonials, and a series of videos of their Stereotypes Be Damned campaign. This campaign was the response of what two players from the Golden State Warriors said in an ESPN story that "There's no nightlife in Utah" after traveling to the state for the NBA Playoffs. 
All their social media pages have a link to their official website. 

BLOGS/WEBSITES
Visit Salt Lake's official website has all the information a traveler might need, like things to do, events, restaurants & bars, and places to stay. It also offers guides on how to plan a trip and specific information on group travel for tour operators, student groups, international groups, LGBTQ groups, and genealogy groups. 
In line with Visit Salt Lake's Stereotypes Be Damned campaign, the organization published a series of articles highlighting the beer and brewery scene in the city, the nightlife, and the LGBTQ community among others. 
In addition, PCMA, an informational website in the business events industry, published a sponsored article promoting Salt Lake Utah on their website. 
This is also part of their Stereotypes Be Damned campaign. 

DISPLAY/BANNER ADS
Since 2014, Visit Salt Lake has launched and run 14 banner ads with the tagline and messaging Visit Salt Lake. 


PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
MESSAGING/TAGLINES
The Pasadena Center Operating Company (PCOC) is a non-profit organization created by the City of Pasadena to manage the city's convention center, civic auditorium, convention & visitors bureau, and their ice-skating center. Their website, tagline, and messaging is Visit Pasadena and this tagline has been consistently present across several marketing channels. 

SOCIAL MEDIA
One of the major marketing strategies of Visit Pasadena is building its brand presence in the digital sphere by providing robust content and encouraging engagement across multiple social media platforms. 
Visit Pasadena has 25,239 followers on Facebook, 16,800 on Instagram, and 6,884 on Twitter. Their posts are uniform across all these three social media platforms. They post about events, local restaurants and coffee houses, destinations, off-the-beaten-path spots, wine, artworks, holidays, and food. Additionally, they provide a link to their official website in each of their social media accounts. On their Instagram and Twitter accounts, they use the hashtag #VisitPasadena in many of their posts. 
On their Instagram page, they also utilized 'Stories' by featuring videos about food, essentials, happenings, hotels, shopping, and football. 
They also use Pinterest, though the last pin was saved a year ago. However, they still get 2,400 monthly visitors. Their boards include Things to Do in Pasadena, Pasadena Architecture, Celebrity Spotting in Pasadena, the Outdoors, Pasadena Food Scene, and the Arts among others. 
Visit Pasadena also has a YouTube page with 30 videos with a combined total view of 29,347. Their videos feature their convention centers, events, notable people, museums, arts, and festivals. 

WEBSITES
Their website has a travel guide and discover page where travelers can learn about where to eat, play, and stay and what to do. It also provides information on transportation around the city. Most importantly, it has recommended itineraries depending on how long a person is planning to visit the city as well as the purpose of the visit, like architectural treasures, memorable museums, and shopping excursions itineraries. 
A self-guided architectural tour brochure is also available on their website. 

DISPLAY/BANNER ADS
The City of Pasadena and Visit Pasadena have launched and run 87 banner ads. They also launched and ran separate banner ads specific for the city's convention center and civic auditorium. To date, they have launched and run 51 banner ads to promote their convention center and 15 banner ads to promote events in their civic auditorium. 

OTHER MARKETING INITIATIVES
In 2017, the Pasadena Center Operating Company (PCOC) also launched an app called Explore Pasadena to help interested individuals plan their trip to the city. The app is available in both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. 
Their advertisement for their convention center was placed in ten trade publications to promote the city as a meeting destination. These publications are Associations Now, California Meetings + Events, CVENT, Facilities and Destinations, Los Angeles Business Journal, Los Angeles Meeting Planner Guide, Meetings Today, Multiview, Smart Meetings, and Successful Meetings. 
The organization's sales team participated in over 30 sales events and trade shows across the United States to generate meeting leads, promote the city as a premier convention and meeting destination, and build relationships. 
The organization's Marketing and Communications Team is involved in ongoing targeted pitching, press trips, and media events. This resulted in 36 print and online articles with 108 million media impressions. 
During the Arroyo Seco Weekend, the organization put up a booth to promote brand awareness by engaging festival goers in a fun and memorable way. 
Their leisure advertisements were published in 16 prominent lifestyle and travel publications, such as AAA Westways, Sunset Magazine, Delta Sky, and Southwest Magazine. 
The organization distributed 100,000 copies of Pasadena "Summer and Winter Official Visitors Guide". 