Name: Todd Little, Executive Director
Company Name: Discover Coronado
Type of Business: City of Coronado’s destination marketing organization with a mission to partner with the tourism and hospitality industry that serves its city.
Founded: 1994
How have you changed your business n response to COVID-19? Temporarily, Discover Coronado pivoted to leisure travel so our resorts and local businesses could continue to operate. Finding other heads on beds throughout the year helped Coronado Island survive 2020.
We used “the downtime” to produce a promotional video for meeting planners so they can see the new health protocols we’ve established. We updated our logo so the call to action encouraged discovering Coronado virtually, safely and with confidence. We also photographed our meeting spaces in covid-compliant configurations so planners can see the possibilities. Lastly, to encourage virtual tours of our meeting spaces in Coronado, we used Matterport ™️ technology to create 3D digital tours that could be accessed from computers, tablets and phones. All of these can be found on DiscoverCoronado.com/ready
What keeps you hopeful? As event planners, we have learned to embrace change. Change is the only thing we’ve learned to expect. Granted, no one knew how seismic the change would be. Our Board of Directors were confident in our experience, adaptability and passion. Discover Coronado luckily had reserves in place to fund our new strategies.
What is your advice to other companies? Ask for advice from others in the same situation. I certainly called many of my industry peers for advice. Sometimes, I just needed a shoulder to cry on. They were helpful to me and I have assisted others in return. Yes, they are competitors per se, but they are professionals first who deserve respect, empathy and assistance.
What is the one thing you are looking forward to doing when things return to normal-ish? Removing well-worn phrases from our everyday vocabulary. “The new normal” and “post-covid” are qualifiers I can’t wait to retire from our conversations.
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