Duane Schlosser discovered Spokane, Washington, by accident. And he’s glad he did.
Schlosser, a retired delivery driver from Loretto, Minnesota, booked a Columbia River cruise for this fall. When it fell through because of the surging COVID-19 delta variant cases, he didn’t know what to do with his nonrefundable airline tickets from Minneapolis to Spokane.
Click here to read the story at usatoday.com.
Discussion Questions:
- What is tourism?
- What is destination marketing?
- What makes a destination? Are Spokane, Duluth and Brattleboro destinations? Why or why not?
- Why might cities like Spokane, Duluth and Brattleboro want to attract more visitors?
- How might an uptick in tourism impact those cities?
- How has the pandemic impacted travel?
- Why is marketing important for those cities hoping to attract more visitors?
- According to this story, tourism officials in Brattleboro launched a new campaign during the pandemic. What was it called and what message do you think they hoped to send to tourists through the marketing effort?
- If you were a marketing professional working for one of the cities highlighted in this story, what would you do to try to attract more tourists? Be prepared to discuss your answers in class.
