Students in Joan Giese’s Marketing Management 495 class visit Tri-Cities attractions earlier this year, before the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order took effect. (photos courtesy WSU Tri-Cities)

Students Craft Plans to Increase the Tri-Cities’ Draw for Millennial Travelers

By Becky Kramer

COVID-19 turned the team project in Joan Giese’s Marketing Management 495 class on its head.

The assignment required students to develop strategies for bringing tourists in their 20s and 30s to the Tri-Cities in Central Washington. But as the project got underway, the state’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” orders took effect.

“Last semester, we had a very devastating external factor, and that was the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Giese, clinical associate professor of marketing at WSU Tri-Cities. “The impact on the tourism industry has been astronomical.”

Michael Novakovich of Visit Tri-Cities tells students about local attractions during a bus tour.

Responding to the crisis became a learning opportunity, Giese says. Her class rose to the challenge, crafting plans to draw millennials to the Richland-Kennewick-Pasco area as Washington’s economy reopens.

Visit Tri-Cities, the area’s visitor and convention bureau, will use the students’ ideas in its future planning, says Michael Novakovich, the president and chief executive officer.

“We’re all seasoned marketers here, and we think the students did some really outstanding work,” says Novakovich (’10 Bus. Admin., ’16 MBA). “They identified some things we are already working on, validating our efforts. And they had unique ideas as well.”

Tourism is a $500 million industry in the Tri-Cities, employing more than 6,300 people. The area is home to wineries, golf courses, live music venues, art galleries, and tours of the Manhattan Project B Reactor and the decommissioned USS Triton submarine.

With 269,500 residents, the Tri-Cities has a competitive advantage for attracting tourists as Washington’s phased reopening continues, according to Novakovich. “We offer urban experiences without the high-population densities people want to avoid at this time,” he says.

Drawing on the Tri-Cities attributes

Students suggested ways for Visit Tri-Cities to increase the area’s allure for millennial travelers. Among their recommendations:

  • By offering activities and spaces for children, wineries can become family destinations for travelers.
  • Social media is an important way to reach millennial audiences, and Visit Tri-Cities can capitalize on that through the use of social media influencers and hashtags, contests, and raffles to promote user-generated content that can be shared and reposted.
  • The “Tri-Cities” label may not resonate with people from other parts of Washington. Helping define what the Tri-Cities is could increase the area’s draw for travelers.
  • Creating a Tri-Cities Pass would open prospective tourists’ eyes to the area’s attractions, while offering a discount for bundling activities.

Before Washington’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order went into effect, Novakovich took the class on a bus tour of the Tri-Cities. “I was flabbergasted by all of the stuff you could do—I felt like a tourist in my own town,” says Abraham Mendoza (’20 Bus. Admin.), who grew up in Pasco.

He and teammates Valexa Hernandez, Valerie Long, Brittany Stanton-Dameron, and Cade Timmons crafted a Tri-Cities Pass for 20-something, cost-conscious travelers. It included options such as kayaking or paddleboarding on the Columbia River, a visit to the B-Reactor, a wine cruise, local cuisine, and a farmers’ market.

“We combined what we thought were the Tri-Cities’ main attractions and made it easy for people to purchase a pass to go do those things,” says Long, a senior from Richland. The students hope the Tri-Cities Pass becomes a reality.

Students learn about things to see and do in the Tri-Cities for their tourism marketing project.

“If they put something like this together,” Long says, “I’ll definitely be buying it.”

Exposing students to the tourism industry

Besides benefiting Visit Tri-Cities, the students’ ideas will be shared with the Washington Tourism Alliance, says Andi Day (’91 Hist.).

Day is the vice chair of the alliance, a nonprofit that promotes Washington’s tourism industry, and executive director of the Long Beach Peninsula’s Visitors Bureau. She’s also the initiator of the class project on destination marketing, which she suggested at a Carson College National Board of Advisors meeting.

“We welcome opportunities to expose students to the tourism industry and this facet of marketing,” Day says. “It was great to get their perspectives as well.”

Day was particularly interested in the students’ Tri-Cities Pass. The alliance is working on a similar passport idea to promote in-state tourism as COVID-19 related restrictions ease.

“One of our campaigns is about exploring your own backyard,” she says. “We’re fortunate to live in a really beautiful state, and we see it as a way to promote safe travel. We can direct tourists to less crowded areas, away from large events to safer activities.”