SLO CAL — Life’s Too Beautiful To Rush
The county of San Luis Obispo (SLO CAL), is known as the place where ‘life’s too beautiful to rush’. The region is represented by the destination marketing and management organisation, Visit SLO CAL — a dynamic tourism body that exemplifies the positive power of collaboration between destination stakeholders. With a holistic end-to-end tourism strategy that’s underpinned by the pillars of destination stewardship and planning, Visit SLO CAL protect and build upon the lifestyle of their residents whilst inviting those from afar to explore the wonders that the county has to offer. Both now, and as they look to the future, Visit SLO CAL champion and actively pursue a sustainable and responsible approach to tourism which has become a deep-rooted part of their philosophy and ethos.
As an organisation, Visit SLO CAL is principally focused on work that maintains or improves their residents’ quality of life. Their core values of stewardship, authenticity, inclusion, drive and future focus enable them to construct effective initiatives that work to not only boost the county’s tourism economy but also support the physical environment and local community.
“Balancing resident quality of life with marketing and bringing more people here, and letting them enjoy what we live in every day, is the key” — Cathy Cartier, CMO at Visit SLO CAL
Visit SLO CAL leverages the power of the abundance of local small and medium enterprises within the county to inspire travel and foster unique experiences to create life-long ambassadors and economic growth. The absence of heavyweight corporate conglomerates supports SLO CAL’s core value of authenticity, whilst at the same time, champions local business owners who themselves are invested in both the growth of the economy and preserving resident quality of life.
At the forefront of Visit SLO CAL’s destination marketing strategy it the vision to establish SLO CAL as a vibrant and prosperous destination fuelled by a collaborative and flourishing tourism industry. In order to advance the strategic direction, the DMMO has implemented key initiatives such as to increase share of voice and intent to travel through targeted media strategies, as well as defining and activating pathways to accelerate the recovery of SLO CAL’s tourism industry.
Explore more about Visit SLO CAL’s 2023 strategic direction here.
In this series we will capture the essence of SLO CAL by exploring the ways in which their tourism strategy has been able to encourage sustainable tourism to the region whilst simultaneously acting as responsible stewards on behalf of the community that resides there. Through top down and bottom up perspectives, we’ll explore how different tourism entities are working to present SLO CAL as a tranquil tourist hotspot whilst staying true to their sustainability values — as life really is too beautiful to rush.
Explore the SLO CAL Destination Spotlight Series
