“The projects like The Love for All Boat showcase Seattle as an inclusive and welcoming city. We’re really creative here, and there’s a lot of unique brains and minds that come here and a community that celebrates one another.” — Jacky Danyluk

What if tourism could strengthen community bonds in your city while setting world records? In Seattle, Washington, that’s exactly what’s happening through innovative, values-driven destination marketing.

Jacky Danyluk from Visit Seattle shares how the city’s tourism strategy centres on two core values: inclusivity and lasting impact. That commitment ensures every initiative serves both visitors and locals while reflecting what the city truly stands for.

The standout example is Seattle’s Love for All Boat initiative, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Seattle Pride in 2024 by setting a Guinness World Record. In just four months of planning, the collaboration brought together hotels, cruise operators, local businesses, and community groups to host 56 couples renewing their vows aboard a decorated vessel on Puget Sound.

Seattle is also showing that economic growth and environmental responsibility are not mutually exclusive, especially when projects align with local values. The city’s Climate Pledge Arena is the world’s first to attain net-zero carbon certification, and its move toward universal cruise ship shore power promises to reduce diesel pollution.

Looking ahead, Seattle is preparing for the FIFA World Cup 2026 with an expected 700,000 visitors and $1 billion in economic impact. Rather than simply managing the influx, Visit Seattle is creating a community playbook to ensure the entire city speaks with a unified voice, turning the global spotlight into long-term tourism growth.

On Travel Beyond, you’ll also learn:

• How Visit Seattle is preparing for FIFA World Cup 2026 by creating a community playbook that ensures 700,000 expected visitors experience a unified city identity.
• How Seattle’s Pike Place Market maintains authentic local character while managing over 5 million annual visitors through community-focused vendor policies and giving back programs.
• How Seattle’s Mother Nature City campaign positions the destination as an urban location surrounded by nature, appealing to visitors seeking both innovation and outdoor experiences.
• How Seattle’s tourism strategy focuses on converting Alaska cruise gateway visitors into multi-day explorers through exclusive perks packs and neighbourhood-focused experiences.

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Show notes

Climate Pledge Arena — The world’s first net-zero carbon arena, demonstrating Seattle’s commitment to sustainable entertainment and event hosting.

Pike Place Market — Seattle’s iconic market, managing over 5 million annual visitors while maintaining authentic local character through community-focused vendor policies.

Seattle Pride — The annual celebration that inspired the Love for All Boat world record initiative, showcasing Seattle’s inclusive community values.

Seattle Sustainability — Learn about Seattle’s comprehensive approach to environmental responsibility, from 90% hydropower electricity to universal cruise ship shore power capabilities.

Visit Seattle — The destination marketing organization for Seattle, Washington, leading community collaboration and values-driven tourism initiatives.

Seattle image provided by Visit Seattle.

Episode transcript

Jacky Danyluk: Projects like the Love for All Boats showcase Seattle as an inclusive and welcoming city. We’re really creative here and there’s a lot of unique brains and minds that come here and a community that celebrates one another.

Peter McCully: Welcome to Travel Beyond. I’m Peter McCully for Destination Think. On this episode, we look at travel’s role in making a better world, and we highlight leading destinations and changemakers. Our guests are taking local action that the world can learn from. They’re helping to regenerate ecosystems, communities, and economies, and they’re making positive change happen from the bottom up.

Many of the voices we’ve highlighted are part of the Destination Think Collective, a peer group of more than 20 ambitious, forward-thinking destinations working toward a better future for travel and the planet. Located in the US state of Washington, surrounded by water, mountains, and forests, Seattle demonstrates how values-driven destination marketing can strengthen community bonds while setting world records.

The city’s tourism strategy centres on inclusivity and lasting impact, ensuring every initiative serves both visitors and locals while reflecting what the city truly stands for. The standout example is Seattle’s Love for All Boats Initiative, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Seattle Pride in 2024 by setting a Guinness World Record.

In just four months of planning, the collaboration brought together hotels, cruise operators, local businesses, and community groups to host 56 couples renewing their vows aboard a decorated vessel on Puget Sound. Seattle is also showing that economic growth and environmental responsibility are not mutually exclusive, especially when projects align with local values.

