Visit California Cookie Notice
Visit California Cookie Notice
Introduction and Scope
This Cookie Notice (the “Notice”) is designed to assist you in understanding how and why California Travel and Tourism Commission dba Visit California (“Visit California” “we” “us” or “our”) use cookies and other similar technologies (“Tracking Technologies”) on our website https://www.visitcalifornia.com/ and on any webpage linking to this Notice (collectively, the “Website”) to collect and develop data. We use Tracking Technologies to allow the Website to operate, to increase its functionality and efficiency, to analyze how you use it so that we can improve it, to tailor the content and information that we display to you, to provide you with targeted advertisements, and fulfill other legitimate purposes as described below.
To the extent that any information collected by the Tracking Technologies, either on its own or in combination with other information, constitutes Personal Data as the term is defined in our Privacy Notice, both our Privacy Notice and this Notice shall apply to the processing and transferring of such Personal Data.
Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Cookies. A cookie is a small text file stored on your device (computer, phone, tablet, etc.) that contains information about your browser and online activity. This information often consists of a string of numbers and letters that uniquely identifies your device.
We may also use:
- Local Storage. Local storage enables our Website to store information locally on your device. Local storage may be used to improve your experience with our Website, for example, by enabling features, remembering your preferences and speeding up our Website functionality.
- GIFs (a.k.a. “web beacons”). Our Website may also employ a software technology called clear that helps us better manage content on our Website by providing insight into which content is most effective. Clear GIFs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, that are used to track the online movements of Website users.
- Local shared objects (a.k.a. “flash cookies”). Flash cookies are pieces of data that websites which use Adobe Flash may store on your device.
- Pixels. A tracking pixel is a 1x1 pixel graphic used for the purpose of tracking user behavior, web traffic and site conversions. A tracking pixel allows us to collect data relating to the use of our Website. Tracking pixels are used to trigger advertisements on any participating websites based on the activity tracked from your browser or device and can also be used for third-party web analytics.
- Other similar tracking technologies. We may also use other tracking technologies, such as mobile advertising IDs and tags for similar purposes as described in this Notice. We also use Google Signals for remarketing as explained in more detail below.
As noted above, we refer to all of these technologies collectively as “Tracking Technologies” in this Notice.
How We Respond to Do Not Track Signals
"Do-Not-Track" is an optional browser setting that you can use to express your preferences regarding tracking by advertisers and other third-parties. We commit to user privacy by honoring Do Not Track (“DNT”) browser settings.
Opting Out
You have the right to opt out or reject use of non-essential Tracking Technologies. To do this you can change your consent through our cookie consent management platform.
You can alter the configuration of your browser to reject certain types of Tracking Technologies, including cookies. Please note, however, that if you reject certain cookies, you may not be able to access and use all of the features on our Website. You may also set your browser to send a Do Not Track (DNT) signal. For more information about how to manage cookies, please visit https://www.aboutcookies.org/.
You may also control your online behavioral advertising preferences and opt out from having your data processed by certain marketing companies by visiting https://www.youronlinechoices.com/ and https://optout.aboutads.info/. Please note, however, that managing these preferences will not turn off internet advertisements in general. You will still receive the same number of advertisements, but those advertisements will be less reflective of your interests, as indicated by your web browsing habits. In addition, please note that the opt-out preferences that you set using these tools may be nullified if you delete your cookies after setting them.
Types of Cookies
We use session cookies and persistent cookies on our Website. The session cookies are deleted or removed when you close your browser. The persistent cookies may remain on your device after you close your browser, but they have an expiration date.
Some of the cookies placed on your device through our Website are first-party cookies, meaning they are placed directly by us. Others are third-party cookies, meaning they are placed on your device through our Website by third parties, such as Google. In other words, when you visit our Website, certain third parties may place cookies on your device to collect information about your online activities over time and across different Internet websites or online services.
In the cookie tables below, we provide you with links to the applicable privacy notices for the providers who place third-party cookies on your device through our Website, where possible. Please refer to the privacy notices of those third parties to learn more about the ways in which they collect and process personal data about you.
How We Use Tracking Technologies on our Website
Strictly Necessary Tracking Technologies
The following Tracking Technologies are necessary for our Website to function, and we cannot turn them off in our systems. You may still be able to set your browser to block or alert you about some of these Tracking Technologies, but if you do block these Tracking Technologies, some parts of our Website will not work.
