Alexandria tourism officials are smiling this week thanks to return-on-investment numbers from the past year for the city’s campaign to paint itself as “extraordinary.”
The Alexandria Convention and Visitors Bureau found that its “Extraordinary Alexandria” campaign— which focused on the city’s dining, shopping and unique experiences — resulted in $171 in visitor spending in Alexandria for each dollar spent on the campaign, according to an analysis by Destination Analysts. ACVA spent a little more than $1 million on the campaign 2013.
That’s a 31 percent increase in return on investment from the previous tourism campaign, which focused more heavily on the city’s historic attributes and was launched in 2008. Visitors spent $131 for each dollar spent on that campaign, according to an analysis from 2010.
Recall of the “Extraordinary Alexandria” ads more than doubled from the previous campaign, with 23 percent of those surveyed saying they had seen one of the ads, compared with a 10 percent recall of the last campaign.
Overall visitor spending, however, dipped slightly in Alexandria year over year. Total visitor spending in the city in 2013 totaled $738 million, down from a record-high $739 million in 2012.
Tourism officials credit the campaign with helping keep those numbers relatively flat in a “tough year that included the government sequester, a 17-day government shutdown and a harsh winter that discouraged travel.”
The city’s visitors’ bureau will continue the campaign for the next year, with refreshed print, digital and video ads. The theme of the this year’s ads is “Minutes from Washington, D.C., yet a world away.”
