Tourism Development

As travelers continued to navigate out of the pandemic in 2021, Tourism Development remained flexible in our strategy while also re-starting programming, including in-person meetings with key clients both domestically and internationally.

Leisure travel demand for Greater Palm Springs in 2021 surpassed 2019 levels, driven primarily from our domestic markets. We aligned our team’s market responsibilities and resources accordingly to take advantage of our strong relationships with travel advisors across the United States and Canada. We also worked with regional Southern California destinations, such as Santa Monica, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, on custom multi-destination itineraries and travel advisor trainings to capture more road trip-inspired vacations.

Although overseas markets were still hampered by travel restrictions, we were able to re-engage with our contracted offices in Europe to begin laying the groundwork promoting our destination for travel in our lower-demand shoulder and summer months. As new booking trends and traveler desires emerged, we worked with our offices on our messaging and continued to conduct trainings, both in-person and virtual, as many tour operators and agencies welcomed new staff hired to handle the surge in future booking inquires. 

B2B marketing, both domestic and international, remained relevant as we strategically selected high-value campaigns to keep Greater Palm Springs top of mind in domestic markets that were actively booking travel as well as international markets that continue seeking inspiration for future travel.