Tourism/Visitors Cluster

The Tourism/Visitors cluster includes hospitality, culinary and recreation industries, such as hotels, restaurants, spas, guided tours, sports, and cultural centers. It is the largest cluster employer in the region, providing jobs at a range of skill levels for 95,500 people in the Puget Sound region.

A 2002 study on Washington’s tourism industry revealed that travel spending generates an estimated $760 million in state and local tax revenues annually, and King, Pierce, and Snohomish are the top 3 counties for travel spending in the state. The large workforce employed by this cluster, and training programs, such as South Seattle Community College’s top ranked Culinary Arts Program, give this cluster significant growth potential.

2010 Action Items

Action Initiative	Action Initiative Area	Organization
Create a unified "Puget Sound Destination Experience" by aligning promotional packages.	Tourism & Visitors	Prosperity Partnership Tourism & Visitors Working Group
Authorize the Washington State Convention and Trade Center to take the next steps toward planning and development of an expanded facility.	Tourism & Visitors	Governor Gregoire / Washington State Legislature
Create the organizational capacity and implementation strategy for an event that celebrates our region as the epicenter of the global health industry.	Life Sciences / Tourism & Visitors	Global Health Nexus Seattle / Prosperity Partnership Tourism & Visitors Working Group
Encourage the implementation of the Survey of International Visitors report recommendations on ensuring that our region better accommodates international visitors.	Logistics and International Trade / Tourism & Visitors	Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle / Prosperity Partnership Tourism & Visitors Working Group

What’s New: Global Health Nexus, Seattle
A new organization has been formed to build on the Prosperity Partnership Tourism/Visitors Strategy recommendation to create a 2012 global health event. Global Health Nexus, Seattle will market Seattle as the place to do global health work, and also be a driver of economic development by encouraging businesses to come to the region, resulting in greater conversations about global health issues in Seattle and beyond.

Global Health Nexus, Seattle will leverage the relationships of the Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA), the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association (WBBA) and Prosperity Partnership to facilitate broader communication to a more diverse, public audience, and promote the success and potential for the industry as a whole. The effort will build to 2012 and the signature Global Health Nexus, Seattle International Conference.

Cluster Strategy Development Background
In 2008, to target its work in supporting the tourism and visitors cluster, the Prosperity Partnership formed a Tourism/Visitors Cluster Strategy Development Working Group tasked with identifying specific action initiatives to be implemented. A special thanks goes to the co-chairs of that working group:

   Bob Aylward, Executive Vice President for Business Operations
   Seattle Mariners
   www.mariners.com

   Carla Murray, Senior Vice President of Operations, West Region
   Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
   www.starwoodhotels.com

The full Tourism/Visitors industry cluster strategy can be found here.


Contact
For more information, contact Eric Schinfeld, 206-971-3053.