http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O5vpz_5VL8&feature=player_embedded
What do you like about Washington? The state’s tourism office wants to know. Today, it’s launching a campaign called Share Your Washington.A new public service announcement encourages you to invite people to travel here:
It’s part of a grassroots campaign designed to promote tourism through social media.
You can send e-postcards, use Facebook or tweet your family or friends who live out of state.
Marsha Massey is the executive director of Washington State Tourism.
"Who loves their state more than Washingtonians? I mean, if you think about it, people love to share what they love about Washington".
They got the idea from Florida, which mounted a successful social media campaign a few years ago. Massey hopes the campaign will help the state’s economy. It’s also a way to get everyone involved.
"We can’t all build airplanes and we can’t all write software, but we all have friends and family, and we can all bring them to visit."
But even though tourism generates $15 billion dollars a year, the tourism office has been left out of the governor’s budget. It’s set to be defunded at the end of June.
After that, a nonprofit called the Washington Tourism Alliance is expected to take over tourism operations for the state.
