Cities and states are spending millions to promote tourism as they reopen, but the marketing campaigns aren’t always the catchiest.

By Neil Vigdor

They are the opening lines of a reopening: entreaties by cities, states and nations seeking to draw a wary public by evoking a sense of togetherness, normalcy and — lest anyone forget — fun.

As if a summer reprieve from wearing masks and being subjected to virtual (in many senses of the word) entertainment needed any more hype, tourism promoters across the globe are resorting to a potpourri of slogans to stand out and attract travelers.

Hatched as part of marketing campaigns that cost millions of dollars, the catchphrases are heavy on the superlatives and metaphors, testing the boundaries between catchy and, well, contrived. But tourism officials said it was critical to convey a welcoming message to visitors and residents alike. Recovery from a year of cancellations, restrictions and malaise, they said, depends on it.

In Hamilton County, Ohio, home to Cincinnati, leaders embraced the slogan “Get Your Cincy On!”

“We want something hip and cool and energizing,” Alicia Reece, the vice president of the Board of County Commissioners, said in an interview.

Ms. Reece, a former deputy director of tourism for all of Ohio, said the campaign, which cost $2 million, was supposed to start last year but was delayed because of the pandemic. It is being paid for with federal coronavirus relief money. “People have been inside,” she said. “People have been down. It kind of says, ‘We’re back. Come on out. Let’s do it in a safe way.’”

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