Cookie Name | Provider & Provider Privacy Notice Link | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
OptanonConsent | Visit California | Set by the cookie compliance solution from OneTrust. It stores information about the categories of cookies our Website uses and whether users have given or withdrawn consent for the use of each category. This enables us to prevent cookies in each category from being set in the users browser, when consent is not given. | 1 month |
OptanonAlertBoxClosed | Visit California | Set by the cookie compliance solution from OneTrust. It is set after users have seen a cookie information notice and in some cases only when they actively close the notice down. It enables our Website not to show the message more than once to a user. | 1 month |
_cfuvid | Zoominfo | This cookie is a part of the services provided by Cloudflare - Including load-balancing, deliverance of website content and serving DNS connection for our Website operators. | Session |
Performance Tracking Technologies
The following Tracking Technologies allow us, among other things, to count Website visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our Website. They help us to know which pages are the most – and least – popular, and see how visitors move around the Website. If you do not allow these Tracking Technologies, we will not know when you have visited our Website, and we will not be able to monitor our Website’s performance.
Cookie Name | Provider & Provider Privacy Notice Link | Purpose | Duration | Opt-Out Possibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
_gid | Visit California | These cookies are associated with Google Universal Analytics. Used to distinguish users and throttle the request rate - limiting the collection of data on high traffic sites, as well as to store and count pageviews. | Up to 2 years | To opt out of Google Analytics Tracking Technologies, visit the Google Analytics site and opt out from Google Analytics here. |
_hjSessionUser_2553354 | Visit California | These cookies are Hotjar cookies that are set when a user first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. Used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to the Website on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same Website will be attributed to the same user ID. They also identify a new user's first session on our Website, indicating whether or not Hotjar's seeing this user for the first time. | Up to 1 year | To opt out of Hotjar Tracking Technologies visit the Hotjar site. |
_is_unique | StatCounter | These cookies are placed by StatCounter. Used for real time visitor analytics | Up to 4 years | To opt out of StatCounter Tracking Technologies visit the StatCounter site. |
__cs_id | Contentsquare |
| Up to 13 months | To opt out of Contentsquare Tracking Technologies visit the Contentsquare site. |
apnid | Sojern | These cookies are set by Sojern. Specializing in travel, Sojern, uses a combination of pixel tags and cookies to track user behavior across the web and recognize user preferences to enhance your experience. | 2 months | To opt out of Sojern Tracking Technologies visit the Sojern site. |
Functional Tracking Technologies
The following Tracking Technologies enable the Website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be used by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these Tracking Technologies, then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Cookie Name | Provider & Provider Privacy Notice Link | Purpose | Duration | Opt-Out Possibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
_sp_xxxxxxxxxx | Visit California | Used to make our Website responsive to the user's screen size. | Session | To opt out of these Tracking Technologies change your consent through our cookie consent management platform. |
_pin_unauth | Visit California | This is a Pinterest cookie. Used to store the user’s usage history. | 1 year | To opt out of Pinterest Tracking Technologies visit the Pinterest site. |
demdex | Adobe | Adobe Marketing Cloud and Adobe Audience Manger include analytics cookies to anonymously define new users to our Website, help analyze clickstream data, and track historical activity on our Website, such as response to particular campaigns or the length of the sales cycle. | 6 months | To opt out of Adobe Tracking Technologies visit the Adobe site. |
AWSALB | Amazon Application Load Balancer | Used to register which server-cluster is serving the user. This is used in context with load balancing, in order to optimize user experience. | 1 week | To opt out of Amazon Tracking Technologies visit the Amazon Publisher Services site. |
x-ms-routing-name | Microsoft Azure | Set by Azure to determine which web server the users must be directed to and for routing production traffic by specifying the production slot. | Session | To opt out of Microsoft Azure Tracking Technologies visit the Microsoft Azure site. |
Googtrans | Google | Set by Google to store user’s language settings. When the user's browser-preferred language is set, the website will automatically switch to that translated language version upon their next Website visit. | Session | To opt out of Google Tracking Technologies visit the Google site. |
Targeting Tracking Technologies
The following Tracking Technologies may be used on our Website by our advertising partners (or set directly by our advertising partners) to collect data about your online activity. They record your visits to our Website, the pages you have visited, and the links you have followed. They are used by our advertising partners to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant advertisements on our Website as well as other sites. For example, they're used to detect when you click on an ad and show you ads based on your social media interests and browsing history.
We and third parties use social media cookies to show you ads and content based on your social media profiles and activity on our Website. They’re used to connect your activity on our Website to your social media profiles so the ads and content you see on our Website and on social media will better reflect your interests.
