A Look a Visit Gallup: Promoting our Community to the World

By Matt Robinson & Dee Santillanes

Laying the “Gallup Brick Road” is a team effort, and Visit Gallup, the community’s tourism and marketing brand, is working in concert with partners to promote economic development through tourism and the creative industries. Based on huge increases in traffic across the board, there is increasing interest in the community and Gallupians are well poised to continue developing and promoting tourism and the film and media industries. 

Visit Gallup is operated by the City of Gallup to promote the community and region as a destination for great cultural events, engaging art, incredible outdoor adventures, and a wide variety of unique shopping opportunities. Staff are also working to position Gallup for more film and media projects. Developing Gallup as a film and media destination will increase economic activity in the community and business revenues through more projects, better assets and facilities, and increased interest in the area. 

To advance this work in the media industries, Visit Gallup staff have partnered with several public and private organizations, such as the National Indian Youth Council, Gallup/McKinley County Schools, non-profits, trade unions, film offices, businesses, and many others, to host Gallup Film Expos in 2023 and 2024. These were tremendous events which gave high school and college students, local businesses, and residents the opportunities to learn about the industries, explore career paths, and develop relationships. Staff continue to work to plan more events and projects, such as future expos, film festivals, and, hopefully, the establishment of a sound stage/studio in the community to recruit more local projects. 

Visit Gallup staff continue to promote the community and region to audiences and markets across the country and world. In 2023, the top cities with traffic to VisitGallup.com were Phoenix, Albuquerque and Los Angeles. The top countries, after the United States, were Canada, United Kingdom and Germany. Users are up 56 percent from the previous year, with about 128,000 unique users in 2023. The site saw nearly 900,000 page views throughout the year. Visit Gallup’s social media platforms are also seeing triple digit increases across the board for reach, likes and new followers. 

Marketing strategies will continue to emphasize Gallup’s great positioning and transportation access as a “hub and spoke” model. Gallup has the most lodging, restaurants, and shopping in the immediate region, and marketing encourages visitors to use Gallup as a base of operations for day trips and outdoor recreation. Using VisitGallup.com and its suite of lodging, restaurant, and event directories, it is easy for locals and visitors to plan a trip and enjoy the area. You can also build an itinerary with maps and directions using the site, or follow prebuilt maps like the downtown mural tour. 

Moving forward, Visit Gallup will continue supporting the community’s amazing events, businesses, and position as the gateway to New Mexico. Keep an eye out for exciting upcoming events and programs, such as the Stars and Stripes July 4 celebration and drone show, Nightly Indigenous Dances, and artist promotion program. For more information, contact 505-863-1227 or mrobinson@gallupnm.gov.