With the summer travel season under way, a new visitors’ reference guide has been released to help steer visitors around the city.
The El Dorado Visitors’ Info is a companion piece to the El Dorado Insider, the city’s quarterly tourism, visitors and newcomers’ guide.
The 16-page pamphlet highlights lodging accommodations, restaurants, local festivals, live shows and more.
The guide was produced by the Diamond Agency, the ad agency of record for the El Dorado Advertising and Promotion Commission, who released the new pamphlet.
During an A&P meeting on June 5, Carol McDade, manager of the Diamond Agency, said the idea for the new guide came from meetings that were held earlier this year with local groups and employers, including Main Street El Dorado, the Murphy Arts District, Murphy USA, the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce, front-line representatives in the hospitality industry and others.
McDade said a survey to gather feedback on questions and comments those entities often hear from visitors yielded “some surprising answers.”
The new guide condenses information in the El Dorado Insider and serves as a digest item to answers questions that are frequently asked by visitors, she said.
For instance, for a family who is accompanying a spouse on a business trip, the guide will direct them to activities for children, including the new MAD Playscape.
Bob Tarren, chief marketing officer for MAD, referred to the 2019 Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism, which will be held in El Dorado next March.
He asked if a thinner version of the El Dorado Insider could be mailed in advance to those who represent the state’s tourism industry and who are expected to attend the conference, which draws hundreds of people to host cities each year.
McDade said then that the new visitors’ info guide was expected to be ready in a couple of weeks.
“Earlier this year we were approached by several organizations and businesses expressing a need for a quick reference guide for visitors,” McDade said. “They sought the essentials for short-term stays in our city, such as lodging, dining, shopping and entertainment information.”
With a seasonal calendar of events and listings for dining, lodging, meeting spaces, entertainment and area attractions, the guide is designed as a year-round resource for visitors, whether they are coming to El Dorado for business or pleasure.
The guide will be available at City Hall, the Main Street office, MAD, the El Dorado Conference Center, South Arkansas Arts Center, South Arkansas Historical Preservation Society and all 13 Arkansas Welcome Centers around the state.
For copies of the guide, call the chamber of commerce at 870-863-6113. The guide will soon be available for online viewing at www.goeldorado.com.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at [email protected].