Marketing Plan for New Ferry Service with Emphasis in Park Programs, Gateway National Recreation Area, National Park Service

Rodriguez, Raul

The National Parks of New York Harbor, in order to improve access to currently underutilized resources in Gateway National Recreation[al] Area, is developing a water transportation system to interconnect most of the National Park Services sites that have access to the harbor. The first stage of this transportation development is a ferry service that will connect Southern Manhattan with Fort Tilden on the Rockaway Peninsula during the 2001 fall. This new transportation system, if successful, would allow New York City residents fast access to the peninsula with the potential to boost the visitation which is an important objective of the park management. In order to accomplish this visitation increase, this ferry service should be properly promoted and marketed to the potential users. The final goal of this project is to outline a marketing plan to increase the number of visitors to the park. In order to attract more visitors to the park, the product to be marketed is the new transportation service. However, the ferry service is not a product itself; the final product for the customer or visitor is the "package" integrated by what the park offers and the convenience of using the ferry. Consequently, in order to accomplish the previously stated goal it is necessary to promote the park and the ferry service. The secondary goals of this project are: - to outline a marketing plan for launching a ferry services - to outline a marketing plan for marketing the park programs Because these units are not very well known as other parks (Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Central Park) or beaches (Jones Beach, Long Beach) in the New York City area, there is a need of increase[d] awareness among residents of this park. This would be part of the goals of this report. Ultimately, this report is intended to increase the recognition of the park through New York residents. Achievement of these goals has to be reflected in the generation of additional sources of revenue for the park.