Marketing Tourism For
The Navajo Nation
At the request of Utah Navajo Industries and the Economic Development Office of the Navajo Nation, I was honored to develop a program for marketing tourism to Monument Valley and the San Juan Marina on Lake Powell.
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is one of the most photographed tourist destinations in Arizona, and the San Juan Marina (which is unfortunately now closed) was located in a remarkably beautiful but extremely remote area of the Navajo Nation.
Challenges
As I started working on this project I was confronted with three daunting challenges:
- The marina was a brand new and totally unknown vacation destination.
- It was located more than 100 miles distant from any potential customer market, and
- No funds were available to support a marketing program.
Research
I researched the possibility of obtaining federal or tribal grant funding and quickly determined that was not going to happen. Next, I contacted media in the marina’s likely feeder markets and (fortunately) found that local radio stations were interested in creating marketing marriages. Several agreed to provide publicity, advertising and promotions in exchange for Monument Valley lodging and Lake Powell houseboat vacations.
Strategy
I structured a number of partnerships for marketing tourism to these remote areas of the Navajo Nation. We partnered with Goulding’s Lodge in Monument Valley, several radio stations in potential feeder markets, the Economic Development office of the Navajo Nation, and Utah Navajo Industries.
The San Juan Marina and Goulding’s Lodge provided our media partners with a vacation adventure package that included guest rooms at Goulding’s and houseboat rentals at the Marina.
Utah Navajo Industries and the Economic Development Office provided development and start-up funding. And, our media partners (in feeder markets) provided San Juan Marina with thousands of ads and on-air promotion for more than 100 contests to win San Juan Marina vacations.
Click to view the Monument Valley and San Juan Marina marketing brochure.
Results
San Juan Marina created well-paying jobs for Navajo workers and produced an operating profit during its first year. The marketing strategy generated radio advertising and promotional activities valued at more than $400,000 during the first season. The project increased tourism to this remote corner of the Navajo Nation for several years before it was eventually forced to close due to siltation of Lake Powell’s San Juan River arm.