Virus upends tourism marketing, sparks idea of 'safecations'

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The coronavirus has upended the way cities and states market themselves as summer travel destinations, and some tourism officials are just emerging from an especially awkward position: telling potential visitors to stay away.

The pandemic's effects can be seen on promotional websites that acknowledge the new risks of travel. An Illinois site encourages people to explore the state's natural wonders from their sofas. Virginia's main tourism site features a mountain range with the message “We’ll be waiting for you.”

“We really had to ask ourselves, ‘When is it irresponsible to ask people to travel? What do we do as a tourism brand?’ We can’t come out and tell people to plan a trip because we have no idea when people are going to be traveling again,” said Lindsey Norment, brand director at Virginia Tourism.

Virginia’s tourism office spent a year working on a summer marketing campaign only to halt it four days after its launch in March. Ads featuring a Seattle family’s vacation in the state were scrapped.

“That was a scary moment in our office to think, ‘Everything we’ve done up to this point, we can’t say that anymore,’” Norment added.

The U.S. Travel Association estimates that domestic travel spending will drop by 40%, from $927 billion in 2019 to $583 billion in 2020, because of the pandemic. That decline has tourism officials scrambling to salvage what they can.

Many agencies settled on step-by-step approaches that initially emphasized staying home and virtual tours. Gradually, the message is shifting to encouraging people to explore places close to where they live. Next will be cautious outreach to out-of-state visitors.

Or as Lori Harnois puts it: Dream, plan, go.

Harnois is the director of travel and tourism in...