Encouraging Locals to Stay Local

Md. Tourism Officials Pitch Vacations Close to Home

With $4-a-gallon gas and airline surcharges casting a chill over summer travel plans, Maryland tourism promoters are setting their sights closer to home this season.

In April, state tourism officials launched a $2 million effort to persuade residents of its two largest urban centers, Washington and Baltimore, to vacation in their own back yard.

"Usually states don't spend a lot of time focused on their own residents, but I thought it was time," said Margot Amelia, executive director of the Maryland Office of Tourism.

"Sometimes you have to remind people," she said. "Our destinations have changed a lot in the last 15 years."

Tourism is an $11 billion industry in Maryland, and the state has long pitched itself as a beach-to-mountain destination. In recent years, the industry has cast a regional and national net in the search for tourists.

This year's narrowed focus is based on research showing that the majority of "visitors" to Maryland are Marylanders or their neighbors. About a quarter of the state's tourists come from the Washington area, including the District's Maryland and Virginia suburbs; 14 percent come from Baltimore. Ten percent come from Philadelphia, which is also a target of the campaign.

Given the sluggish economy and eye-popping fuel prices, officials decided to make their pitch more local this year. The state's "Pretty. Close." campaign uses print, broadcast and Internet ads to let locals know about new attractions, such as the Gaylord National Resort at National Harbor in Prince George's County and the indoor whitewater course at the Adventure Sports Center at Deep Creek Lake. It also aims to spark memories of venerable standbys, including Ocean City and the many corners of the Chesapeake Bay.

Additionally, the focused marketing zone allows for a more industrial way to convey the state's message -- through a panel truck that travels to Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. The rolling billboard, which displays images of Edgar Allan Poe, a Preakness racehorse, a lighthouse and other Free State icons, will be set up this summer at the African American Heritage Festival in Baltimore and Safeway's National Capital Barbecue Battle in Washington.

"People love it," said tourism office spokeswoman Camila Clark. "It's allowed us to reach out to a lot of local consumers we hadn't reached before. It's getting a lot of attention."

Campaign planners dropped former advertising buys in Richmond and in Harrisburg and Lancaster, Pa., redirecting those marketing dollars to the closer metropolitan areas that produce more visitors to Maryland's attractions.

The targets of the promotion are primarily women ages 25 to 54, Clark said, because they tend to be the travel planners in families.

Officials said it was too soon to tell whether the campaign has put Maryland on any additional holiday itineraries, but they are planning an analysis at year's end.

One thing not likely to appear in the initiative is a commercial featuring the governor. A series of lighthearted spots starring former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) as the state's tourism pitchman touched off a controversy when Democrats accused him of using the ads to try to pump up his likability. (Ehrlich played a governor so eager to get tourists to Maryland that he offered to take over their household chores).

"I don't think you'll be seeing [Gov. Martin O'Malley] in any of these ads," Clark said.