Washington State Tourism with the assistance of many partners offers familiarization tours to pre-qualified tour operators and journalists on an annual basis.

The “FAM” tour is the most cost effective way of illustrating key points in Washington and harnessing the “fam attendees” enthusiasm from personal experience to sell others on visiting.

Time does not allow all portions of the state to be shown on every FAM and destinations who have demonstrated a high level of interest in hosting these groups are generally utilized. Destinations are also selected based on a journalists’ story angle or a tour operator’s routing preference. State tourism strives to introduce “undiscovered” areas as often as possible when scheduled timing permits.

Group sizes vary from two people to twenty and a typical hosting budget would range anywhere from $500.00, (for meals and attraction admissions) to $5,000.00, (if multiple overnight stays are included).

Destinations are often able to acquire complimentary services from their stakeholders by providing a clear picture of the benefits.

Benefits of hosting a Media FAM:
* Exposure in the journalists’ publication
* Ability to reach a large range audience
* Possible multiple articles
* Potential of increased revenue

Benefits of hosting a Tour Operator FAM:
* Possible inclusion into future itinerary
* Increased visibility of area
* Operators can fill “shoulder season” needs due to flexibility of dates
* Potential of increased revenue

FAMs are Long Term Investments:
In many cases increased revenue can occur if the product presented is a good fit to the journalist’s readership and tour operator’s clientele. Sometimes this can happen quickly, however, it is normally a three to twelve month window before results are seen after a FAM tour.

If you organization is interested in hosting a future FAM, please send us an email!