Huntsville/Madison County wins, will host Social Media Tourism Symposium

The final count for the 2013 Social Media Tourism Symposium. (CONTRIBUTED)

By Aldo Amato

Staff Reporter

HUNTSVILLE — After prevailing in the first four rounds, Huntsville/Madison County won the rights to host the 2013 Social Media Tourism Symposium.

Huntsville beat out Missoula, MT by just over 3,000 votes with the final tally of 13, 769 votes compared to the number two ranked Missoula’s 10, 755.

“The Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau is deeply grateful for the support of Huntsville, Madison County and the state of Alabama for pulling together to bring this conference to our community,” Jessica Carlton with the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau said in an April 2 email. “This has been a true Tennessee Valley team effort and demonstrates the power of community paired with social media.”

Residents across Huntsville and Madison County used social media tools like Twitter with the hashtags “#MeetMeAtTheRocket” and “#SoMeT13US” to connect to the competition feed throughout the past few weeks. The Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau used multiple shared links on Facebook, the hashtags on Twitter and Tumblr posts to help spread the word about the symposium that is expected to bring over $100,000 to the area.

Carlton said that the bureau will host an open house to show appreciation for the support.

“To thank the Huntsville/Madison County community, the Huntsville/Madison County CVB will hold an ‘Open House’ on April 6 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with giveaways every half hour,” she said. “We hope to do our  part to thank the community for such a great effort.”