Issaquah’s Main Street during the city’s annual Independence Day celebration in 2023.
Provided by Visit Issaquah
Tourism on the East Side is on the upswing and gaining momentum as marketers try to improve the visitor experience, increase overnight and weekend stays and attract more international visitors.
“I think the health of tourism is really great,” said Christy Garrard, executive director of the Issaquah Tourism Bureau. “When I took on this role in March 2022, we were still wearing masks at the time, and we saw a gradual return of tourists. Since then, we’ve gone through what we call a ‘revenge travel’ phase, and we’ve seen a steady increase in tourism across the Eastside, and Issaquah is no exception.”
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a devastating blow to the entire tourism industry. However, in today’s post-pandemic environment, optimism is evident as local destination marketers demonstrate their commitment to a strong recovery and future growth.
Underscoring this point, the Bellevue Tourism Board said in a recent report that “the focus is not just on regaining lost ground, but on creating a stronger, more resilient tourism sector that can withstand future challenges.”
In fact, Bellevue’s tourism activity is projected to increase citywide hotel occupancy by 12 percent and weekend occupancy by 9 percent by 2025, attracting 600,000 new overnight guests and increasing visitor spending by $147 million.
Ongoing tourism initiatives within the City of Bellevue include, but are not limited to:
◉ BellHop: In partnership with Circuit, visitors and local residents can ride a free, all-electric shuttle service. According to the city, BellHop is averaging 260 rides per day and is approaching its monthly goal of 8,000 rides.
◉ Mobile Welcome Centres: Set up at various strategic locations across the city, these mobile welcome centres are intended to be a convenient way to provide expert guidance and personalised recommendations to visitors.
◉ Festival and Event Incubator Program: Through this program, Visit Bellevue, the Bellevue Tourism Promotion Area, partners with Bellevue’s lodging and hospitality industry and the City of Bellevue to provide funding and support services to promote the sustainability of Bellevue’s festivals and events. Recent events include the Northwest Chocolate Festival and The Fly-Fishing Show.
Redmond’s Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome at Marymoor Park is the only one of its kind in Washington state.
Courtesy of City of Redmond
Meanwhile, the Light Rail East Link extension, which includes eight new stations from South Bellevue to Redmond-Technology station, opens on April 27, allowing more people to avoid traffic jams and parking troubles while enjoying Eastside attractions. Additional extensions to Seattle and downtown Redmond are scheduled to open in 2025.
“This will connect the Eastside more closely to the visitor experience,” said Redmond Economic Development Manager Philly Marsh. “And with the connection to Seattle and the expansion into downtown Redmond planned for 2025, visitors will have easy and seamless access to the Eastside tourism experience. So we’re excited to finally have this taking shape and coming online.”
Marsh added, “I think there’s a lot of opportunity on the Eastside, especially with the exciting new infrastructure that’s there to help move visitors around.”
Given the new light rail infrastructure and its impact on the tourism economy, the Redmond Lodging Tax Advisory Committee invested in developing a Destination Strategic Plan. According to Marsh, the plan will serve as a “road map for coordinating concerted efforts to leverage our attractions as a tourism destination.”
For example, with the light rail line officially opening, Redmond will be running a promotional campaign to drive more visitors to Overlake Village, the Redmond Technology Center and surrounding businesses, and it will continue to encourage winery visitors in Woodinville to book hotels near Redmond.
Experience Redmond’s annual Festival of Colors helps eastern residents celebrate Holi and welcome spring, and according to Experience Redmond, the festival is the largest in the Pacific Northwest with more than 10,000 attendees.
Courtesy of City of Redmond
Efforts are also underway to attract more international tourists to the East Side as cities look to promote greater diversity and boost tourist spending.
For example, Bellevue is partnering with PacRim Marketing Group on its first international paid marketing campaign in Japan, and the company has begun building out a recently released Japan-specific website and an initial six-month program that will include international public relations, media relations, and paid and organic social media, as outlined at a recent Bellevue-Redmond Tourism Promotion Regional Advisory Board meeting.
“We’re targeting Japan because of our relationship with the Puget Sound region,” said Anna Yang, public relations manager for the Bellevue Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Yang added, “Our Visitor Experience division is working to create and introduce a Japan-ready toolkit to all our hospitality partners on how to welcome Japanese tourists in a culturally appropriate manner. This is our first international marketing campaign and we are very excited about it.”
Garrard, of the Issaquah Tourism Board, said the city is similarly looking to work with travel industry providers that specifically target the international market.
“We’ve found (through our international travel training) that there’s a lot of disposable income, especially in Europe, Asia and India. When they come to the U.S., they stay for longer periods of time, more than two weeks, and we see an opportunity for Issaquah to be a great base from which to experience all the region has to offer at a more affordable price than downtown Seattle,” Garrard said, adding that the city is working with local travel agencies to develop itineraries for international travelers.
With marketing efforts like this underway, we hope the Eastside will become a more attractive destination for visitors and a more prosperous neighborhood for residents.
Tourism in numbers
Projected impacts to the Bellevue Tourism Promotion Area (TPA) by 2025:
The number of overnight guests is expected to be 2.4 million in 2025 and 1.8 million in 2022.
The city’s hotel occupancy rate will be 72% in 2025 and 60% in 2022
Weekend hotel occupancy rate to be 66% in 2025 and 57% in 2022
Economic impact of $1.85 billion in 2025 and $1.44 billion in 2022
Source: Bellevue Tourism Development District Scope of Work Report
