Closed restaurants, empty hotels, hundreds of events canceled — the global coronavirus pandemic has hit the tourism industry hard here in Alexandria and around the world.
Despite the slow reopening of many parts of society, tourism will not necessarily rebound quickly. Alexandria's membership-based tourism organization, Visit Alexandria, is leading the charge in promoting the city in a completely new way this summer.
According to a survey commissioned by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), only 44 percent of Americans are planning overnight vacation or leisure travel in 2020. For those who are planning to travel, most of these trips will be road trips, family events, or long weekend getaways to locations easily accessible by car.
Visit Alexandria, which promotes tourism, events and conventions in Alexandria, recently released its an operating plan and budget for the fiscal year that started July 1, and it looks quite different than years past.
In a recent conversation with Patricia Washington, President and CEO, and Tom Kaiden, Chief Operating Officer, we discussed the impact of Covid-19 on the Alexandria tourism industry and Visit Alexandria’s plan for attracting visitors and supporting local businesses in the year ahead.
“Covid-19 has completely shifted everyone’s work and perspective and the impact on tourism and hospitality has been disproportionately devastating,” Washington said.
During their annual planning meeting held earlier in the year on February 21, coronavirus was identified as a risk — but between that meeting and March 1, it became apparent just how significant of a threat it posed to the local economy.
Visit Alexandria reacted immediately by launching ALX at Home on March 16, as a way that consumers could experience and support Alexandria businesses and attractions virtually from the comfort of their own homes. They simultaneously developed a larger strategy to promote Alexandria in a rapidly changing environment. “We were acting and planning at the same time,” explained Kaiden.
A New Approach to Promote Alexandria Tourism
They quickly realized that their previous calendar-based approach, which focused on seasons and events, would not work. Instead, they adopted a nimble and flexible approach that would allow them to adjust quickly to a variety of factors.
This new strategy was based on research and data on consumer sentiment. They looked at a number of national studies, in particular weekly surveys put out by Destination Analysts. Three key elements from the research stood out to Visit Alexandria: Consumers valued safety, flexibility and proximity.
By June, Visit Alexandria launched The ALX Promise in partnership with the Alexandria Health Department. Local businesses would have to follow specific steps prioritizing the health and safety of employees and guests to earn the designation. Those business could then display The ALX Promise shield in windows and on their websites to indicate that they have committed to higher safety standards for employees and customers than the minimum rules required by law.
They also developed the Flex Getaway Hotel Package with local hotels that would allow visitors to confidently book reservations knowing that they could easily change travel plans in case health circumstances changed.
In a complete shift from prior marketing plans, Visit Alexandria emphasized the need to focus much closer to home. They plan to target the drive market, beginning with the local DC area and moving out to a 3-hour drive radius. This is in direct response to trends in consumer comfort levels which show that many people are afraid to fly or travel great distances.
Visit Alexandria plans to continue to promote Alexandria over the coming year with marketing remaining the core of what they do. Just as important, they will continue to serve as the hub of information and support for its small business members. Their recently launched The Leadership Collection at Alexandria, which will offer leadership training to allow for continued cutting-edge innovation.
Alexandria has served as an example to many of its peer cities and was recognized for its quick response to the Covid-19 crisis by the national tourism digital marketing company Simpleview, which serves hundreds of tourism industry clients around the globe.
Kaiden pointed out that Alexandria has the advantage of being small which allows greater flexibility but more importantly, it has a strong sense of community.
“In Alexandria there is huge community loyalty and sentiment when people were not able to travel from a distance, Alexandria residents were a really important, and continue to be a really important, resource for our business community,” he explained. He also credited Washington’s leadership style and Visit Alexandria’s commitment to the values of being consumer centric, nimble, healthy and safe, flexible and more.
While it is easy to focus on all the negative ways that COVID-19 has affected the tourism industry, it is important to recognize the positive effects that have come from the need to adapt in the face of unprecedented challenges.
“Some of the innovation we have used to address the virus will stay with us, as you can see with the closure of 100 block of King Street and more outdoor dining. Yes, these were innovations that were in response to COVID-19, but I think people see the value and the vitality and economic promise of partnering and innovative approaches like you’re seeing,” Washington said.
Related stories:
Alexandria’s Restaurants Reinvent Themselves
