Destination DC Appoints Canuckiwi as International Representation Firm in Australia and New Zealand

Destination DC, the official destination marketing organization for Washington, DC, is pleased to announce the appointment of Canuckiwi Ltd as its representation firm in Australia and New Zealand. Effective immediately, Canuckiwi will manage travel trade strategy, public relations and industry alignment across both countries with their specialist team members.

Australia has proven to be a strong market for Washington, DC. In 2017, one out of every 17 Australian visitors to the U.S. travelled to DC, making it the city’s seventh overseas market. "Although we have been active in the market within the trade industry for a few years, we¹re thrilled about the opportunity to grow our media relations efforts," said Elliott L. Ferguson, II, president and CEO of Destination DC.

Destination DC recently held a sales and media mission in Australia with members from the tourism and communications teams. The group met with over 250 travel trade contacts and media across five days in three cities Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

"We are so pleased and excited to add Destination DC to our existing client portfolio. Canuckiwi¹s focus will be to align and enhance the Discover the Real DC campaign under its DC Cool brand through cooperative strategies with key wholesale, airline and trade partners, as well as increase awareness with key media stakeholders. Ultimately, this will increase the length of stay in the nation’s capital and contribute to grow the 80,000 Australian visitors, based on existing 2017 stats to Washington, DC," commented Corey Marshall, principle director of Canuckiwi.

With $11.5 billion in development and more than 4,500 hotel rooms in the pipeline, there are many new ways for Australian and New Zealand families to experience the city. The International Spy Museum moves to L'Enfant Plaza and reopens next spring. The Washington Monument reopens next year and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Fossil Hall reopens in June 2019.

"This appointment has additionally allowed us the opportunity to bring Lizzie Doyle onto our Canuckiwi team and work alongside us on the media relations program for Destination DC," added Marshall.

Video assets sharing the newly created Discover the Real DC campaign content can be found on the dedicated Destination DC YouTube Channel.

For more information on Washington, DC including development highlights, please visit www.washington.org.

Destination DC, the official destination marketing organization for the nation¹s capital, is a private, non-profit membership organization of 1,000 businesses committed to marketing the area as a premier global convention, tourism and special events destination with a special emphasis on the arts, cultural and historic communities. washington.org

Canuckiwi Ltdis a tourism marketing, consulting and representation firm with offices located in Auckland (New Zealand), Sydney (Australia) and Vancouver (Canada). They specialize in tourism & travel trade marketing, consumer advertising & PR strategies for suppliers and destination marketing organizations.  Meet the team.

Media Contacts:
Corey Marshall, Principle Director
corey@canuckiwi.com, +64 21 555 463