The tourist body responsible for boosting visitor numbers to the nation’s capital has unveiled a new sales and marketing strategy that it says “responds to the moment” and will help to “positively shape perceptions”.
Washington DC enjoyed a record-breaking year for visitation and economic impact in 2024 and the new approach by Destination DC (DDC) hopes to maintain this growth and counter any negative rhetoric about the District and the headwinds currently facing the market and overall U.S. travel industry.
Plans include advancing the message of the “There’s Only One DC” creative campaign, which launched in 2023, to “humanise the city”, while opportunities for drawing visitors include America’s 250th anniversary in 2026 and a host of new attraction openings.
Following the federal executive order this summer impacting the Metropolitan Police Department and deploying military personnel in the city, DDC acted to “separate rhetoric from reality” by reaching out to visitors and meetings planners. To date, its “Love Letter to DC” initiative, a series of videos and social media posts on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, this summer has amassed more than 1.3 million impressions and 80,000 engagements.
DDC’s new initiatives include a new series entitled “We the People DC.” The goal is to lean into the more personal side of Washington, DC by featuring DC residents. The videos highlight 20 locals who live, work and thrive in the city.
“Although moving forward we will be working with reduced funding and will have fewer resources to work with, we will remain aggressive in promoting the destination and shaping perceptions,” said Elliott L. Ferguson, II, president and CEO, DDC.
“Major openings across the city, on top of DC’s centre stage role for America’s 250 celebrations, are significant opportunities to leverage. When combined with the natural progression of our creative campaign, which profiles remarkable, creative and cool people who call DC home, marketed to potential travellers and the global community, DDC will use every tool to ensure tourism continues to drive DC’s economy.”
Said Ferguson: “DC is brimming with opportunities to experience the story of the nation through an expanded calendar of special events, activations and exhibitions across the city’s cultural institutions, museums, attractions, restaurants and hotels.”
Those new attractions include The National Archives Museum, the only place to see the Declaration of Independence, unveiling a $40 million renovation later this year; an immersive museum debuting next summer beneath the Lincoln Memorial in an area known as the undercroft; and the reopening of galleries and public spaces at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum following extensive renovations.
Tourism fuels DC’s economy: a record 27.2 million people visited the nation’s capital in 2024, spending $11.4 billion, resulting in $2.3 billion in tax revenue and supporting 111,500 jobs. As a result, thanks to tourism, each DC household saves $3,608 in taxes
Tourism Economics, a data partner of DDC, revealed an updated forecast for a 5.1% decrease in international visitation to DC in 2025. The estimate for DC is more favourable than the projected 8.2% decrease in international visitation to the U.S.
DC welcomed 2.2 million international visitors in 2024; international travellers are coveted because they stay longer and spend four times as much as their domestic counterparts.
