4 Olympic-Themed Experiences to Boost Your Destination's Tourism
Leveraging the Olympics to Boost Tourism
Major events like the Olympics, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, or presidential elections can significantly boost tourism by attracting visitors and locals. By leveraging Olympic-themed tourism marketing, destinations can create themed experiences that capture their audiences, providing a nice boost before the fall season.
When a city hosts the Olympics, it can transform the area, leading to increased infrastructure development, global exposure, and long-term tourism growth. For instance, the 2016 Rio Olympics attracted over 500,000 foreign visitors, while London 2012 saw a surge in tourism, with an estimated 900,000 Olympic-related visits.
Even if your destination isn’t hosting the Olympics, you can still take advantage of this major event by creating themed experiences that capture the excitement of the event. Below, we will cover four ways to create engaging Olympic-themed experiences for your destination, all without needing to be in Paris.
4 Olympic-Themed Experiences for Destinations
The 2024 Summer Olympics will occur from July 26 to August 11, 2024 in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held along the River Seine, and American rapper Snoop Dogg brought the flames on the final stage of the Olympic Torch Relay as he walked through the streets of Saint-Denis ahead of the Opening Ceremony.
This global event features over 10,500 athletes competing in 329 events across 32 sports, including new additions like sport climbing, skateboarding, surfing, and breakdancing.
Key locations include the Stade de France for athletics, the Eiffel Tower for beach volleyball, and the Champs-Élysées for cycling. As destinations, there is a lot to be inspired by, including cannabis memes featuring Snoop Dogg, volleyball beneath the Eiffel Tower, and breakdancing to name a few.
Let’s turn this Olympic-sized inspiration into unforgettable experiences for your destination marketing strategy.
1. Create a Foodie Guide with an Olympic Twist
Celebrate local cuisine with an Olympic twist by creating a food guide using Olympic-themed tourism marketing strategies. Hosting Olympic-themed culinary tours can attract food lovers and sports fans alike. Consider experiences like a Team USA American Food Tour, Snoop Dogg-Inspired Cannabis Food Pairings, or Gold Medal Sweet Treat Trails.
Visit Mesa created an Olympics-inspired foodie digital passport called Visit Mesa's Tastes of the World Check-In Challenge, using Explore a destination marketing platform. Participants earn badges by checking in at a selection of 40 locations and can win Olympic-themed incentives, including digital badges categorized as “Global Foodie” and “World Traveler.”
Visit Mesa's Olympics-inspired digital passport: Tastes of the World Check-In Challenge.
Steps to Create Your Olympic-Inspired Food Tour:
Choose Your Food Tour Theme: Think about what makes your destination’s culinary scene unique and incorporate local food favorites into your Olympic foodie experience. You could focus on an Olympic-themed food fest like a healthy food tour, an American food trail, an international food digital passport, or a sweet treats trail.
Partner with Local Restaurants: Collaborate with local eateries to offer special menus featuring dishes that align with your Olympic theme.
Organize Food Festivals: Plan food festivals offering international cuisine, aligning dates with major Olympic events.
Collaborate with Local Businesses: Partner with businesses for cross-promotions, such as offering discounts and social media campaigns.
Utilize Food Trucks and Pop-ups: Create diverse food experiences with food trucks and pop-up eateries during Olympic events.
2. Design a Snoop Dogg-Inspired Olympic Cannabis Effect Pairing Guide
If your destination is cannabis-friendly, pass the torch to Snoop Dogg and let him inspire you as you create an Olympic-themed cannabis effect pairing tour of your destination. Cannabis tourism is on the rise, and effect pairing is one of the latest trends. Effect pairing involves matching events with the effects of cannabis, such as food pairings, watch party pairings, and event pairings.
Ways to Implement an Olympic Cannabis Effect Pairing Guide:
Highlight Local Dispensaries: Partner with local dispensaries to offer special Olympic-themed cannabis products.
Create a Cannabis Effect Pairing Guide: Develop a guide that pairs different cannabis strains with Olympic watch parties, food, and games, enhancing the overall experience.
Organize Cannabis Tasting Events: Host events where visitors can sample different strains paired with food and learn about their effects.
3. Throw Local Olympic Viewing Parties and Celebrate Local Celebrities
Create a guide or digital passport highlighting the best spots to watch the Olympics. Collaborate with venues to create themed experiences, develop a detailed event calendar, and promote special deals and Olympic-inspired menus. Encourage community spirit with viewing parties and fan zones. Highlight local athletes and promote sustainability.
