Regional Plan Project Offers Free Digital Marketing Consultations for California DMOs

Visit California’s effort to develop strategic plans for all 12 tourism regions has moved into high gear.

The consulting team led by JLL this summer formed and convened advisory committees in each region to lead the conversations about tourism opportunities and challenges over the next decade. 

And now the project team has begun free digital marketing assessments and consultations for all DMOs.

The two-year project, funded by a Covid-relief grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, aims to frame the future of California’s tourism industry in each region with a list of actionable recommendations and specific routes to implementation. The process involves robust data collection and ongoing engagement with affected communities each month to vet the research, decide priorities and eventually develop recommendations that chart the path forward.

These plans will cover challenges and opportunities the industry faces across a broad spectrum, including:

• Current state of tourism
• Product development
• Tourism marketing
• Destination brand perceptions
• Visitor management
• Housing imbalances
• Environmental challenges
• Safety issues
• Workforce development needs
• Infrastructure priorities

JLL has had more than 500 touchpoints with industry – 417 completed interviews and 85 more scheduled – drawing regional perspectives from destination managers and tourism business executives to environmentalists, and top government officials and tribal leaders.

About 250 tourism stakeholders and civic leaders have agreed to serve on the regional advisory committees. Planning teams have completed weeklong site visits in nine of the 12 regions. The remaining three are scheduled for September.

Online surveys and in-market focus groups will go out this fall to add more feedback. Also, input is continually accepted through this portal on Visit California’s website.

First up for the 12 advisory committees beginning this month is evaluation of the Tourism Readiness Indexes built through a data collection process developed by JLL and the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Julia Simpson, CEO of the WTTC, said this step “is a foundational component of planning for California's tourism ecosystem over the next 10 years.

“Travel and tourism plays an incredibly important role in the global economy, from boosting GDP to creating jobs and improving the livelihoods of those who rely on our sector,” Simpson said. “For the tourism strategic plans across the 12 California Tourism Regions to have a meaningful impact, understanding current readiness for the industry is critically important. For the sector to grow in a sustainable manner, being ‘ready’ for what lays ahead – including industry infrastructure, policy and much more – is paramount." 

The data positions regions in eight readiness pillars – scale, leisure, business, concentration, environmental readiness, urban readiness, safety and policy prioritization. Analysis of the 68 points provides a quantitative foundation to begin committee discussions to determine critical issues in each region, which will ultimately inform recommendations in the final reports.

These data points include traditional tourism and hospitality indicators such as lodging inventory, occupancy, and ADR, but also cover things tourism doesn’t always consider like infrastructure and business friendliness policies, crime in the region and environmental challenges. 

Much of the data is also collected at the county and city levels, allowing the committees’ work to drill deeper in each tourism region, which can contain a variety of destinations.

Regions and destinations also will undergo assessments on sustainability and resilience, demand drivers and digital marketing.

The project’s DMO digital marketing assessment and consultation, operated by JLL and project team partner Unisphere Destinations, has just rolled out. All California DMOs can participate at no charge. To start, DMOs are encouraged to meet as a marketing team and complete a self-assessment, which takes about 30 minutes. Follow-up consultations and webinars also are free. The process not only will inform the regional plans, but also will give DMOs insight that can improve return on digital marketing investment.

DMOs should receive a direct email to complete the assessment in the coming weeks, but the portal is open now for those who would like a head start. Reach the marketing assessment resources at this address: https://www.unispheredestinations.com/visit-california
The password is california (all lower-case).