Countywide : Bureau Changes Its Name, but Not Goal

It opened 33 years ago in a farmhouse next to what is today the Anaheim Convention Center--a visitors bureau aimed at convincing the world that a county known for its bountiful fruit was also a great place to vacation or hold conventions.

Now, the Anaheim Visitor & Convention Bureau is changing its name to the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau.

But officials insist that the group’s mission will remain the same.

“It’s a new and improved corporate name,” said Sandy Miller, communications manager for the group. “By incorporating the Orange County name, it graphically reflects what we’ve been actively promoting for years. The name change accurately reflects what we are doing.”

The group runs an elaborate marketing operation that promotes the county’s various amusement parks, beaches and other attractions to potential visitors around the United States as well as in Europe and Asia. The bureau has representatives in England, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Washington and Chicago who help with the promotional effort.

The bureau prints brochures for tourists and provides travel agencies and companies with slides, videos and other materials that highlight things to do in the county, Miller said.

Tourism is big business in Orange County.

In 1993, 37.8 million people visited Orange County during vacations or for business. Travel generated $4.8 billion in 1993 and brought in $71 million in local tax revenue, according to bureau statistics.