2014 was record year for Vermilion Parish Tourist Commission

This past year was a record year for the Vermilion Parish Tourist Commission. Thousands visited our parish, our website and asked for more information about our unique part of the world. Here’s a look at some of the highlights.
Tourism in Vermilion Parish received a boost when the Vermilion Parish received an additional $500,000 Gulf Tourism and Seafood Promotion Grant from BP to market our parish. This was the final round of grants that the Tourist Commission received from BP. Through this grant, VPTC was able to place 51 ads in 24 state, regional and national publications, ran internet ads on TourLouisiana.com, VisitSouth.com, LouisianaTravel.com and through the Eco-Tourism network, run television ads throughout Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas and produce five more parish videos that are available for viewing on our website and YouTube channel.
In addition to increased advertising, VPTC helped 30 parish festivals and events with their advertising efforts. From the BP grant, $65,085.00 was granted to qualifying festivals and events to help promote their event to a larger and wider audience. In August, two representatives from the Vermilion Parish Tourist Commission attended Congres Mondial Acadien in Canada where they were able to inform festival participants about south Louisiana and Vermilion Parish. Other marketing efforts included the update and production of the Vermilion Parish Visitors Guide, Vermilion Parish Culinary Trails, Vermilion Parish Calendar of Events, recipe cards (printed in English and French), Points of Interest Maps and the Vermilion Cultural Corridor brochure.
According to official tourism figures, VPTC had a total of 48,987 inquiries for 2014. This figure represents 1056 visitors coming to the Visitor Center; 699 call-ins; 2298 website requests; 4,4871 requests from e-mail and ads placed in regional and national publications. 45,391 new people visited the tourism website, www.MostCajun.com, with a total of 202,325 interacting with our site in 2014. Walk-in visitors included people from all over the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, New Zealand, Switzerland, Brazil, Norway, The Netherlands and Germany.
For more information, contact VPTC at 898-6600 or info@vermilion.org. The Tourist Commission office is located at 1905 Veterans Memorial Drive in Abbeville and is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a..m- 4 pm and Friday from 8 a.m.-3 p.m.