By Donna Benfield

Call 356-5700  Dress:  Your favorite sports attire.

·       Hosting a Ribbon Cutting at the new Twizlberry Yogurt Shop! Welcome to another great new business in Rexburg.

·       Attending the annual Chamber Days at the Legislature.  A great chamber trip for any business interested in attending meetings and workshops with the Idaho Chamber Alliance.  A chance to visit on a one-to-one basis with legislators, Governor Otter, and his cabinet members.  Call 356-5700 if you would like to attend next year.

·       Using chamber networking opportunities, which continues to be one of the biggest benefits other chamber businesses mention when asked why they join the chamber.

·       Hosting a regional tourism seminar sponsored by the State of Idaho Tourism Department.

·       If you are trying to attract new customers consider the following:

·       In 2008, 31.7 million people visited Idaho – 57% or 18.1 million came for day trips.  Overnight trips were 43% or 13.6 million.

·       85% of visitors to Idaho reside in the West.  35% are Idaho residents, followed by Washington, Utah, California, Montana and Oregon.

·       Top cities include Spokane, Boise, Idaho Falls/Pocatello, Salt Lake City and Twin Falls.

·       82% of visitors travel to Idaho in a personal car or truck.  Only 14% arrive by plane and 9% by RV or camper.

·       63% travel between April and September.

·       22% travel between January and March while only 15% visit between October and December.

·       45% are visiting friends and relatives while 12% cite the outdoors as their trip purpose.

·       The average stay in Idaho is 2.7 nights.

We will have more travel /tourism facts for you next month.  Hopefully we can benefit from these travelers coming through Rexburg for many different reasons.

May business be good………………Donna