ADVOCACY STRATEGIES & TOOLKIT

KTIA has an excellent lobbying team and the management team focuses a great deal of time and attention on advocacy. However, the essential ingredient in KTIA’s advocacy success is grassroots involvement by its members. There are numerous ways in which that involvement can occur and the association works very hard to equip members with information, strategies and tools to enable that involvement to occur.

Described below is information and a tool kit for use by members. As new resources are developed they will be added. Please make every effort to be engaged in and do your part to protect and further the interests and issues of Kentucky’s travel and tourism industry.   

Local Meetings with Legislators

No other strategy can match the results that individuals meeting with legislators can deliver. It is a must for KTIA members to meet with legislators in-district and hopefully on-site at a travel industry location. Although the best approach is for constituents to reach out to legislators with the invitation, if KTIA can assist with scheduling, please let us know.

A link to a detailed legislator meeting "how-to" document is available below in the toolkit. Do not be concerned by the document's length as we opted to provide ample detail for your use. The toolkit also includes a leave behind document for legislators.

Legislator Meetings - Organizer's Guidance & Resources

Leveraging Free Media

There are several opportunities for doing this: 

  • Speaking Opportunities – Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Women’s clubs and most importantly Chambers of Commerce represent excellent opportunities to tell tourism’s local and statewide stories and to reach legislators, local officials and business leaders with our message. Local tourism directors and other key local tourism leaders should make themselves available to speak. The CVB is best positioned to take the lead on contacting organizations to schedule speaking opportunities. KTIA’s President & CEO is available to make these presentations as his schedule permits. 
  • Op-Eds & Letters to Editors (LTE) – Opinion columns and LTEs submitted to local newspapers are important communication tools for explaining to the community at large, elected officials and local thought leaders the economic importance of tourism, how the local industry functions and how tourism marketing funds are received and used. KTIA is available to assist members in the development of op-eds and LTEs.
  • Special Promotions – Consider local promotional offers, PR actions or community events that that will draw local attention to the importance of tourism.

Social Media 

KTIA carries out a robust social media plan aimed to continually press our tourism message in the public domain. This effort is being pushed through our KTIA Twitter (@KyKTIA) and Facebook (@kytravelindustryassoc) accounts. Members who have not done so should begin following KTIA on both platforms and re-tweet and share KTIA messages. Additionally, we encourage all members to integrate local information and use similar messaging on their respective accounts to further drive home these points.