Skift Take
Destinations are not out of the woods yet with vaccines — but you wouldn't know it from Visit Orlando's new marketing campaign, unless you watched Walt Disney World's ads instead. What's behind the polar opposite messaging?
With vaccine distributions underway but Covid still rampant, plus rising pandemic fatigue, U.S. destinations are facing a whole new challenge in hitting the right note with their tourism marketing messaging.
Orlando is one of them, ranking among America's most tourism-dependent destinations with 41 percent employed in the tourism industry and generating $75.2 billion in economic impact pre-pandemic, according to Visit Orlando. The most visited destination in the U.S. with 75.7 million visitors in 2019, it's also located in one of the country's worst pandemic affected states.
That's why it's difficult to understand why Visit Orlando's new campaign "The Wonder Remains," lacks a clear message of safety protocols at its sights and attractions. Instead, the $2 million campaign — the first for Orlando since Covid and aimed at neighboring drive-in source markets — shows visitors who are mask-free as they enjoy theme parks, including crowds packed on a roller coaster at SeaWorld whose screams overpower the music.
Here's where it gets interesting: Orlando's chief attraction, Walt Disney World, which also suffered a major hit in 2020, has taken a polar opposite approach by clearly prioritizing and showing Covid safety protocols in its campaigns— no back shots, no mixed messages. Its most recent video to promote its 50th anniversary in October 2021 also shows the new Disney World parks' normal, with mask-wearing throughout.
So why the sharp contrast in messaging between Visit Orlando and Disney World?
"[T}he focus is to show the POV of the traveler, so, while you may not see a mask, you see the perspective looking forward — which would show backs of heads of those in front of you — and for activities such as swimming or kayaking down a stream, masks are not required," Casandra Matej, Visit Orlando's new CEO, said i
