UPLAND >> The Inland Empire Tourism Council, which helps market the region to the outside world through a marketing campaign called DiscoverIE has contracted the local lifestyle website IEShineOn.com to handle the effort.
DiscoverIE was launched in 2012 as the marketing campaign for Southern California’s Inland Empire Tourism Council, which serves as California’s tourism promotion and destination marketing organization for the area in partnership with the nonprofit marketing organization, Visit California.
Su Pak, founder and president of Upland-based IEShineOn, said she’s excited about taking on the marketing campaign to promote businesses and events in the local region to domestic and international travelers.
Pak started IEShineOn as a lifestyle blog in 2012 to share events and attractions happening in the Inland Empire.
“What I’d like to do is show off sort of the outdoors aspects of the Inland Empire and also show the Main Street America type of feel that a lot of the Inland Empire has, like in Redlands and Claremont,” Pak said in a phone interview. “I want to show off the Main Street America that we have here that you’re not going to find in Orange County or Los Angeles.”
The DiscoverIE.com website now redirects users to the existing IEShineOn.com website, which features an events calendar, daily published features and “best of the region” guides and a digital coupon section.
“With our brand’s bright look and feel and fun content, our goal has always been to portray the Inland Empire in a fun light and change the way it is perceived by some — the region has a lot to offer and it is full of diversity and culture,” Pak said in a statement.
Sue Oxarart, director of marketing for the Greater Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau, said for the last several months, her organization has been discussing how the local tourism bureau serving Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga can refer people to IEShineOn.com.
“This is a relationship we have now with Su Pak, and it’s a great relationship,” Oxarart said. “I’ve known her for years, and I’m happy she’s representing our area. She has a passion for it, the same way we do, to promote the area to visitors and show off all of its unique destinations.”
DiscoverIE was previously handled by Rebecca Hrabia, former president of the Inland Empire Tourism Council and past executive director of the Big Bear Visitors Bureau, who recently resigned to find a new career path.
“I know she’s going to do a great job,” Hrabia said. “This is her passion she’s been trying to do for years, and I think it’s a natural fit for her and she will have the time and dedication to do it as well.”
On the business of selling the Inland Empire to visitors, Hrabia said, “it’s such a diverse culture in the Inland Empire.
“When you’re looking at not only the meeting spaces in Ontario and all of the suburbs, and also all of this natural outdoor activity in Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead, Mt. Baldy, and also the wine country in Temecula, there is such a diversity,” she said. “You can’t find everything in one spot, except in the Inland Empire.”