DC plans advertising blitz to lure tourists back to the city. It isn’t waiting for the pandemic to end.

The pandemic may still be raging, but the District’s tourism and events boosters will soon launch a new advertising campaign aimed at luring visitors back to D.C. over the coming months.

Events D.C. and Destination D.C. are now soliciting proposals from ad agencies to design the marketing blitz, budgeting $400,000 for the campaign. The new effort would launch sometime this spring and could include print, digital and TV advertising, according to the request for proposals released last week.

While the new campaign will market D.C. as an attractive destination in the future, once there’s widespread vaccination against Covid-19, the RFP also stipulates that firms should consider ways to draw in tourists sooner — at “every phase of Covid opening and recovery.” That should include “lower-funnel, conversion-driving, bolster-the-economy-right-now advertising creative that differentiates D.C. in the marketplace,” a particularly important factor as the city’s hospitality industry…