ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The State of New Mexico is striking gold in ‘the Golden State.’
“There’s now a heavy presence of New Mexico true in California,” said New Mexico Tourism Department Communications Director Cody Johnson. After a successful entry into the Los Angeles market in 2021, NM True expanded to the city by the bay.
“We’ve noticed a lot of high-value visitation coming from California, so we wanted to increase our investment,” said Johnson.
He said the department has wanted to advertise in the San Francisco market for years but didn’t have the resources to do it effectively. However, thanks to some money from the 2023 legislative session, the department launched its first winter campaign in the San Francisco Bay Area from October 2023 to February 2024. Numbers from the campaign show the investment is already paying off.
“Something we’ve noticed is that visitors from California tend to fly when they travel a little bit more, and people who fly tend to spend a little bit more when they’re on vacation as well,” said Johnson.
According to the Tourism Department, surveys show the San Francisco campaign influenced about 20,000 trips from the Bay Area to New Mexico. It also shows the average visitor from the Bay Area spends $1,700 in the state, creating a total economic impact of about $34.3 million over the course of the campaign. Johnson said for every dollar spent in advertising, $52 was returned to the state.
“That’s economic impact for the state that we would not have seen if we were not advertising in San Francisco,” he said. It’s supporting the Land of Enchantment in a meaningful way by boosting the state’s economy.
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“Bringing in visitors who do not live here to the state, welcome them in, show that they can have a good time in New Mexico, they can experience culture. They can experience cuisine,” said Johnson.
NM True is in LA, San Francisco, and San Diego, with advertisements seeing the most success in airports. The ads can also be seen on digital platforms. NM True is already planning another investment for a spring and summer campaign in the Bay Area.
