The Iowa Department of Economic Development, in spite of budget cuts, will continue to run a television advertising campaign in major Midwest markets. Nancy Landess, manager of the D.E.D’s Iowa Tourism office, says they’ve spent close to a million dollars on ads encouraging tourists from neighboring states to visit the Hawkeye state.
“Chicago and Minneapolis are markets that we have targeted, and we have had television ads in those markets the last two years,” Landess said. ” We plan to have television again in those two markets again next spring.” But, she says they will cut the program by $100,000 as a result of the governor’s 10% across the board cut.
Landess says the ads feature Iowa communities. “Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Dubuque…they are all investing some of their own advertising budget…we do some filming in their communities and then they are the featured attractions in our ads that are placed in these out of state markets,” Landess said. The tourism division will also save money by printing fewer copies of the Iowa Travel Guide. Budget planners warn that the reductions will result in fewer tourists spending money in Iowa.