The city’s Climate Pledge Arena and its move toward universal cruise ship shore power are two examples. Looking ahead to FIFA World Cup 2026 with an expected 700,000 visitors, the city is creating a community playbook to ensure unified storytelling that turns the global spotlight into long-term tourism growth.

We spoke with Jacky Danyluk from Visit Seattle about how authentic community collaboration creates the most powerful tourism experiences and why values-driven marketing resonates globally while strengthening local bonds.

Jacky Danyluk: My name is Jacky Danyluk. I’m the marketing manager for Leisure at Visit Seattle. I oversee our agency, Periscope, in creating really captivating campaigns to entice people and visitors to come visit our amazing city.

Peter McCully: Jacky, let’s talk a little bit about Seattle itself. What’s your favourite season in Seattle?

Jacky Danyluk: There’s a lot to choose from, and I know that many of my friends will probably say summer because of the beautiful weather and the sunshine. But for myself, I would say my favourite season has to be early fall. There’s something about the cosiness of it and the idea of celebrating all the culture and all the events that are happening around that time period.

It’s also really great for those who want to come and explore our outdoor areas. It’s not too hot, not too cold, and it’s right before the snow hits our area, which is a good opportunity to really dive in and explore what’s around us.

Peter McCully: What makes Seattle special?

Jacky Danyluk: I would say what makes Seattle really special is our community. We really thrive on supporting one another and uplifting what we really believe in, and we’re rooted in what our values are. You’ll see that in everything from local businesses to big programs and events that we put on. It all ties back to what we stand for within Seattle itself.

Peter McCully: Jacky, what’s one thing you always take your friends to do when they come to Seattle to visit you?

Jacky Danyluk: I don’t have one particular thing. I’m a big foodie, so for me, the first place that I take all my friends and family are the various restaurants around town. You’ll get a good taste of some of the ethnic food here, so I tend to take people to dim sum at Jade Garden, or I’ll take them over to Hood Famous to get a little taste of Filipino food. Then, of course, I want to make sure that they also get a good bite of our seafood here. Taylor Shellfish in the downtown area is also really good to just give them a little taste of Seattle while also making sure they’re well-fed.

Peter McCully: I understand that Seattle offers four distinct seasons of recreation, from summer festivals right through to winter mountain activities.

Jacky Danyluk: There’s a wide range of things to do year-round. I know a lot of people may know us just from the summer season because that’s when a lot of activities are out there, especially outdoor activities. But we have everything from Museum Month that takes place during our winter period to music festivals and glass art festivals that take place in the fall. Then, of course, spring brings the cherry blossoms, which is a really great opportunity to come year-round.

Peter McCully: Could you describe some of the values that the community stands for?

Jacky Danyluk: I think the most important one for us is inclusivity. I think that is something that we root ourselves in, not only from a Visit Seattle perspective in marketing, but also from the city itself. You’ll see that through how people engage with you when you’re getting your coffee order, to how people involve you in different speaking opportunities. There are a lot of resources here for the LGBTQIA+ community. There are women-owned businesses that are just thriving here. There is accessible information available that helps you easily navigate Seattle.

Inclusivity is really important to us. I think the second part is really about impact and making sure that whenever we’re creating an activation or an event, or just really celebrating anything within the city, it’s not just a one-time purpose. It’s meant to have longevity as something that lives on beyond that first initial take of it.

Peter McCully: What draws people to visit Seattle, especially if sustainability is important to them?

Jacky Danyluk: I think there are many things that could draw people to visit Seattle, but the one that we hear most often is actually our access to nature and outdoor areas. I think that oftentimes people think of Seattle as perhaps like one street or just a pretty close-knit downtown area, but we have so many wonderful neighbourhoods that draw people in. Whether you’re into glass art, whether you’re into music, whether you’re into fashion, whether you’re into cooking, whether you’re into culinary arts, there are just different avenues and different areas for you to explore while you’re here.

In terms of sustainability, I think we take an approach to sustainability that’s really unique. In addition to really focusing on making sure that we don’t have a strong negative impact on our environment, we also take the importance of supporting local communities and smaller businesses to make sure they feel uplifted and supported. From a Visit Seattle perspective, we really try to make sure we spotlight those local communities and those smaller businesses to really make what Seattle is and make it shine, and make sure that Seattle feels very special to those who come to visit.

