Say Wa, Again?

The temperatures are climbing, the passes are clearing, the end of the school year approaches, so it’s time for Washingtonians to consider a summer vacation.

And in keeping with these frugal times, perhaps a modest trip within the borders of the Evergreen State, with its wealth of scenic splendors, is the thing to choose. All we really need is a guide to sort them out.

As it happens, we have two of them. There is, for example, the Washington State Visitor’s Guide, with attractions broken out by region, lodging listings and maps. Or we might turn to the Official Washington State Travel Planner, which offers attractions by regions, lodging listings, maps and… .

Wait a minute. We have two separate travel guides? In a state where the travel industry regularly kvetches about the lack of money spent on tourism promotion? When most states get by with a single statewide guide?

Tourism is big business in Washington, an estimated $14.2 billion in 2009, according to the state Department of Commerce’s “Travel Impacts Report.” (By contrast, the value of Washington’s agricultural production in 2008 was just under $8 billion, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.)

Tourism can generate thousands of locally owned and operated companies, not to mention jobs. And, by bringing wealth into the state, tourism is an “export” that we don’t have to go to the bother of boxing up and sending elsewhere.

But the Travel Industry Association’s 2007-2008 state tourism office survey ranked Washington’s promotional spending 41st in the nation. The state’s own 2008 tourism marketing plan picked up on that theme, warning that “competition for Washington visitors continues to escalate, with many states possessing much greater resources. In order to maximize the industry’s long-term economic potential, it is critical the visitor industry advocates on its behalf and continues to expand funding to compete. A clear Washington brand identity must also be conveyed to both the visitor industry and prospective visitors to the state.”

The Washington State Visitor’s Guide is published by the Washington State Hotel & Lodging Association. Jan Simon Aridj, the association’s president, says 290,000 copies of the guide (in its 11th year) will be sent out. Having a state travel guide issued by a private entity is not unique to Washington. Maine’s travel guide, for example, is a publication of the Maine Tourism Association, a private nonprofit group.

Meanwhile, 350,000 copies of the 2010 edition of the Official Washington State Travel Planner are being printed by the state Department of Commerce. There wasn’t an official guide from 2002 to 2009, but with establishment of a new tourism commission and a new funding model (the private sector has to match what the state puts up), it was time for “a more branded, unified approach to our state’s marketing efforts,” says Marsha Massey, executive director for Washington State Tourism.

“There is certainly room for multiple publications, just as one might find in a library or bookstore,” Massey says. “However, the only travel planner marketed by the state tourism office and sent out to fulfill traveler requests generated by the state’s consumer website is the Official Washington State Travel Planner.”

The difference, Jan Simon Aridj says, is “in the voice of the publications and distribution—and the intention is to reach two distinct audiences with two distinct publications, thereby increasing the number of people we entice to travel to and throughout our beautiful state.”

Maybe. But compiling, printing and distributing two colorfully illustrated promotional catalogs seems an oddly inefficient mechanism for getting the word out.

In the greater scheme of things, the difference between the two guides is likely lost on the average traveler, who just wants a good overview of what to see. Nor is the fact there are two competing guides likely to have much impact on deciding to visit—factors including the price of gasoline and consumer confidence about the economy are far more important.

Still, the existence of two guides with the same theme and audience is of more than passing interest to two groups of people promoting tourism—Washington’s taxpayers and the owners and operators of the state’s tourism businesses, both of whom are opening their wallets to support efforts to lure tourists to this state, so those travelers can empty theirs.

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