World Cup Host Cities Are Spending Millions to Tell Wary Tourists: You’re Welcome Here

For American destination marketers, the World Cup is a chance to reverse a slide in international visits and the campaigns they’re running share a single word: welcome. 

For international tourism boards, the tournament is an opportunity to inspire travel, particularly for smaller countries making their World Cup debut. For American destination marketers, it offers a chance to juice traveler confidence after immigration policies, entry requirements, and political rhetoric contributed to a slowdown in inbound travel. 

Marketing videos are trying to make clear that host cities are ready to welcome soccer fans with open arms. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a welcome video addressing visitors earlier this week. Meet Boston has launched a “Welcome World” campaign and video. Visit Philadelphia has its own, unrelated, “Philly Welcomes the World” campaign. 

“With everything going on in the world, we sat down at the end of March