The Old Dominion today kicked off a review of its tourism PR account to tout the commonwealth as a travel destination.

virginiaThe Virginia Tourism Corporation released an RFP focused on media relations and consumer outreach focused heavily on national markets. The scope of work only covers PR -- not advertising or web development -- for the $20M state agency, which administers the longest running state tourism slogan, "Virginia is for Lovers."

Key travel markets for Virginia include New York, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Birmingham and Charleston.

Strategic PR planning, media training, writing and collateral development, and media outreach are among the main services to be provided.

Lou Hammond & Associates is the incumbent.

Proposals are due Jan. 8, 2014. The resulting contract is expended to run for a base year through January 2014 with three year-long options.

Gov. Bob McDonnell said in September that visitors churned $21.2B in revenue from tourism in 2012, a record high up four percent over 2011.

View the RFP (PDF).

(Monticello photo: Sarah Hauser, Virginia Tourism Corp.)