Steps to Host Successful Viewing Parties:
Designate Fan Zones: Create areas where visitors can gather to watch events and cheer for Team USA.
Create Special Merchandise and Decor for Your Destination: Partner with businesses to sell patriotic merchandise and decorate public spaces.
Celebrate Local Olympic Heroes: Feature stories of local athletes participating in the Olympics to inspire community pride.
Practice Sustainable Initiatives: Ensure events are practicing sustainable tourism with recyclable materials and proper waste disposal.
4. Create Olympic-Inspired Family Activities to Generate Buzz
Engage families with activities inspired by the new Olympic events. Olympic-themed tourism marketing can include events like breakdancing workshops and crafts related to new Olympic sports. This year features new events that can engage children, such as climbing, skateboarding, surfing, and breakdancing.
Ideas for Family Activities:
Throw Olympic-Themed Barbecues in Public Parks: Host barbecues featuring Olympic-themed relay races and offer kid-friendly incentives.
Organize Arts and Crafts for Children: Offer arts and crafts stations such as making your own gold medal, designing your gymnastics uniform, or making an Olympic torch.
Create a Pop-Up Mini-Olympics: Hold mini-Olympic events in parks with engaging competitions like rock climbing, breakdancing battles, and skateboarding competitions.
How to Bring the Olympics to Life for Your Destination
These four Olympic-themed experiences will provide engagement for visitors and locals alike. The easiest way for Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) to create these opportunities is by using a Visitor Experience Platform (VXP) like Explore. Bring these experiences to life with a digital app supporting interactive guides, gamified digital passports, and AI-powered trip planning. Explore empowers tourism marketers and the visitors they serve with AI-powered tools for trip planning and exploration.
Ways to Use a VXP:
Create an Olympic-Themed Guide: Develop a comprehensive guide with an interactive map that features all Olympic-related activities, events, and promotions in your area. This guide can serve as a digital tour guide for visitors looking to immerse themselves in the Olympic excitement.
Design a Gamified Digital Passport: Introduce a digital passport program where participants earn digital badges and climb leaderboards by attending events or visiting specific locations. Competing in the "Passport Olympics" and winning Olympic-themed incentives can make the experience more interactive and fun. Destinations can also collect first-party data and gather UGC as participants sign up and complete photo check-ins.
Suggest Olympic-Themed Itineraries: Offer detailed trip itineraries tailored to different types of visitors, such as families, sports enthusiasts, and foodies. These itineraries can help them maximize their Olympic-themed visits by guiding them through the best activities and events your destination has to offer.
How to Create a Successful Olympic-Themed Campaign
To maximize the impact of your Olympic-themed experiences, it's crucial to plan a successful marketing launch that captures the attention of your target audience and keeps them engaged. Utilize email marketing, and social media, and create a dedicated landing page.
From creating a dedicated hashtag to curating Olympic-themed incentives, every aspect of your campaign should foster community spirit and showcase the unique offerings of your destination. Here are a few pro tips to help you get started:
Create a Hashtag: Create a dedicated hashtag for your Olympic-themed experience and encourage visitors to share their experiences using it. This can help build a sense of community and increase visibility for your destination across social media platforms. Here are some trending Olympic hashtags to get you started. We suggest creating variations of these with your destination’s name included.
#Olympics
#OlympicGames
#Paris2024
#GoForGold
#TeamUSA
#OlympicSpirit
#RoadToParis
#OlympicJourney
#SummerGames
#CelebrateOlympics
Utilize User-Generated Content: Feature user-generated content on your blog or social media pages. Highlighting visitors' posts and stories fosters engagement, authenticity, and a personal connection with your audience. Encourage visitors to tag your official handle and use your designated hashtag to be featured.
Curate Olympic-Themed Incentives: Just as Olympians receive medals, your visitors and locals should also be rewarded with Olympic-themed incentives. Design Olympic-themed digital badges and offer prizes for participation in events listed in your digital passport, creating a fun and competitive atmosphere.
Consider offering:
Discounts at local restaurants and shops participating in your foodie guide
Free entry to special Olympic-themed events like watch parties
Exclusive merchandise or memorabilia featuring your destination
Ready to Win a Marketing Gold Medal?
By implementing these Olympic-themed tourism marketing strategies, you can transform your destination into a hub of Olympic excitement, attracting both visitors and locals. Enhance your community's engagement and boost local tourism with creative and interactive Olympic-themed events and promotions.
Ready to bring the Olympics and other big-time events to life for your destination? Get a demo of Explore.
