Brazos Valley Worldfest, along with Destination Bryan, the official tourism organization for Bryan, is partnering with Bryan College Station restaurants to launch the Brazos Valley Worldfest Restaurant Passport, a new program that aims to promote international awareness and cuisine while supporting local restaurants.
The passport is a free program that all visitors and locals can sign up for. With more than 12 local businesses included within the passport, it showcases the best international cuisine of B/CS in an easy, mobile-friendly way.
“With Brazos Valley Worldfest going virtual this year, we still wanted to give the residents of the Brazos Valley a chance to learn about countries and cultures through their foods,” says Kim Fox, manager of Brazos Valley Worldfest. “By offering this passport program in conjunction with local restaurants, we are able to connect with the community in a way we haven’t been able to do previously.”
Conversations around this restaurant passport began over the summer and led Destination Bryan to reach out to a well-known technology company in the travel space, Bandwango. Bandwango technology is designed to support free and paid experiences created by destinations and marketed to visitors and locals. This will be the first of what Destination Bryan hopes to be many opportunities for similar programs in the community utilizing Bandwango’s platform.
Using this technology, Destination Bryan began working alongside Brazos Valley Worldfest, Downtown Bryan Association, and local restaurants to get their offerings loaded into the Brazos Valley Worldfest Restaurant Passport.
“We’re excited to get this virtual passport into the hands of local residents and visitors,” says Chris Riggins, destination marketing manager for Destination Bryan. “This is a great opportunity for everyone to explore the community, hopefully try something new, and support our local restaurant industry all at the same time.”
Participants will be able to visit a dedicated mobile passport landing page, www.discover.destination bryan.com, where they can sign-up for their Brazos Valley Worldfest Restaurant Passport. A link is then sent to their mobile phone, which opens the passport and directs the user to add the button icon to their home screen, where they can access it any time. There is never anything to download and no bulky apps take up space on a user’s phone.
The passport will be active from Oct. 8 to Oct. 25, but participants can sign up beginning today to have their passport sent to their phone on Oct. 8.
Once the participant is ready to redeem their pass, they simply input the restaurant’s unique check-in code to document their visit and to access applicable savings.
“It’s all a very streamlined process,” Riggins says. “It’s never been easier to find a new restaurant, take advantage of a discount or special offer, support locally owned restaurants, and win a prize all at the same time.”
Merchant onboarding is still in progress. If your restaurant highlights international cuisine and wishes to be a part of the passport program, email marketing@destinationbryan.com to talk to Destination Bryan about being included.
“We are very excited to launch this new and unique program and look forward to promoting our local restaurants and to help them get new customers through their doors,” Fox says.
The Brazos Valley Worldfest Restaurant Passport will run from Oct. 8 through Oct. 25. Sign up now at www.discover.destinationbryan.com.