Oceanside CA— As the destination marketing organization for Oceanside, Visit Oceanside entices thousands of out-of-town visitors each year to choose Oceanside as their Southern California beach escape. What many don’t realize is that vital to this mission is ongoing tourism industry support for numerous community causes including local educational institutions, cultural organizations and special events. Through direct contributions to programming and scholarships for Oceanside residents, Visit Oceanside nurtures the symbiotic relationship that tourism enjoys with the local community.
“Visit Oceanside has always believed that it’s important to invest money into tourism in a responsible manner that includes preserving the local heritage and culture, improving infrastructure and beautification, and investing in the next generation of hospitality leaders,” says Leslee Gaul, CEO of Visit Oceanside.
“When we do this in a thoughtful way, the return is ten-fold in terms of creating better educational opportunities for locals, enhanced leisure amenities that both residents and visitors can enjoy, and more cultural and special events that ultimately make our destination more attractive to visitors while improving quality of life for everyone who lives here. When tourism exists in step with the local community, the result is a win-win for everyone.”
Despite the challenges facing the tourism industry in 2021 due to the pandemic, here are some of the ways Visit Oceanside and tourism partners gave back to the community:
Visit Oceanside partnered with Mira Costa College to provide scholarships for eight students that participated in their hospitality dual enrollment program at Oceanside’s Surfside Academy. As part of the program, students had to create an Oceanside tourism-related business and present their concepts and ideas for implementation.
IRONMAN and Visit Oceanside teamed up to support local youth recreation programs and scholarships. For every registration for the IRONKIDS Oceanside race in October 2021, IRONMAN donated $5 to Oceanside Parks & Recreation’s Youth Scholarship program. Visit Oceanside matched the donations to result in nearly $2,000 raised, which provides scholarships for approximately 12 Oceanside families.
Visit Oceanside celebrated California Surfing Day with its annual fundraising event for the California Surf Museum. By selling commemorative California Surfing Day T-shirts, Visit Oceanside raised $1,500 for museum programming. A valuable cultural resource, the museum serves around 50,000 visitors from 40 nations around the globe, annually.
On November 6, Visit Oceanside was a proud sponsor of the first annual Valley Arts Festival, which is a celebration of the Luiseno Tribe of The San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians. Festivities included opportunities to experience the traditions and beauty of this indigenous community.
“Oceanside’s vibrant community of diverse experiences makes our city a rich and storied destination for visitors,” said Gaul. “We are proud to support many of these things and positively impact the quality of life in our community while sharing our destination with the world.”
For more about Oceanside, visit www.visitoceanside.org.