Tourism in the area has drastically taken a nosedive since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
But as the state continues to reopen, localities in the Historic Triangle are taking a different approach to attracting tourists to the area.
March and April are typically the busiest tourist times for York County, but the pandemic caused a drastic decrease in visitors to the area. The county has had to become creative to help with the situation.
“As re-openings were delayed and businesses were forced to close, we had to pivot to what we could control,” Kristi Olsen, tourism development manager for York County, wrote in an email. “The pandemic forced us to think outside the box right out of the gate.”
Olsen said some of the solutions during the beginning of the pandemic were to start a drive-thru farmers market which helped bring in farmers and customers from all over the area. The county also had its annual Art at the River show virtually and featured more than 40 local artists with work to purchase.
Olsen said early on the county joined the statewide “We’ll be Waiting for You” messaging campaign by posting attractive images of Yorktown to keep the location in the minds of potential tourists.
“The goal was to keep Yorktown front-of-mind even during the shutdown,” she said.
Olsen said the county’s tourism marketing strategy has shifted to promote outdoor activities and attractions as the state gradually reopens.
Laura Messer, tourism and marketing coordinator for James City County, said the county has also taken the same strategy. However, Messer said even before the pandemic James City County’s tourism marketing was typically focused on outdoor attractions, such as parks and trails, because the area has so many of them.
“Outdoor recreation is a huge part of a lot of the tourism studies and travel sentiments out there,” Messer said. “And for James City County, that’s a huge asset.”
York County’s outdoor attractions are promoted through a variety of social media, digital display and television ads with the help of the Virginia Tourism Corporation.
Messer said another important aspect of tourism marketing during the pandemic has been finding ways to support local businesses. This is done through social media posts, promoting information on when attractions are open and helping businesses understand what resources are available to them.
“I think that overall it’s just about having a sort of approach that doesn’t focus on just one aspect of tourism but the destination as a whole,” Messer said.
A lot of the tourism marketing also means working in conjunction with the surrounding localities. For example, Messer said James City County has relied primarily on the Williamsburg Tourism Council for advertising campaigns while the county focuses on sharing information about different opportunities in the area for businesses and tourists.
York County is also participating in the new VTC campaign, “WanderLOVE” and the Visit Williamsburg marking program, “Life. At Your Pace.”
The WanderLOVE campaign is designed to attract people to various areas throughout the state by encouraging road trips to nearby destinations, according to the VTC website. Olsen said the campaign is especially useful to York County since the area is within driving distance to so many other towns and cities in Virginia.
The goal of the “Life. At Your Pace.” campaign is to remind guests of the different attractions in the region that allow visitors to explore the area at their own comfort level.
“It’s now about what’s open and what’s safe,” Olsen said. “Yorktown has so many outdoor attractions and experiences that allow visitors to social distance and relax and have fun while doing it.”
Olsen said those marketing efforts are promoted in a variety of ways, from using the county’s website to social media channels. The different platforms allow the county to track engagement and reach and analyze how it translates to actual visitation.
For example, Olsen said the county tracks the drive-thru Yorktown Market Days each week through its Facebook event page which lets the county know how many people were interested in attending compared to how many actually attended.
Digital and search efforts allow the county to understand what percentage of people being reached actually engage with the webpage or advertisement.
The pandemic has changed the way tourism marketing is executed in the area but it also allows the industry to continue to grow and adjust even outside of the pandemic, Olsen said.
“We have spent a lot of time investigating new ways to do business and increase visitation and awareness of our area,” she said. “That goal hasn’t altered. Thanks to COVID, we are simply changing the way people Visit Yorktown.”
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