Snohomish County develops tourism plan

Snohomish County tourism officials have a new five-year plan to promote tourism that tries to focus on existing assets in the short term as money is tight and develop more later.

Officials said the plan was developed after extensive talks with of the people involved. They hope others with an interest will add their two cents.

Noting that the county is the third largest tourism market in the state, the plan also notes that it employed 14,545 people in the county last year and attracted $911.6 million in spending in 2008.

Since the last plan was developed in 2000 — which gave rise to a new Future of Flight museum and the Lynnwood convention center — tourism has grown by 28 percent, officials said.

While tourism is expected to continue to grow, the goal is the get people to stay here overnight because they spend a lot more money, according to the report. It notes that overnight stays usually promote people to spend $716 per trip as opposed to just $222 for day trips.

The county’s primary draws are aviation and the Boeing Co. tour, business and events-based travel, gaming, outdoor recreation, shopping, and sports. Secondary draws include arts, culture, heritage, food, agriculture, indigenous experiences, small town experiences, and what it’s calling sustainability.

The county hopes to continue to develop a tourism brand to use for marketing by selling the area as an accessible adventure destination. It also hopes to promote those primary tourism draws and to engage people in surprising ways.

It wants to explore the idea of a county tourism and convention bureau, strengthen the interest in or aviation attractions, build on the lure of gaming, and continue to build on shopping and sports.

It further wants to improve the tourism bureau website and develop custom and prepackaged itineraries, improve the county’s transportation system and broaden overnight options.

Click here to see the plan.

To comment on the report, send an e-mail to:Wendy.Becker@snoco.org.