ABOUT HOST OUR COAST
Modeled after the extremely successful "Island Reef Job" tourism promotion created by Tourism Queensland (islandreefjob.com), Host Our Coast is a summer promotion designed to use new media to showcase the parks, small towns, museums, and heritage sites of the Delmarva coast.
The partnership that created Host Our Coast includes Worcester County Tourism, Southern Delaware Tourism, the Rural Development Center at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, the Town of Berlin, OceanCity.com, Full City Media, and Delmarva Low-Impact Tourism Experiences (DLITE).
Host Our Coast started as an online contest in April 2009. 72 applicants competed to become the "host" through an online video and sample blog submission. After a thorough selection process, Paul Cox was announced as the Host Our Coast winner on June 17. Paul and girlfriend Melanie McLean will work as DLITE's summer travel journalists through mid-August 2009.
DLITE provided Paul and Melanie with a schedule of events, people, and places to visit on the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia and Southern Delaware. Adventures included kayaking, cycling, hiking, wildlife watching, beachcombing, and fishing - if it involved water and sun and fun - Paul and Melanie were there!
At hostourcoast.com, Paul and Melanie provided daily online videos, vlogs, blog posts, photos, and online announcements of their adventures through Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.
In between their travels, Paul and Melanie lived for free in the luxurious Makai Condominiums on 42nd Street in Ocean City, Maryland. The Makai is within a short walking distance of the beach and ocean, and several local summer fun hotspots and clubs. In addition to the free luxury accommodations offered by the Makai, Paul received $10,000 for a two-month contract as DLITE's summer travel journalist.
By the end of August 2009, Host Our Coast had more than 3,000 regular online followers and 616 Facebook fans. Articles written about Host Our Coast were valued at more than $50,000.
In November 2009, Host Our Coast was honored with two awards at the 29th Annual Maryland Travel and Tourism Summit held in Ocean City. Host Our Coast was the only tourism initiative in the State of Maryland to win both a Maryland Tourism Award and a Maryland Tourism Council Award.
Governor Martin O'Malley presented the Host Our Coast partnership with the prestigious �Visit Maryland Award,� one of only seven Maryland Tourism Awards distributed through the Maryland Office of Tourism, and the only award presented to an Eastern Shore tourism venture. Recipients of the Visit Maryland Award have demonstrated creativity and consistency in promotional efforts to showcase Maryland travel.
The Maryland Tourism Council (MTC) presented the Professional �Impact Award� to Host Our Coast for leading a new initiative that has had a major impact. The MTC is a statewide membership organization representing all private-sector segments of the hospitality and tourism industry. The MTC gives six Professional Awards and eight Marketing Awards to members of the MTC nominated by their peers. Of the 14 MTC awards, Host Our Coast was one of five Eastern Shore tourism professionals or programs to be recognized.
