Tourism is the engine of Page’s economy, and the market is more competitive than it has been in years. As visitor patterns normalize after several exceptional years, the City’s marketing strategy for FY27 is built around a clear goal: converting the millions of travelers who already pass through Page into overnight guests, and filling rooms during the spring and fall shoulder seasons when local businesses need it most.
Here is where the City’s tourism promotion dollars are going this year, and what that work looks like in practice.
Where the Dollars Go
The City’s core tourism advertising budget for FY27 is approximately $324,000, allocated roughly 60 percent to domestic markets and 40 percent to international markets. That split reflects how Page’s visitors actually arrive: domestic road-trip travelers from Phoenix, Las Vegas, Southern California, and Salt Lake City make up the fastest-responding segment, while international travelers, who historically account for a majority of Page’s peak visitation, stay longer and spend more per trip.
International spending covers nine markets, timed to each country’s trip-planning season. Campaigns on major booking platforms run in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, India, and Japan, with a Mexico campaign timed for January and February ahead of Semana Santa travel. A dedicated China program and the Brand USA partnership round out the international effort.
Domestic spending is weighted toward television media partnerships, booking platforms, and digital advertising, with print, billboards, and radio in supporting roles.
Advertising Where Decisions Are Made
Page enjoys near-universal awareness among Southwest travelers. Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, and Lake Powell put the city on the map long ago. The decisions still in play are whether a traveler stays the night, and whether one night becomes two. That is why a large share of the budget goes to booking platforms like TripAdvisor, Booking.com, and Priceline, where travelers are actively choosing where to sleep, and why campaigns are more weighted to shoulder-season booking windows rather than the summer peak, when Page’s hotels largely fill on their own.
Partnerships stretch these dollars further, and the math is significant. The Arizona Office of Tourism Rural Co-op matches the City’s spending dollar for dollar, up to $50,000 in matching value, effectively doubling placements like TripAdvisor. The Brand USA cooperative delivers approximately $4 in advertising value for every $1 the City invests in international markets. In FY26, these cooperative programs turned roughly $85,000 in City investment into approximately $240,000 in advertising and promotional value, and both partnerships continue in FY27.
Earned Media: Telling Page’s Story on the Air
Some of the most valuable exposure Page receives is not purchased ad space but earned coverage. This summer, Channel 3 Las Vegas will film four Road Trippin’ segments in Page, showcasing the destination to one of our largest drive markets. The City’s morning news partnerships in Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas include in-studio interviews and on-location segments, and City staff regularly participate in news and podcast interviews that keep Page in front of travelers year round. A single produced segment often delivers more airtime and credibility than an equivalent spot buy, which is why media partnerships anchor the broadcast budget.
Digital Passports: Turning Visits into Longer Stays
The City now operates two free mobile passport experiences. The Mother Road to the Wonder Road passport, launched for the Route 66 Centennial, guides travelers north from Flagstaff along the U.S. 89 corridor through historic sites, Indigenous culture, scenic viewpoints, and engineering landmarks, with optional audio narration and support for multiple languages. The newer 48 Hours in Page passport gives visitors a ready-made two-day itinerary, from sunrise at Horseshoe Bend to evening skies over the lake, encouraging the day visitor to become an overnight guest. Both passports reward check-ins with points and prizes, require no app, and are promoted in regional visitor publications this fall and winter.
Promoting Recreation at Lake Powell
Lake Powell remains one of the great recreation destinations in the country, and the City is actively promoting boating, fishing, paddling, and on-the-water experiences alongside accurate, current information about lake access and conditions. Fall and spring are some of the best times of year to be on the water, and that message is central to the City’s shoulder-season campaigns.
Billboards, Print, and the Drive Corridors
Billboard placements along key approach corridors keep Page top of mind for road-trip travelers already in the region, and print placements in Arizona Highways, the Grand Circle Planner, regional visitor guides, and Experience AZ, reach travelers in their planning windows.
Building on the Foundation Laid in FY26
FY26 was a challenging year for Page’s tourism economy, as covered in the City’s June economic report, and it was also the year the City built the marketing foundation this plan runs on. A comprehensive domestic and international marketing plan established clear priorities, target audiences, and performance measures for the first time. Even in a softer market, visitation to VisitPageAZ.com grew approximately 50 percent through initiatives including the Grand Circle Interactive Map, paid social campaigns, and expanded destination content, a sign that traveler interest in Page remains strong even when bookings are harder won. The City also resumed familiarization tours for media, travel writers, influencers, and tourism partners, generating earned media coverage for Page, and launched Tourism and Economic Development newsletters now reaching more than 10,000 subscribers. The digital passport programs introduced last year continue and expand in FY27. These strategies continue this year, aimed squarely at the competitive market the data describes.
New Content and What Comes Next
FY27 also includes a significant investment in new content creation, cinematic short films and destination footage that will feed the City’s advertising, social media, and broadcast partnerships for years. The City will represent Page at major travel trade shows including IPW and Go West, where international tour operators build the itineraries that bring group travel to town. And the City will continue using data to inform the strategic marketing plan. Tools adopted in FY26, including visitation analytics, short-term rental data, and lodging market data, now work alongside forward booking data and platform-level booking attribution to measure every campaign against real outcomes, so dollars keep flowing to what demonstrably fills rooms.
Tourism promotion is a long game, and the City’s approach is straightforward: honest measurement, spending at the moments travelers make decisions, and telling Page’s story through the content and experiences that actually move people. If you own or operate a local business and want to learn more about the City’s tourism marketing or how to get involved, feel free to contact us.
