A nice place to visit, at last

Tourism official uses makeover to sell D.C.

By Whitney Stewart (Contact) | Sunday, August 24, 2008

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Bill Hanbury looked through the curtain of his fourth-story office window at the crowds milling through the streets of Chinatown.

For the chief executive officer of Destination D.C., Washington's lead tourism organization, the bustle below proves the city has turned around in a major way.

That's a good thing, because it's Mr. Hanbury's job to sell the city to the world.

"We've always had these great classical monuments, the memorials, the museums," Mr. Hanbury said. "But now, we've layered on top of that a great renaissance city and a city that's a very urban, trendy, cosmopolitan city."

As part of his job, Mr. Hanbury has traveled to more than 17 cities around the world. He puts the District on par with London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo and Beijing.

"The second part of the city has emerged," he said, waving toward Chinatown. "It's world class."

Chinatown and other D.C. neighborhoods have sprung to life in the past decade, thanks to the coordinated efforts of Mayors Anthony A. Williams and Adrian M. Fenty and private developers in the District, Mr. Hanbury said.

"It's pretty apparent to me that downtown D.C. is the fastest turning-around downtown in the country," said Christopher B. Leinberge, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution who is studying metropolitan development trends. "In 1977, it was a place where you wouldn't be caught dead. And then again, you might be caught dead in it."

The city's makeover and tourists' renewed interest generate more than 71,000 jobs each year in D.C. alone and more than 200,000 jobs regionally, according to Destination D.C. Visitors spent more than $5.2 billion and earned the city $564 million in taxes in 2006, the agency's Web site reports. This year, a weak dollar has helped boost the number of international visitors nearly 20 percent, while hotel revenues have jumped almost 10 percent, Mr. Hanbury said.

That gratifies the former Syracuse, N.Y., high school football coach, who now spends his days marketing Washington's historical and cultural attractions to travelers. He tries to benefit the community by combining economic development with growing civic pride.

"We are, in many respects, the geopolitical center of the world," he said.

"What I like about this job is that you get a chance not only to do some civic good - creating some jobs and that kind of stuff - but also, once in a while, you actually get to do something good for the country. We play host to the world, and whether it's a presidential funeral or an inauguration, we are a city that people come to to be inspired. I haven't been to Biloxi in a long time, but I don't think you get that in Biloxi."

But with his agency's $16 million budget, half funded by hotel-room taxes and half by private donors, Mr. Hanbury doesn't just market a city others have rebuilt. He plays an active part in the process by helping organize memorial celebrations, like the World War II Memorial dedication, and renting out the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for events, such as the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority reunion and the National Education Association's annual conference earlier this summer.

His constant monitoring of tourism trends also helps in the city's rebirth, said Mr. Leinberger.

"All the advertising that goes into the place is only effective if [downtown businesses] are there," Mr. Leinberger said. "You can market all you want, but if you're marketing a dead downtown, you might fool somebody once, but they won't come back. I'm not certain if, in the history of D.C., the city has ever looked better or ever worked better. But this is just the beginning. We ain't seen nothing yet."

While the city still struggles to improve education and eliminate crime, Mr. Hanbury said the last decade of change has positioned the nation's capital for even brighter days ahead. He and Destination D.C., formerly the Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism Corporation, are preparing for the presidential election in November and expects the coming excitement to attract even more visitors.

But at best, he said, Washington provides a place for American and foreign visitors to revel in all things American.

"Societies in many respects are defined by how it reveres its history, its heroes and its art and culture," he said. "You walk around this city, and we've got everything in place.

"I've gone to Beijing, I've been to London, I've been to Moscow, I've been to Rome. They've got big stuff and they've got different kinds of stuff, but pound for pound, I'll put our stuff up against theirs any day of the week.

"From a historical perspective, from an arts and cultural perspective, this is as good as it's going to get. So it's nice to be selling that."

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