I love great promotions and in that spirit, I’d like to tip my hat to my Travel & Tourism counterpart Tai Freligh, Director Alice DeSouza and the rest of their team for this tremendous contest. Great job folks!

STATE TOURISM OFFICIALS ANNOUNCE WINNER OF NH DREAM VACATION PROMOTION

Concord, NH, September 4, 2009 – The New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development has announced the winner of the New Hampshire Dream Vacation Promotion held this summer.  Kristen Bucaria, of Smithtown, N.Y., won the contest for her “LakeLover” entry: a photo of herself waterskiing on Lake Winnipesaukee holding the “I Love it Here” sign.  Bucaria, who is 19 years old, has vacationed with her family every summer for a week on Lake Winnipesaukee since she was three months old.  She wins the prize of a custom-designed New Hampshire Dream Vacation worth $2,500.

“Lake Winnipesaukee is my favorite place in the world!” said Bucaria, an enthusiastic sophomore at Bucknell University and a member of its swim team.  “We’ve never won anything like this before and my family is so excited – we always can’t wait to come back to New Hampshire, but now next summer will be even more special!’

The Division of Travel and Tourism kicked off the contest in early May at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism at Waterville Valley, and it ran through August 16.  According to officials, hundreds of participants from around the country joined in the fun, uploading more than 700 photos.

“I entered the contest for the fun of it really; we saw the I Love it Here cards in our realtor’s office when we picked up the keys to our rental,” said Bucaria.  “I taped up the sign with clear packing tape so it wouldn’t get wet and tucked it into my life vest. Dad drove the boat. My brother was the spotter. My mom snapped the photo! And I got really tired arms from holding the sign above my head – but it was worth it! It really was a family effort – and we’ll enjoy the prize as a family too!”

According to state tourism officials, the NH Dream Vacation contest encouraged NH residents and visitors to get out and explore the state, snap photos with the “I Love it Here” signs, and upload them to the website.

“This contest was one of the most popular promotions I have ever been a part of,” said Alice DeSouza, Director of the New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development.  “It engaged residents and visitors to express what they love about New Hampshire; it energized our hospitality partners including inns, B&Bs, restaurants and attractions who came up with creative ways to promote the contest; and it even generated a great deal of excitement from celebrities with connections to New Hampshire!  We also used social media networks for the first time to promote this contest, and we had outstanding results, especially on our new Facebook page.”

During the four months that the contest ran, the www.nhdreamvacation.com website saw more than 44,000 visits and over 863,000 page views.  The vast majority of entrants were New Hampshire residents, followed by Massachusetts.  There were also entrants from several other states, including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Maine and New York.

The top 25 vote-getting photos, including the winner, can be viewed at the contest website.  The NH Dream Vacation photo galleries, including the top 25 and all of the celebrity photos, will remain on the fan page at www.facebook.com/VisitNH.  You can also view the photo on the VisitNH Flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26514027@N04/3886559129/.