WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER An update from CEO Laurie Baker

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold, I wanted to take this opportunity to extend my hope that you, your family and your team are safe. We are living through one of those defining periods of our lives, once again, when Redding is showing support in so many ways. I am proud to call you my friends, neighbors and partners, and want to thank all essential and frontline workers for their bravery and effort during this time. I also want to affirm the commitment of the Redding CVB to our community. For over 40 years the Redding CVB has been supporting local business by inviting people from outside the area to be additional clientele with money to spend. Tourism will be even more crucial than ever to local business as our community recovers. The question is what are we doing to prepare for post COVID-19 to help businesses come back from hibernation? The Redding Chamber is doing what they can to guide businesses to keep them alive, and the Redding CVB is working on a plan to encourage visitation from people with jobs who have lockdown fatigue and want to travel once it is safe for our community to let them come. I firmly believe you can’t find a better team with heart and the capability to help bring business in from the outside. The CVB team is working on showing Redding’s best side with virtual tours, creating itineraries with different places to explore, and crafting special package deals that make Redding the place to choose for a safe, friendly trip. Laurie Baker CEO , Redding Visitors Bureau

A CALL FOR VIRTUAL TOURS Increasing demand in content is enticing for future travelers

As we all look for ways to support our local businesses the Redding CVB has taken the role of sharing virtual tours. We, as the local tourism specialists, are hearing from tour operators that virtual tours are in high demand and it will entice their clientele to want to visit later. If Redding businesses have the ability to create virtual tours, they can use those to share on their social media and they can share those virtual tours with us at the Redding CVB. We can also use our social media reach of 40,000+ and our cultivated relationships with tour operators begging for that type of content.

PLANNING FOR POST COVID-19 Have an idea of what to do in Redding? Help us create 1-day itineraries!

Your CVB team is creating itineraries by locals for locals as part of the Redding City Identity Project. The beauty of this project is that we as locals will have a new list of activities to enjoy and visitors will experience those local gems being endorsed by local people. If you want to contribute an itinerary that encompasses your business, please put one together by filling out the form below and we will see how we can use it. We're looking for those inside tips, 'off-menu' restaurant items, and special places to go to truly enjoy Redding.

SUBMIT YOUR 1-DAY REDDING ITINERARY

KEEPING YOUR BRAND ALIVE Learn what you can do to stay top of mind to consumers

Recent surveys say people want to hear about clean and safe businesses, whether they are open now, or will be open again in the future. A good way to keep your brand alive as we navigate the COVID-19 crisis is to share how you are keeping your place of business clean and safe for your patrons. How you are stepping up the disinfecting process is a way to show your concern for both your employees and your customers, plus it will keep your name out there rather than going silent while you wait for business to return. This is a good time to share the history of your business and maybe some secrets of your trade. Offering information rather than promoting sales will keep your brand alive without stepping on the sensitivity of those who are out of work right now. Tourism industry leaders suggest another idea is to share any adjustments you are making to help people as they work through this difficult time. The Redding CVB team has been looking for these adjustments and sharing them on VisitRedding.com and with the hospitality industry.

MAKE SURE YOU'RE ELIGIBLE TO TRAVEL REAL ID deadline is postponed 1 year

Did you know that to travel you will need what is called a special ID that is called a REAL ID? For many of us, this will replace our regular driver’s license which used to be sufficient to travel by plane. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that the REAL ID compliance deadline will be extended by one year, to October 1, 2021. A longer extension may be necessary to ensure that implementation does not further devastate the domestic travel economy. In the midst of the current Coronavirus outbreak, it is all but impossible for anyone to get a REAL ID-compliant license at this time. However, even before the outbreak, Americans had not made significant progress toward REAL ID compliance. Recent  U.S. Travel analysis   finds that if the REAL ID deadline was implemented today, an estimated 67,400 travelers would be turned away from airport security checkpoints on the first day, and more than 471,800 within the first week. So, we are reminding you to research the documents you need to apply for a REAL ID-compliant license and plan to make an appointment to get it before October 1, 2021.

FAMOUSLY REDDING -- SACRAMENTO RIVER NATIONAL RECREATION TRAIL Watch the video from one of our marketing campaigns

Redding INSIDER BLOG Read our recent tourism articles from the Visit Redding blog

9 Ways to Enjoy the Outdoors in Redding This Spring Redding is perfectly situated in the middle of a nature-enthusiast mecca. The largest city in the Shasta Cascade region - known as UpState CA - surrounded by mountains, natural wonders with majestic waterfalls, scenic lakes and rivers, volcanic... Read more www.visitredding.com

Follow the Redding Visitors Bureau on Social Media!

‌ ‌ ‌ ‌