California is to maintain its focus on appealing to the family market as it aims to tap into “millennials coming of age”.
The state’s tourism marketing body Visit California has already started running adverts promoting itself as the “ultimate playground”, imagining a perfect holiday experience through the eyes of children.
And speaking at the IPW conference in San Antonio, Visit California chief executive Caroline Beteta said: “As millennials come of age, the family market will become even more important.”
According to figures released in March, the UK & Irish market is expected to reach 92% of 2019 levels this year, before matching the pre-pandemic figure of 754,000 arrivals in 2024 and exceeding that by five percentage points in 2025.
As of December last year, airlift stood at 78% of 2019 levels, when the market equated to 564 monthly non-stop flights and 167,000 monthly non-stop seats.
Beteta said Visit California’s strategy continued to be led by a sustainability guide published prior to the pandemic.
In addition to families, marketing focuses include road trips, with its Road Trip Republic guide updated and a new Road Trip Hub created, and native American experiences showcased through a recently launched Visit Native California portal.
Photo: Brand USA