K Summerer for Visit Alexandria
Tourism in Alexandria continues to be a major economic driver, and Visit Alexandria is launching a new marketing campaign to encourage even more visitors to come experience Alexandria’s charm. The campaign is targeted at overnight travelers who live outside the D.C. region.
Alexandria saw record tourism revenue in the 2018 calendar year — $859 million from residents coming from more than 50 miles away. The travel and tourism industry in Alexandria supported 6,583 jobs in Alexandria that year, or 7% of the local workforce, according to data from Visit Alexandria released in late 2019.
Other than word-of-mouth advertising from friends and family, the top channels where people learn about places to visit are online searches, travel review websites and magazines articles. Social media through friends and family also ranked highly, according to research.
Alexandria’s new marketing campaign is designed to raise awareness about Alexandria, increase visitors' length of stay, suggest Alexandria as a “home base” for Washington, DC-region vacations, and highlight the historic character, walkability and waterfront setting of Alexandria.
The “Seize the Day, Stay in the Moment” campaign highlights Alexandria’s historic character, waterfront and proximity to the District through a variety of print and digital ads.
A survey of East Coast travelers value Alexandria’s historic features. History was “top of mind” for 56.2% of respondents.
Almost one-quarter of those surveyed said ambiance/atmosphere was top of mind for them (24.3%), and accessibility and ease was top of mind for 22.6%. Ten to 12% used the following terms to describe Alexandria: adorable, beautiful, scenery, expensive, charming, entertainment, activities, safe, friendly, nice and family, according to Visit Alexandria's research.
The characteristics of Alexandria that motivate visitation are Alexandria’s history, walkability, location close to the District, affordable hotel rates compared to Washington, DC, architecture and the number of independent restaurants in a historic setting.
Still, Alexandria has some work to do with building awareness about the City as a destination for visitors, and this campaign is designed to increase visits.
Visit Alexandria also presented the following data points on visitors to Alexandria:
- 72.1% are married or partnered
- 16.4% have children under the age of 18
- The mean age of visitors is 52.8 years old
- The average annual household income of visitors is $120,437
View more Visit Alexandria ads along with more data, trends, and reporting on initiatives at Visit Alexandria’s Research and Reports page.