If you do not allow these Tracking Technologies, you will experience fewer targeted advertisements, and you will impair our ability to provide you with tailored services and offerings.
Cookie Name | Provider & Provider Privacy Notice Link | Purpose | Duration | Opt-Out Possibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
_fbp | Visit California | Used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third party advertisers. | 2 months | To opt out of Facebook Tracking Technologies visit the Facebook site. |
_scid | Visit California | These cookies are associated with Snapchat. Used to set a unique ID for the user, that allows third party advertisers to target the user with relevant advertisement. This pairing service is provided by third party advertisement hubs, which facilitates real time bidding for advertisers. | 1 year | To opt out of Snapchat Tracking Technologies visit the Snapchat site. |
IDE | DoubleClick (Google) | These cookies are used by DoubleClick for advertising that Google serves across the Internet. Also used to store and track conversations. | 1 year | To opt out of Google Tracking Technologies visit the Google site. |
GoogleAdServingTest | Google | This cookie is used to determine what ads have been shown to the Website visitor. | Session | To opt out of Google Tracking Technologies visit the Google site. |
__gpi | Google | Display of personalized advertisements in the Google advertising network based on your pseudonymized surfing behavior collected via Google. Used for measuring and optimizing the success of our Google Ads advertising campaigns. | 1 year | To opt out of Google Tracking Technologies visit the Google site. |
_kuid_ | NetworkAd | Used by NetworkAd for purpose of user targeting. Registers a unique ID that identifies a returning user’s device. | 6 months | To opt out of NetworkAd Tracking Technologies visit the NetworkAd site. |
sa-user-id | Stackadapt | This domain is owned by Stackadapt, which provides marketing and advertising services. The cookies are random identifiers used for user identification. | 1 year | To opt out of Stackadapt Tracking Technologies visit the Stackadapt Site. |
mt_mop | MediaMath | MediaMath is a US based digital advertising company. These cookies are used as part of delivering advertising to your browser or mobile device on our Website. They perform functions like preventing the same advertisements from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests. These cookies are also used to prevent over syncing and does not sync to exchanges that are placed onto this list including exchanges that are dated under a week old. | 1 month | To opt out of MediaMath Tracking Technologies visit the MediaMath site. |
AFFICHE_W | Weborama | Weborama is a France based online advertising company. Used for targeting and marketing. | 1 year | To opt out of Weborama Tracking Technologies visit the Weborama site. |
anj | Xandr | Xandr provides a range of online advertising technology and services. Used for analytics and targeting. | 2 month | To opt out of Xandr Tracking Technologies visit the Xandr site. |
Pxrc | Live Ramp | Live Ramp providers of a platform for targeted marketing and profiling. | 2 months | To opt out of Live Ramp Tracking Technologies visit the Live Ramp site. |
Ruds | Rocketfuel | The cookies placed by Rocketfuel are used for advertising. | Session | To opt out of Rocketfuel Tracking Technologies visit the Rocketfuel site. |
A3 | Yahoo | Used by Yahoo to provide ads, content or analytics. | Session | To opt out of Yahoo Tracking Technologies visit the Yahoo site. |
TapAd_3WAY_SYNCS | Tapad | The cookies are used for data-synchronization with advertisement networks and to determine what type of devices (smartphones, tablets, computers, TVs etc.) is used by a user. | 2 months | To opt out of Tapad Tracking Technologies visit the Tapad site. |
ad-privacy | Amazon | This domain is owned by Amazon and is used as part of its affiliate marketing program. Used to register user actions and target content on the website based on ad clicks on a different website. | Up to 5 years | To opt out of Amazon Tracking Technologies visit the Amazon site. |
C | Adform | This cookie is placed by Adform, which main business activity is real time bidding for display advertising to targeted audiences. | 1 month | To opt out of Adform Tracking Technologies visit the Adform site. |
CMID | Casale Media | These cookies are placed by Casale Media. Casale Media advertising cookies are linked to advertising and tracking the products where users look. | Persistent | To opt out of Casale Media Tracking Technologies visit the Casale Media site. |
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA | YouTube (Google) | YouTube is a Google owned platform for hosting and sharing videos. YouTube collects user data through videos embedded in websites, which is aggregated with profile data from other Google services in order to display targeted advertising to web visitors across a broad range of their own and other websites. | 5 months | To opt out of YouTube (Google) Tracking Technologies visit the YouTube (Google) site. |
