A week out from the 2024 presidential election, all eyes are on Washington, D.C. Polls are too close to predict a winner, but if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected as the first female president of the United States, that historical event will drive tourism, notes Elliott Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC.
"If it's historic, hundreds of thousands of people will be excited about being in Washington and witnessing history," Ferguson told Northstar Meetings Group vice president and content director Loren Edelstein during IMEX America last month in Las Vegas. In that event, group business will certainly pick up. "We've already been getting a lot of calls," he said, "and this is not a political statement — this is just reality."
Meanwhile, preparations have long been underway to secure the Capitol District for the next presidential inauguration, to be held Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Officials learned a lot from the Jan. 6, 2020, attack on the U.S. Capitol Building. "I've been in D.C. for 23 years," said Ferguson, "and I've watched how that preparation process has changed. It's all about making sure that people feel safe coming to the nation's capital."