What Experience Olympia & Beyond does

Experience Olympia & Beyond is the official Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) for Thurston County, Washington, operating under the legal name Olympia - Lacey - Tumwater Visitor & Convention Bureau. Founded in 1974, the organization promotes nine municipalities (Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, Yelm, Tenino, Rainier, Bucoda, Rochester, Grand Mound) to leisure travelers, meeting planners, sports event organizers, film productions, and couples planning weddings. Its service portfolio is anchored by a digital trip-planning platform (experienceolympia.com) built on the Experience Builder destination-marketing framework, supplemented by an AI-powered conversational assistant called Ollie by Golly, an interactive Thurston Bountiful Byway agritourism map, a searchable events calendar, and a Partner Extranet Portal operated with technology vendor IDSS.

The organization is DMAP (Destination Marketing Accreditation Program) certified and maintains formal partnerships with the Chehalis, Nisqually, and Squaxin Island Coast Salish Tribes alongside hundreds of local hospitality, retail, and attraction businesses. Visitor-facing services and content are provided free of charge, while monetization comes from three streams: recurring annual partner/membership fees (subscription), specialized tourism promotion services across sports, film, meeting, and wedding commissions (professional services), and advertising in the annual print and digital Visitor Guide, currently the 2026-2027 edition. Distribution spans owned channels — website, e-newsletter, Facebook, Instagram — and earned media through Director of Marketing and Community Engagement Emily Brooks. Headcount is reported at 1-10 employees, and the entity functions as a private, quasi-governmental DMO supported by membership dues, tourism assessments, and lodging-tax-style allocations typical of county-level visitor bureaus.

Name

Experience Olympia & