The Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau (ETCB) won four Traverse Awards at the recent Kentucky Travel Industry Association Conference (KTIA). ETCB brought home a bronze for their “Bourbon’s Backyard” marketing campaign, a silver for their website, www.touretown.com, and two gold awards for the “Hold Your Horses” summer marketing campaign. 

The Traverse Awards are judged by a panel of out-of-state travel and tourism industry experts. Award criteria include: concept, creativity, results and impact. Over 110 entries were submitted from throughout Kentucky for the competition. 

According to KTIA President & CEO Hank Phillips, “This year’s Traverse Awards are especially significant since they were not presented last year because of the cancellation of our conference due to the coronavirus. Therefore, the awards span a pre-pandemic period as well as the period during which the tourism industry was being devastated by the pandemic economic crisis. Whether before or during the pandemic, the entries reflected the enormous creativity and marketing savvy that has propelled tourism to being a premier driver of the Kentucky economy and the source of jobs and enhanced quality of life for Kentucky families.”

“KTIA is a 900-member association full of incredibly talented industry leaders, to be selected out of the 110 applicants and be awarded these four Traverse Awards is an honor.” Stated Janna Clark, ETCB Executive Director. 

The “Hold Your Horses” marketing campaign reminded summer visitors that our local hospitality industry, although challenged during the height of travel season, was working hard to stay staffed up and to serve customers safely. The campaign included a video message, tips for visitors to stay busy around town during downtimes, local trivia and virtual puzzles for the whole family to enjoy while waiting on a table at a local eatery or in drive-thru lanes. The project won two gold Traverse Awards. The first was for the overall campaign and the second was for distinction in their category. 

“Asking our visiting families to remember to hold your horses was a request of them to be patient and kind to our hospitality workers. We were blown away by how our visitors responded and really stepped up to do just that,” shared Clark. 

Etown Tourism's four traverse awards they won at the annual Kentucky Travel Industry Association Conference