Supporting Highway 1 with a responsible travel message for summer road trips

Highway 1 at the Rocky Creek slip-out in Monterey County north of Big Sur reopened to traffic in both directions on Friday, May 17, after being closed since Easter weekend. This exciting news means that visitors from around the world can once again experience the breathtaking beauty and awe-inspiring landscapes that make Big Sur a world-renowned destination — just in time for summer road trip season.

As the road reopened, Visit California’s earned media team used its global reach, network of instate influencers, and media and broadcast connections to help spread the word.

A statement from Visit California was prepared and shared with its network of 13 international markets to help celebrate that Big Sur is once again accessible to tourists in time for summer road trips. The offices also began including Big Sur in all relevant pitching for summer travel.

In May, Visit California’s public relations team traveled with Big Sur River Lodge, San Francisco Travel and See Monterey to New York City for Dotdash Meredith’s Media Day event. This invitation-only event allowed the team to meet with the publisher’s top editors to promote the reopening.

Additionally, the PR Team worked with its network of in-state influencers to share the message that Big Sur is accessible from the north for summer travel. In total, seven influencers posted Instagram content promoting this iconic road trip, as well as responsible travel messaging — encouraging their followers to check road conditions and be respectful, patient and kind to all involved in their travels. Some of this content is also being shared across Visit California’s social channels. To date this influencer content has garnered more than 268,500 views.

Visit California also leveraged a broadcast satellite media tour (SMT) with media personality Gabe Saglie, hitting important in-state and out-of-state markets like Seattle, Portland and Phoenix, to celebrate the ultimate summer road trip in California and along the Central Coast. In total, the SMT reached more than 500,000 viewers across seven markets and garnered an additional 216 million potential impressions from online placements.

Nationally, a road trip segment aired on NBC’s "TODAY Show" on Tuesday, July 2, to an audience of more than 1.5 million viewers. The segment featured Highway 1, highlighting Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties, further cementing this iconic stretch of coast as one of the top road trips in the world. The California content begins at the four minute mark.