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Privacy policy

Last Modified: March 8, 2024

This privacy policy describes the treatment of information provided or collected on the sites where this privacy policy is posted.

Who We Are

The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development is the official tourism office for the state of Tennessee. www.tnvacation.com is our official website.

The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development contact details are:
Postal address: 312 Rosa L. Parks Ave., 13th Floor, Nashville, TN 37243
Email: privacy@tnvacation.com

If you have a comment or question about this privacy policy, please contact privacy@tnvacation.com, which will serve as the data controller.

TYPES OF INFORMATION WE COLLECT

The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development (referred to as “TDTD” or “we”) collects two basic types of information – personal information and anonymous information.  We may use personal and anonymous information to create a third type of information, aggregate information.  We collect the following categories of information:

  • Transaction information, through our website, social media site or a third-party Vendor, you provide when you request information, enter a sweepstakes or request to receive a promotional item, which could include your postal address, e-mail address, telephone number and in limited circumstances government issued numerical identifier.
  • Information you provide on public forum on our sites.
  • Information sent either one-to-one or within a limited group using a chat, post or similar functionality, on one of our sites or social media profiles.
  • Location information when you visit our sites, including information either provided by mobile device interacting with one of our sites or associated with your Internet Protocol (IP) address.
  • Usage, viewing and technical data, including your device identifier or IP address, when you visit our sites or open emails we send.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR INFORMATION

1. Online tracking and advertising.  We and certain service providers operating on our behalf collect information about your activity, or activity on devices associated with you, on our sites using tracking technologies such as cookies, Flash cookies and Web beacons.  This tracking data is used for many purposes including:

  • Provide useful features to simplify your experience when you return to our sites, for example, remembering locations of interest within the My Trip function on tn.vacation.
  • Deliver relevant content based on your preferences, usage patterns and location.
  • Monitor and evaluate the use and operation of our sites.
  • Analyze traffic on our sites.

2. Log Files.  Like most standard website servers, we use log files.  This includes IP addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, comma separated value log files and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.  IP addresses, etc. are not linked to personally identifiable information.  We use tracking utility provided by our webhost (Acquia) to analyze log files.

3. Surveys, Contests & Promotions.  Occasionally our site requests information from users via surveys, sweepstakes, promotions or marketing activations.  Participation in these surveys, sweepstakes, promotions or marketing activations is completely voluntary and the user has a choice whether or not to disclose this information.  The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name and email address), in limited circumstances social security numbers, and demographic information (such as zip code). Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of any websites or direct guest experiences.  Contact information will be used to notify winners to award prizes or provide requested information.  Social security numbers will be used to comply with federal law and IRS reporting requirements.  Participants personally identifiable information will never be retained for longer than one (1) year and will be purged upon reporting to the State’s department of Finance & Administration for potentially processing form 1099 (non-employee income).  Users’ personally identifiable information is not shared with third parties unless we give prior notice and choice. Though we may use an intermediary to conduct these surveys, sweepstakes, promotions or marketing activations, they may not use our users’ personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.  

4. Lead Ad Generation. Lead generation ads are specialized digital ads that we use to collect information from those who engage the ad to request tourism information, such as the Official TN Vacation Guide.

5. Cookies.  We and our third-party partners may use cookies, web beacons, tags, pixels (“Cookies”) in connection with your use of the sites and mobile applications.  Cookies may contain unique identifiers, and reside, among other places, on your computer or mobile device and on our websites.  Cookies may transmit data about you and your use of the sites, such as your browser type, search preferences, IP address, data relating to advertisements that have been displayed to you or that you have interacted with and the date and time of your use.  Cookies may be persistent or remain only during an individual session.

The purpose for which we use Cookies in the sites include:

  • Processes: Intended to make the sites work in the way you expect.  For example, saving your itinerary locations while using our MyTrip functionality. Additionally, our site provides personalized content based on your interactions within our site. If we believe you are visiting a specific region in Tennessee, we are able to provide additional region-based content. Your personal information is not stored, only a unique identifier that our system assigns.
  • Preferences: Intended to remember information about how you prefer the sites to behave and look.  For example, the closing of newsletter signup prompts and cookie notifications.
  • Advertising: Intended to make advertising more relevant to users and more valuable to advertisers.  For example, to report on and optimize towards on-site conversions, such as:  vacation guide request, add to trip engagement, and e-newsletter signup when you are coming from an ad that does not reside on tnvacation.com.
  • Analytics: Intended to help us understand how visits use the sites.  For example, general site usage statistics for pageviews, time on site and site engagements.

You can set some Cookie preferences through your device or browser settings but doing so may affect the functionality of the sites.  The method for disabling Cookies may vary by device and browser but can usually be found in your device or browser preferences or security settings.

How We Use Your Information

We will not share your personal information outside the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, except in limited circumstances, including:

  • When you allow us to share your personal information with another company, such as:
    • Sharing your information with shipping companies to allow for efficient shipment of the Vacation Guide or other requested materials/products.  In this case, the information they receive is for shipping and delivery purposes only, and we require that the companies we contract with safeguard your personal information in accordance with state policies.
    • Electing to share your personal information with carefully selected companies so that they can send you offers and promotions about their products and services.
    • Directing us to share your personal information with third-party sites or platforms, such as social networking sites.
  • When companies perform services on our behalf, like customer service.
  • When you choose to participate in a sweepstakes, contest, promotion or marketing activation, you may be asked to provide your information to another company as detailed within the Official Rules or as needed by participating vendors.
  • Social media platforms. If you interact with social media widgets, share content using social media share buttons or access features of our online services that contain content or features provided by social media platforms, the relevant social media platforms may collect or have access to personal information. Please review the privacy policies of the social media platforms you interact with as we are not responsible for their privacy policies.  

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

The sites are intended for general audiences and is not directed to children under 13 years of age.  If you become aware that a child has provided us with personal information without parental consent, please contact us at privacy@tnvacation.com. If we become aware that a child under 13 years of age has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to remove such information.

YOUR CONTROLS AND CHOICES

We provide you the ability to exercise certain controls and choices regarding our collection, use and sharing of your information.  In accordance with local law, your controls and choices may include:

  • You may correct, update and delete your information.
  • TDTD will use email addresses and other personally identifiable information to contact visitors who communicate with us.  For example, we email visitors who provide us with their email addresses for specific purposes, such as receiving our email newsletters.  After gathering any user information, TDTD offers users the opportunity to remove their information from our database and they will not receive further communication unless they later renew their communication request.

DATA SECURITY, INTEGRITY AND RETENTION

The security, integrity and confidentiality of your information are extremely important to us.  We implemented technical, administrative and physical security measures that are designed to protect personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, use and modification.  From time-to-time, we review our security procedures to consider appropriate new technology and methods.  Please be aware though that, despite our best efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.  We will retain your personal information for the length of time needed to fulfill the purposes outlines in this privacy policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

LINKS

This website contains links to other sites.  Please be aware that we, TDTD, are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites.  This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this site.  We encourage you to be aware when you leave our sites or applications and to read the privacy policies of other sites that may collect your personal information.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

From time to time, we may change this privacy policy to accommodate new technologies, industry practices, regulatory requirements or for other purposes.  We will provide notice to you if these changes are material and, where required by law, we will obtain your consent.

Tennessee Sunshine Law

We adhere to Tennessee’s open records laws.  Records we send and receive may be subject to public disclosure upon request.