For residents of McKinney looking for a way to learn more about their city, the McKinney Convention and Visitors Bureau has just the thing—a smartphone photo scavenger hunt.
The scavenger hunt, developed by Munzee, a company specializes in mobile scavenger hunts, is just one of several activites planned to observe National Travel and Tourism Week in McKinney, which takes place May 2-10.
"The ultimate goal of the scavenger hunt is to help our residents become better-educated ambassadors for our city so they'll be well prepared to share the complete McKinney experience with visiting family and friends," said Dee-dee Guerra, executive director of the MCVB, in a press release. "We're excited to be working with the team at Munzee to develop this scavenger hunt through their new app, Eventzee. It's going to put a new, more engaging and contemporary spin on something we've done before. Every day of that week, we'll have new clues that will allow participants to show us McKinney through their eyes."
In addition to the scavenger hunt, the MCVB will host a public safety appreciation day May 5 where the MCVB will honor the city's fire, police and emergency response personnel.
"Tourism is an essential and impactful industry worldwide. That holds true in our great state and our city as well," Guerra said. "The North Texas region boasts some of the highest tourism figures in the state, and each week we greet international visitors and travelers from across the United States who come into our Visitors Center for information about both McKinney and Texas."
To illustrate the economic impact of tourism in McKinney, following are the state's most recent tourism industry figures*:
Overall annual spending by visitors to McKinney - $147.1 million
Total Employed in McKinney Hospitality-Related Jobs – 1,307
Local Tax Receipts by visitors in 2013 - $25 million
State Tax Receipts by visitors in 2013 - $76 million
*Source: Texas Office of Governor, Economic Development and Tourism in Austin, Texas (2013 figures)