Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1094881
B M & T ••• November/December 2018 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 24 D estination DC (DDC) recently announced a record 22.8 million total visitors to the nation's capital in 2017, up 3.6% over 2016. Elliott L. Ferguson, II, president and CEO of Destination DC, con- firmed the banner year for DC's tourism industry at the organization's annual Marketing Outlook Meeting held at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium with city leaders, stake- holders and local tourism and hospitality businesses. "Washington, DC wel- comed 20.8 million domes- tic visitors last year, up 4.2%, and 2 million over- seas visitors, up 2.5%," said Ferguson. "We've seen eight years of consecutive growth. At the end of the day, what we do to attract visitors is economic devel- opment, resulting in $7.5 billion spent by travelers." In 2017, tourism directly supported 75,048 DC jobs, up 0.5% over 2016 and exceeding 75,000 for the first time since 2013. According to IHS Markit, domestic and inter- national spending was up 3.1% and surpassed $7 billion for the third time. Business travel accounted for 41% of visitation and 60% of spending. Leisure spending increased by 5.9% and business spending was up 1.3%. "Growing tourism is good for local business and good for Washingtonians," said Mayor Muriel E. Bowser. "When visitors choose DC – when they dine out in our restaurants, stay in our hotels, and visit our local neigh- borhoods – we're able to spread prosperity and build more pathways to the mid- dle class for residents across all eight wards." DDC also announced plans to sustain the momentum of an uptick in visitation by previewing a new advertising campaign called "Discover the Real DC" under its five-year- old "DC Cool" brand. To inform the campaign, DDC worked with Destination Analysts on custom research in its tar- get domestic markets along the East Coast corridor as well as Chicago and Los Angeles. Eight personas of the visitors likely to visit DC emerged from live interviews and surveys of thousands of consumers. DESTINATION DC ANNOUNCES RECORD 22.8 MILLION VISITORS TO THE NATION'S CAPITAL IN 2017 AND PREVIEWS NEW ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN Potential Visitors Encouraged to 'Discover the Real DC' Washington, D.C Tidal Basin during cherry blossom season Photo Credit: Sean Pavone