Find out where DC has been in the news this month and what's new with the marketing team.
Destination DC's (DDC) marketing and communications strategy supports economic development through tourism by reaching potential visitors and inspiring them to travel to the nation’s capital. The current cross-channel promotional efforts are focused on fall travel across editorial and content development.
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Media Coverage
Domestic
Ahead of WorldPride, Lonely Planet publishes an LGBTQ+ guide to the city, while AFAR and The Points Guy name DC one of the best places in the world to travel in June. Elliott is quoted in The Washington Post and Washington Blade about the landmark event. DC makes Condé Nast’s shortlist of international value destinations for families, Family Vacationist declares DC a trendy spring break destination and She Buys Travel lists DC as a top city to visit with teens. In AFAR, three notable Washingtonians speak to the city’s cultural diversity. A combined 45 members are mentioned in the Georgetown and cherry blossoms sections of Town & Country’s new “snob” guide to DC, while 25 members are named in TimeOut's list of the best things to do.
International
Around the world, interest in DC’s cherry blossoms bloomed. Kleine Zeitung (Germany) features DC’s beautiful trees, while El Universal (Mexico) covers seasonal cherry blossom activities. TravelLinksLive (India) names over 55 members in their upcoming events roundup. Germany’s Radioreise explores the city’s monuments and French Morning (France) spotlights the best after-hours museum experiences. Brazil’s Exame publishes a guide to seven free museums in DC for a range of interests. The Independent (UK) declares DC one of the top 10 best cities for solo female travelers and Travel Mole (UK) promotes upcoming A250 events for travel media.
Trade
DDC member venues and new and renovated hotels are highlighted in Black Meetings & Tourism, BizBash and Skift Meetings. Editor JT Long toured several Sustainability District members and covers them in Smart Meetings. A spring itinerary highlights the National Cherry Blossom Festival and more in Travel Daily Media. Elliott was interviewed about the impact of inclusive events in DC, including WorldPride and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Communications supported DC Loves Buses Day, showcasing the vital role of group tours in DC tourism.
Marketing Highlights
The District Blog
DDC's content team has launched The District Blog, a new content hub designed to drive visitation by making DC’s attractions and experiences more discoverable and engaging than ever before. The blog surfaces a wide variety of inspirational content — from popular listicles to niche articles — organized by interest categories like Shopping, Museums, Food & Drink and Family-Friendly. The setup allows potential travelers to stumble upon new ideas, explore by passion and easily dive deeper into related experiences, creating a "rabbit hole" effect that keeps them excited about visiting DC. The team will gather insights from user behavior to better tailor content to inspire future visitors.
WorldPride DC 2025
With the celebration slated for May 17 through June 8, DDC is in the final stages of preparation for WorldPride. A content hub welcomes potential visitors with a range of articles, from the event-focused to the inspirational and informational. Support also includes promotion of the global celebration across all channels, including advertising and social media. DDC's communications and social teams plan to host approximately 40 journalists and influencers across the multi-week extravaganza.
Social Highlights
Leisure Social
April kicked off with a wave of seasonal content celebrating the city’s spring weather – from a Spring Bucket List to family-friendly activity guides and rooftop recs perfect for warmer days.
Our flower coverage remained a fan favorite, including spotlights of wisteria, forsythia and stopping to smell the flowers. In celebration of Earth Month, leisure channels also leaned into sustainable travel, featuring eco-conscious vacation tips and secondhand shopping, as well as parks across our city.
DC’s dynamic sports and cultural scenes also shined bright this month. We celebrated Alex Ovechkin’s surpassing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring record, cheered on the DC Defenders, shared reasons to catch a Nationals game and announced this year’s Jazz in the Garden schedule.
Rounding out the month, we highlighted diverse cultural touch points including International Dance Day, National Shakespeare Day and the International Day of Human Space Flight, showcasing the endless ways to explore #Only1DC.
Industry Social
Industry channels welcomed Awesome Com back to the convention center and celebrated Global Meetings Industry Day and Operation Cherry Pie. We recapped the Sustainability Summit and the ways attendees arrived in style (sustainably!). We honored Emancipation Day in DC, spotlighted Elliott Ferguson’s PCMA Lifetime Achievement Award and shared how Destination DC is gearing up to celebrate 4th of July in the nation’s capital.
Member Spotlights included Lattly, Bartaco, Colada Shop, Ama and Cafe Cino.
