Allegany County Tourism Request for Proposals: Canal Place Heritage Area Branding Project

ADDENDUM II – 08/06/2018

*** Data Pulled from Allegany County Tourism/Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority FY 2019-2020 Canal Place Heritage Area (CPHA) Marketing Plan.

Marketing Positioning Summary

The Canal Place Heritage Area (CPHA) is the nexus of transportation heritage in Allegany County. Including the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, C&O Canal National Historical Park Visitor Center and Museum, mile marker “0” for the National Road, located behind Canal Place by George Washington’s Fort Cumberland headquarters, and the terminus for both the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal Towpath bike trails, the CPHA is a hub of cultural and heritage tourism and passive recreation activities.

Target audiences for the heritage area are currently defined as outdoor enthusiasts seeking heritage and cultural experiences. Target audiences live within a 150 mile radius from the heritage area in Maryland, District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. According to a 2016 Economic Impact of Tourism in Maryland study, produced by Tourism Economics and completed by the Maryland Office of Tourism Development, 52.5% of visitors to Allegany County were day travelers and 47.5% were overnight travelers.

Strengths

Location

The CPHA is ideally situated within 150 miles of five larger urban city centers: Winchester, VA (63.2 mi.); Morgantown, WV (74.4 mi.); Pittsburgh, PA (106 mi.); Washington, DC (137 mi.); and Baltimore, MD (139 mi.). Most heritage attractions within the CPHA are conveniently seen from and located off I-68 and US 220, a scenic route between Pennsylvania and West Virginia. According to State Highway Administration’s statistics, I-68 sees roughly 50,000 travelers a day through Cumberland. US 40, the old National Road, serves as an alternate, scenic byway right through the heritage area from Baltimore, MD. The heart of the CPHA houses mile marker “0” for the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP Trail) and connects to the historic 184.5 mile C&O Canal Towpath, a system of two adjoining recreational bike trails extending from Pittsburgh, PA, to Washington, DC. The 2016 GAP Trail Usage Report, released by the Allegheny Trail Alliance, estimated, in total, 1.1 million riders on the GAP Trail, with local counts at the 1.5 mile marker in Cumberland totaling 36,462 riders passing through Cumberland between March 26, 2016 and December 6, 2016. The CPHA also includes the boarding station for the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, which transported 31,922 riders in 2017; Cumberland’s Historic District, which includes Washington Street’s historical residential district; Cumberland’s Main Street District in the Historic City Center; and Cumberland’s Arts and Entertainment District.

Products

C&O Canal National Historical Park Visitor Center and Museum (Visitors Center): Housed in the historic 1913 Western Maryland Railway Station, the Visitors Center explores Cumberland’s rich history with the C&O Canal. The western terminus of the 184.5 mile-long shipping waterway, Cumberland served as the beginning point of much of the heavy shipping along the canal and as a major boat-building center for the canal company. It was here that George’s Creek coal was transferred to canal boats for shipment to Washington, DC, and here that the boats returned nearly empty to begin the process over again.

The museum portion of the Visitors Center contains an “orientation area” where guests enter the museum through the portal of the Paw Paw tunnel, hear familiar drips of water as they pass through the corridor, and step back in time to absorb the history of the C&O Canal. In the main exhibit, guests can tour a three-quarter size section of a C&O Canal boat and learn about the mules, typical cargo, and the day-to-day life of the canal families. Guests can also view a replica coal mine entrance, a model lock, and exhibits on boat building and Cumberland as a crossroad. Exhibits include interactive displays.

Western Maryland Scenic Railroad (WMSR): The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is a heritage excursion railroad, transporting passengers on a scenic ride from the Western Maryland Station at Canal Place in Cumberland, MD, to the Frostburg Depot in Frostburg, MD, and back. The excursion follows the ex-Western Maryland Railway line proceeding northwest from Cumberland through “the Narrows,” a deep water gap formed by the passage of Wills Creek between Haystack Mountain and Wills Mountain, and continues up the Allegheny Front through a water gap formed by Jennings Run, passes Mt. Savage, and terminates at the former Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P) Depot in Frostburg. The three-hour scenic excursion features themed runs including the Murder Mystery Series, Moonshine and Craft Beer Trains, a first-class dining car, Rail-Trail excursions to accommodate GAP Trail and C&O Towpath bike riders, and a “Hands On the Throttle” experience where guests get the opportunity to operate the train.

