Washington to Refresh 'There's Only One DC' for World Cup

14.10.2024 - 21:17 / skift.com / Dawit Habtemariam

The next phase of Washington, D.C.’s global tourism promotion campaign, “There’s Only One DC,” will tie in upcoming major international events the city is set to host.

Washington, D.C.’s new Audi Field was recently selected by FIFA to be a host city for the 2025 Club World Cup, an international competition for club teams from around the world and a precursor to the 2026 tournament (for which Washington, D.C. will not be a host city).

In addition, WorldPride Day will be held in Washington, D.C. in 2025. The following year, America’s capital will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

For the past year, Destination DC has been promoting the city’s unique attractions and experiences beyond the National Mall as part of its multimillion-dollar “There’s Only One DC” marketing push.

The tagline will remain the same, but ads and other marketing materials will receive an update.

“The refresh will be associated with ‘How do we make sure that the global community knows that if they’re thinking about coming to us, come to Washington, D.C. and take advantage of all these other amazing things to see and do?’” said Elliott Ferguson, CEO and president of Destination DC.

The marketing push has generated significant buzz and “positive momentum” for Washington, D.C. “The enthusiasm associated with the campaign has done exactly what we wanted it to do,” said Ferguson.

However, when it comes to increasing international tourism — a key objective for Ferguson — it’s still too early to determine the exact impact.

To accelerate its recovery, Destination DC received a budget boost last year thanks to a funding mechanism approved by the city council, which approved a measure to increase hotel taxes to 15.95% from April 2023 through March 2027.

Destination DC’s budget rose from $30 million to $50 million this fiscal year, enabling it to pay for its global marketing campaign and open offices in Japan, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.

Destination DC has begun conducting ROI studies to assess the impact of its budget increase, which will be important for the city council’s decision on renewing the funding for 2027 and beyond.

In 2023, the city received 1.95 million international visitors, up 40% from 2022 and about 85% of 2019 levels, according to Destination DC’s latest numbers.

A missing piece in Washington, D.C.’s tourism recovery has been visitors from Asia, particularly China and India.

While the situation is much improved compared to last year, wait times for first-time visitor visa applicants remain “cumbersome” in countries like India. The U.S. has been losing travelers to countries not affected by long visa wait times or those that waive visa requirements, like the UK, said Ferguson.