In the rural Northeast Kingdom (NEK) of Vermont, few communities or businesses working on their own can provide the full range of activities, lodging, food and amenities—or the effective marketing—to attract visitors in today’s competitive travel market.

But by working together, Kingdom communities can offer an authentic and diverse “lifetime of experiences” to make the NEK a favorite visitor destination and drive new opportunity to its communities and businesses.

In 2016, building on the destination development work the Center has done with Maine Woods communities, we facilitated a regional group of Chambers of Commerce and non-profits concerned with tourism in the Kingdom to develop the Northeast Kingdom Regional Tourism Marketing Partnership. The Partnership exists to attract visitors to the Northeast Kingdom by packaging and promoting the collective visitor experiences the Kingdom offers.

In Summer 2019, with resources secured by the Center, the group launched the getNEKedVT regional marketing campaign. The campaign is designed to introduce people to the region by creating social media buzz and driving visitors to NEK businesses and events through fun and engaging social media, self-guided adventures, prizes and more.

To complement the digital marketing effort, the Center has provided professional training to more than 50 small businesses in the region to help them improve the reach and sophistication of their digital marketing. A USDA Rural Business Development Grant is funding this technical training.

The Center’s work with the NEK regional tourism partnership is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture – Rural Development, Northern Regional Border Commission, Economic Development Administration, and the Vermont Community Foundation.