Transportation Heritage Exhibits: The Canal Place Heritage Area is full of local history museums, rich with colonial history and well-organized displays of transportation, industrial, and social history. Museums and displays include the Allegany Museum, which includes collections specific to the Nemacolin Trail, National Road, B&O Railroad, and the C&O Canal and will soon have an entire first floor exhibit that traces the history of the National Road; Gordon- Roberts House, owned consecutively by families involved with the oversight of the C&O Canal and the building of railroads; and George Washington’s Headquarters and National Road Monument, a commemorative area at Riverside Park that includes the last remaining structure of Fort Cumberland (a one-room cabin used by Washington as a young aide to General Braddock) and a newly constructed National Road Bicentennial Monument that commemorates mile marker “0” on our nation’s first federally funded national highway.

Cultural Product: The CPHA boasts a variety of cultural programs, venues, and events focused on the social and cultural history of the area including state designated Main Street District and Arts and Entertainment District, a festival and events grounds at Canal Place, Allegany Arts Council, two community theatres, art museums, history museums, art galleries, outdoor music programming, the Heritage Days Festival and Whiskey Rebellion, the inaugural River and Rails Festival, as well as other smaller events and festivals throughout the year. The largest heritage related event, Heritage Days Festival, will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in June 2018. A partnership and showcase of heritage attractions, Heritage Days Festival is a weekend-long celebration complete with music, craft vendors, plays, reenactments, and the newly added Whiskey Rebellion.

Many of these events, programs, and venues attract tens of thousands of visitors annually and offer a robust and ever-evolving cultural experience for visitors.

Leisure and Recreation: The CPHA boasts the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Towpath bike trails. These trails are an internationally esteemed system of trails, with the GAP Trail receiving accolades from the Washington Post to the New York Times and awards from Bicycling Magazine’s “Top Rail Trails Every Cyclist Should Ride” to National Geographic’s “One of the Top Fall Trips in the World.” Each year, the GAP trail sees 1.1 million riders, and according to 2016 trail counts, 36,462 riders pass through the CPHA on the trail. The C&O Canal Historical National Park also provides primitive camping amenities along the C&O Canal Towpath portion of the trail. A long-term goal for the area is to develop the riverfront along Cumberland’s portion of the Potomac River to allow river access to recreationists for canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding, float trips, and more.

According to the United Nations World Travel Organization, global cultural tourism is forecast to increase by 15% percent in coming years. The Travel Industry Association of America states that “roughly 80% of the 150,000,000+ adults who travel more than 50 miles from their homes can be considered cultural tourists… and 30% of adults state that specific arts or a cultural or heritage event influenced their choice of a destination on their last trip.” Heritage and cultural tourism is on the rise, and TripAdvisor listed Historical and Heritage Tours as the number one fastest growing experience category for US travelers in 2017. Allegany County Tourism recognizes this important trend for heritage tourism and is committed to implementing a process that will give Allegany County Tourism and the Canal Place Heritage Area a strong brand positioning to capture cultural and heritage travelers.

The first phase of this marketing plan is to complete an essential brand audit that will identify the Canal Place Heritage Area’s brand and market positioning. This audit will identify the key markets for effective marketing strategies and activities. What we do know of the Canal Place Heritage Area is that it’s an immersive travel experience that boasts historical and cultural experiences with passive recreation activities. The following information provides a summary of the markets and audiences that are currently targeted.

Market Segmentation Markets

The primary markets for the Canal Place Heritage Area include heritage travelers seeking cultural and outdoor recreational activities, located within a 150 mile radius from the heritage area in Maryland, District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. According to a 2016 Economic Impact of Tourism in Maryland study, produced by Tourism Economics and completed by the Maryland Office of Tourism Development, 52.5% of visitors to Allegany County were day travelers and 47.5% were overnight travelers.

Audiences

Data collected from the C&O Canal National Historical Park Visitor Center and Museum, as well as data collected from the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, the Allegany Museum, and other attractions within the heritage area concludes that our target audience is currently defined as outdoor enthusiasts seeking heritage and cultural experiences. Women were typically targeted as the decision makers for couples or families, and the target age range was 28 – 55. Through analyzing visitor data, heritage travelers came to Allegany County for experiences associated with the Great Allegheny Passage (36,000 visitors in 2016), Western Maryland Scenic Railroad (32,000 visitors in 2017), and the C&O Canal Historical National Park Museum (11,000 visitors in 2017).

The C&O Canal Historical National Park Visitor Center saw 23,522 visitors in 2017, representing visitors from all 50 states and 35 countries. The top five states with visitor representation were Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio. According to the data, 73% of visitors to the C&O Canal National Historical Park Visitor Center in 2017 inquired about heritage related tourism activities such as the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, Canal Museum, Historic Walking Tours, etc.