In an effort to entice people to its chicken-lined streets and
quaint antique shops, San Juan Bautista is pulling out all the
stops to push tourism.
In an effort to entice people to its chicken-lined streets and quaint antique shops, San Juan Bautista is pulling out all the stops to push tourism.
The San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce and several other local organizations are collaborating to attract tourism and consequently more money to the self-proclaimed “City of History.”
“We’re really promoting all the shows and events and doing more advertising to promote people coming to the city,” said Jennifer Shultz, executive director of the San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce.
Tourism in the city has declined over the past couple years because of a general decline throughout the state due to a depressed economy and rising gas prices, Shultz said. The chamber has been working with the San Juan Bautista Downtown Merchants Association, the City of San Juan Bautista and the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce to reverse the trend by using creative advertising strategies and collaborative efforts, Shultz said.
“People can’t decide where they want to go so they end up staying home instead of doing day trips,” she said.
San Juan hosted a media day Thursday, inviting media personnel from all over the Central Coast and Bay Area to tour the city, Shultz said.
Six media professionals attended the event.
“We got a little magazine, a little radio, a little newspaper,” she said. “We’re working on ways to promote the town and let people know about it.”
San Juan is also hoping to entice travelers to the town by buying a billboard located on Highway 101 just before the San Juan exit at Highway 156, said Allen Thomas, president of the San Juan Bautista Downtown Merchants Association and owner of San Juan Mercantile and Needlework.
About 40 local merchants have committed to donating $50 a month for one year toward the billboard, which will cost $2,500 a month to rent, Thomas said. The Chamber of Commerce and the city also committed to donating money. An exact figure hasn’t been decided on yet, Thomas said.
The Association is planning on asking several large local corporations for donations, which will more than put the group over the top toward its fundraising goals.
“It’s pretty much guaranteed. We have a little ways to go, but not much,” Thomas said. “Within the next two weeks to a month, at the most, we should get all the money to put it up.”
A billboard can create an immediate tourism impact for the city, Thomas said.
“I can safely say from advertising people I’ve talked to that we will feel the impact just from traffic in 30 days,” he said.
Because of the city’s short supply of overnight accommodations, the chamber is promoting short day trips by advertising close to home around the Central Coast and Bay Area at first and then broadening its reach, Shultz said.
“I don’t know when we’ll focus on the entire state or different states,” she said. “We have to start close and work out. We can’t promote people spending the whole weekend if there’s nowhere for them to stay.”
The San Juan chamber and the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce’s collaborative effort is in the hopes of encouraging cross-tourism between the two cities, said Theresa Kiernan, executive director of the San Benito chamber.
Any groups that call either chamber to spend a day touring the city are immediately referred to visit the other city as well, Kiernan said.
“San Juan Bautista is getting a day itinerary together where a group will start off in San Juan and find their way over to Hollister,” Kiernan said. “And ones based in Hollister we are trying to get over to San Juan Bautista.”
