King County Council OKs $8M tourism recovery campaign as museums reopen
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The Metropolitan King County Council has unanimously approved an idea for a countywide tourism recovery campaign and has allocated $8 million of its federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act money to support the initiative.
The news headlines was shared by Visit Seattle CEO Tom Norwalk in an exclusive briefing on Friday that he gave members of the city's tourism, restaurants and convention industries.
Norwalk said the campaign will launch in early October.
It is currently being created by Visit Seattle's new advertising agency, Wunderman Thompson, Norwalk said.
"Portion of the campaign is a toolkit in order that partners and businesses can help amplify the campaign - the toolkit will include social media assets, copy for website and e-blasts, etc.," Norwalk said.
"Together with Seattle Southside Regional Tourism Authority, we are implementing a fourth quarter campaign with the goal of driving more business and foot traffic to businesses throughout King County and, of course, finally generating more overnights people to the spot," Norwalk added.
The news comes as Seattle's tourism and hotel sector starts to reopen and go on a recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
This Labor Day weekend, Norwalk said, three major Seattle attractions open after months to be closed: the Seattle Art Museum, National Nordic Museum and Museum of Flight.
The Pan Pacific Seattle may also reopen in a few days, and the Hyatt Regency Seattle is scheduled to reopen the following month.
Norwalk said King County Councilmembers Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Rod Dembowski, along with County Executive Dow Constantine, had championed the tourism recovery spending initiative because the pandemic sideswiped the Puget Sound region's tourism and hotel sectors back in March, closing hotels and causing thousands of staff to be laid off.
"We are grateful because of their understanding of the energy of travel and tourism to the region and the huge benefits it provides to your community and residents," Norwalk said.
In his briefing to the tourism sector, Norwalk offered another bright news nugget. He said five recent convention cancellations had rebooked money for hard times and yet another is along the way of rebooking.
In total, 45 future citywide conventions previously booked at the Washington State Convention Center have canceled, producing a lack of $333.1 million in monetary impact through the pandemic, he said.
Another way of measuring the recovery is also looking upbeat, said Norwalk, whose group is a nonprofit destination marketing organization for the greater Seattle tourism sector.
"Regional hotel occupancies shows steady growth for the week of August 23-29," he said. "Seattle up to 19.4% with King County at 35.1%. The SeaTac subset continues to lead King County performance at 50.4% (hotel occupancy)."
Source: https://www.bizjournals.com