Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) – Drive 2.0 Strategic Plan
In 2019, VTC sought to develop a strategic plan that could not only enhance the travel and tourism industry statewide but also provide concrete guidance and roadmaps to drive communications, investment, and asset development on a local level –in short, to build more successful, sustainable, marketable, and resilient destinations.
From the start, both S.I.R. and VTC understood that the leaders of these destinations needed to drive our approach if the end product stood any chance of being implemented. With this in mind, we began with interviews and statewide industry listening sessions before developing a tailored survey.
Image courtesy of Virginia.org
Using those stakeholder inputs, as well as S.I.R.’s trends work and a robust secondary analysis of individual research conducted on behalf of individual destinations, we delivered a five-year statewide strategic plan, DRIVE 2.0, as well as individual roadmaps for each of Virginia’s 10 regions, that:
Detailed Virginia’s (or the region’s) current assets and overall tourism impact;
Identified the top industry trends and opportunities on the horizon for tourism leaders to address;
Examined the current offerings of the state’s (or region’s) top competitors and how to stand out among them; and
Charted a strategic vision and course forward to enhance promotional and product development efforts, as well as build partnerships and resources to best position destinations (and the state) for maximum growth and impact.
However, throughout this process, stakeholders kept returning to a clear need for concrete guidance. In short, they wanted tools they could use to enhance their storytelling and marketing practices, increase partnerships, tap into funding sources, and enhance their experiences on a practical level.
As a result, S.I.R. worked with VTC to develop a series of How-to Guides related to these topic areas and has continued to provide hands-on support for VTC’s outreach and grantmaking efforts as individual cities, regions, and destinations work to put the results of the plan and guides into action. This work includes developing workshop content and facilitating workshops.