Peter McCully: Well, a special place is the Pike Place Market, which draws over 5 million visitors a year. That’s more than most cities see in a year. How do you balance preserving the authentic local character while managing visitor traffic, and what lessons does that teach about sustainable tourism?

Jacky Danyluk: Yes, I think Pike Place Market does a really great job of actually leading the way when it comes to sustainable tourism. Something that people might not know is that Pike Place Market actually has a variety of programs that are put together by the Pike Place Market Foundation. They have a food bank there, they have a preschool there, they have a variety of services that go back to the community. I think that’s a really important callout to note because all of the impact that happens within our area—what’s really strong about Pike Place Market is they give back to the community that serves them and that they’re uplifting and supporting.

The other thing about Pike Place Market is that they only allow vendors to be in the market who don’t have their own businesses outside of the market itself. You’ll really focus on those smaller communities or the smaller businesses that provide those unique experiences, whether those be candles or flowers, or handmade goods that they created for you. It’s really important to them that shines through in what they offer there.

In terms of managing the community flow and the visitor flow that comes through, Overlook Walk just opened in the downtown area by the waterfront, which is connected to Pike Place Market now through a bridge. That allows more traffic to navigate through, both from the waterfront perspective and through Pike Place Market.

Peter McCully: Jacky, your Love for All Boats initiative was unique and set a world record. Tell us about the event and where the idea originated.

Jacky Danyluk: Yes, the Love for All Boats stemmed from the idea that Seattle was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Seattle Pride in 2024. What we wanted to do was create a fun, celebratory party that really involved our community. We invited local businesses and local hotels to make sure that we created a curated experience. Hotels did custom packages for us and themed events that ran throughout the entire year. Then we partnered with Argosy Cruises to really decorate and make this beautiful boat shine as people hopped on board and we sailed across Puget Sound.

The event was hosted by Ben DeLaCreme, who you may know from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Then we also had Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu officiate the vow renewal on board. She was the first Supreme Court Justice to officiate a same-sex marriage in Washington back in 2012. It was a really great opportunity to have her be a part of that experience.

We did set a world record because we had over 56 couples join us to celebrate the vow renewal, and that broke the world record for the most LGBTQIA+ couples to renew their vows at the same time in one particular location.

Peter McCully: The initiative clearly generated significant media attention and it won awards and recognition. From a visitor’s perspective researching Seattle, how does this type of innovative, values-driven event influence destination choices compared to more traditional tourism offerings?

Jacky Danyluk: Yes, I think an event like this showcases our inclusive spirit, and I think that is something that people are looking for when they’re looking for destinations to visit. Something else beyond just the event itself is that we have a dedicated landing page that talks about our LGBTQIA+ community in this particular area of Seattle, beyond just pride month. There are so many different activities that you can experience here, so many LGBTQIA+ businesses that are thriving here in Seattle. We really want to make sure that people feel welcomed throughout the entire year.

Peter McCully: Jacky, what does the project, the initiative, the Love for All Boats say about the kind of place that Seattle is?

Jacky Danyluk: I would say that projects like the Love for All Boats showcase Seattle as an inclusive and welcoming city. We’re really creative here and there’s a lot of unique brains and minds that come here and a community that celebrates one another and wants to jump in and lean in as much as possible. Whether it’s this activation or another activation, you’ll really see our city shine through the community that’s behind it.

Peter McCully: Now, on the strength of the Love for All Boats celebration, are there other creative initiatives that you’re planning?

Jacky Danyluk: We’re always up to something over here at Visit Seattle. One of the things that we’re currently working on is our Mother Nature City campaign, which is really rooted in the idea of positioning Seattle as this urban location that is surrounded by nature. You’ll see that when you come to visit us, that it’s truly something you feel when you come to visit Seattle and step foot on our grounds and get to see your surroundings that are here.

Peter McCully: What’s one thing you hope travellers take away from this story?