u | NetMining | This domain is owned by NetMining. The main business activity is: users profiling for online advertising. | 1 year | To opt out of NetMining Tracking Technologies visit the NetMining site. |
uid | AddThis | The cookie is placed by AddThis to store a unique user ID for marketing and tracking purposes. | 1 year | To opt out of AddThis Tracking Technologies visit the AddThis site. |
UID | ScorecardResearch | This domain is owned by ScorecardResearch (comScore), which main business activity is advertising. | 2 years | To opt out of ScorecardResearch Tracking Technologies visit the ScorecardResearch site. |
Bkpa | Blue Kai | Blue Kai cookies are set to register anonymized user as well as aggregate anonymous activities to enable marketers to provide more targeted online advertising. | 1 year | To opt out of Blue Kai Tracking Technologies visit the Blue Kai site. |
_cc_cc | Lotame | The cookies are provided by crwdcntrl.net and owned by Lotame, which main business activity is data management platform – targeting and advertising. | 1 year | To opt out of Lotame Tracking Technologies visit this site. |
SERVERID | Eyeota | This domain is owned by Eyeota, a global company specializing in audience data to enable targeting and advertising based on visitor profiling. | Session | To opt out of Eyeota Tracking Technologies visit Eyeota site. |
Dpm | Adobe | Adobe Marketing Cloud and Adobe Audience Manger include analytics cookies to anonymously define new visitors, help analyze clickstream data, and track historical activity on the website, such as response to particular campaigns or the length of the sales cycle. | 1 year | To opt out of Adobe Tracking Technologies visit Adobe site. |
data-rk | Media | These cookies are used to record your browsing activity, with the purpose of displaying targeted ads. | 1 year | To opt out of Media Tracking Technologies visit Media site. |
Ckid | Unknown | These cookies are used to track visitors on multiple websites, in order to present relevant advertisement based on the user’s preferences. | 2 years | Unknown |
ct0 | Twitter | This domain is owned by Twitter, which main business activity is social networking services. Where Twitter acts as a third party host, it collects data through a range of plug-ins and integrations, that is primarily used for tracking and targeting. | Unknown | To opt out of Twitter Tracking Technologies visit Twitter site. |
ab | Aggregate Knowledge | This domain is owned by Aggregate Knowledge, which has been acquired by Neustar Inc. Aggregate Knowledge provides a data management platform which enables real time targeting and consumer profiling functionality. | 1 year | To opt out of Aggregate Knowledge Tracking Technologies visit Aggregate Knowledge site. |
_ttp | Tiktok | We use TikTok to market ourselves using the TikTok cookie that collects data about behavior on our website and to measure the effect of our advertising. This tracking is used to evaluate and measure how different campaigns and marketing strategies perform on TikTok. Used to identify a visitor. | 1 year | To opt out of Tiktok Tracking Technologies visit Tiktok site. |
sa-user-id-v3 | StackAdapt | Third-party advertising and targeting cookies that track your Website activity - such as the pages you’ve visited and the locations you’ve viewed, so we can suggest personalized content and adverts on external websites. The cookies are used to assign a random identifier for user identification. | 1 year | To opt out of StackAdapt Tracking Technologies visit StackAdapt site. |
zync-uuid | Rezync | The purpose of these cookies is to serve visitors with relevant advertisement. | 180 days | Unknown |
Aackid | Unknown | Identifies the current interaction session and a user. Used to collect data on user’s preferences and behavior on our Website. This information is used to make content and advertisement more relevant to the specific user. | 2 years | Unknown |
Uuid | Unknown | Collect data on the user’s visits to our Website, such as what pages have been loaded. The registered data is used for targeted ads. | 1 year | Unknown |
mics_vid | Mediarithmics | Mediarithmics cookies provide third-party cookie identifier. | 1 year | To opt out of Mediarithmics Tracking Technologies visit Mediarithmics site. |
tfpsi | Teads | Registers user behavior and navigation on our Website, and any interaction with active campaigns. Used for optimizing advertisement and for efficient retargeting. | Session | To opt out of Teads Tracking Technologies visit Teads site. |
__lbxprev | Visit California | Unknown | Unknown | To opt out of these Tracking Technologies change your consent through our cookie consent management platform. |
Changes to this Notice
If we make any material change to this Notice, we will post the revised Notice to our Website and update the “Effective Date” above to reflect the date on which the new Notice became effective.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Notice, please call us at 916-444-4429, send us an e-mail to privacy@visitcalifornia.com, or contact us by postal mail at:
California Travel and Tourism Commission
dba Visit California
555 Capitol Mall, Suite 1100
Sacramento, CA 95814
Please allow up to four (4) weeks for us to reply.