Jacky Danyluk: I hope people realize that Seattle is more than just the weather that they may know us for. I know a lot of people know us for our rain and for our sunshine here and there, but I think there are so many diverse neighbourhoods. There’s a community that is so excited to welcome visitors to our area, so I hope that is something that people take away from our location.

Peter McCully: The Climate Pledge Arena is the world’s first net-zero carbon arena. All three cruise ship berths in Seattle have shore power capability now, and many of the hotels have LEED certification. Ninety per cent of your electricity comes from hydropower. Looking ahead five to 10 years, what do you want travel to look like in Seattle?

Jacky Danyluk: I think travel into Seattle will look a little bit different in the next five to 10 years. There are a lot of projects in the works right now that are catered towards making more eco-friendly choices. You’ll see that in our metro bus system. You’ll see that through the light rail expansion, hoping to reduce the amount of cars on the road. You’ll see that through the use of Lime bikes here in Seattle. I think that there were over 5 million users last year alone who used those Lime bikes coming through Seattle itself. Travel will look different in that we are making smarter choices to make sure that we can minimize our impact on the community and the environment overall.

Peter McCully: And then there’s that marvellous renovation at the airport.

Jacky Danyluk: Yes, the airport is doing a lot of expansion. They’re hoping to reduce their emissions by 50 per cent, so they’re working on doing a lot of different changes there that hopefully will come in the next few years and will make a long-lasting impact for Seattle overall.

Peter McCully: The FIFA World Cup is coming to Seattle in 2026. That has a lot of folks excited. There will be six games. How many visitors are you expecting?

Jacky Danyluk: They are expecting about 700,000 visitors to come. At least that’s what FIFA is predicting. We’re really excited to see that volume of people come through our city. We, of course, won’t know the full amount of people who actually will be coming through until potentially December, which is when the different teams will be selected and who will actually show up and play in Seattle. Based on that, we’ll get a better understanding of who will come out to support them.

Peter McCully: Perhaps you have a football-themed cruise event planned?

Jacky Danyluk: No football-themed cruise event. However, we do have a lot of really exciting watch parties that are going to be coming through and other celebratory events coming in the next few months that we’re going to be working on.

Peter McCully: I would assume there’s a lot of planning around an event like that as a host city.

Jacky Danyluk: Yes, there is a lot of planning in the background, and we have a local LLC who’s really helping us guide the best way to navigate that. That’s a group of different people throughout the community who have different voices and who want to make sure that Seattle’s put in the best light moving forward.

Peter McCully: Are the locals excited about the prospect of a world-class competition in their backyard?

Jacky Danyluk: Yes, we’ve received a lot of really positive feedback from the local community. In fact, I think a lot of them are really excited. They know that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to spotlight Seattle in a certain way. They want to be involved. They’re eager to get into the conversation, and they want to be involved in terms of the marketing and how we can make sure that Seattle as a unified voice comes through. One of the things we’re working on at Visit Seattle is a community playbook that will have a unified voice, recommendations for our unified signage, just to make sure that Seattle shines as one voice throughout the city when people come to visit.

Peter McCully: In general, Jacky, what do you hope visitors can learn from Seattle?

Jacky Danyluk: What we’re hoping people will learn about Seattle is that there’s so much to do here beyond what you may typically know. Through FIFA, we’re going to get a lot of different visitors coming through who have different passions, whether that be through sports or whether that be through culinary arts, or whether they don’t quite understand what Seattle has to offer, and this is their first time coming to visit. They’re really excited to learn more about what we can do. We’re hoping that this is the gateway to inviting people to come and explore beyond what they typically know about Seattle and dive into our diverse neighbourhoods, dive into our culture here, dive into just the exciting things that are happening on an everyday basis here.

Peter McCully: This has been Travel Beyond, presented by Destination Think. Our thanks to Jacky Danyluk from Visit Seattle. To learn more about Seattle’s value-driven tourism initiatives and the Love for All Boats celebration, go to visitseattle.org. For more resources and show notes, visit our website at destinationthink.com.

This episode was hosted and co-produced by myself, Peter McCully. David Archer composed the theme music. Sara Raymond de Booy is co-producer. Lindsay Payne, Amy Bjarnason, and Cory Price provided production support. 

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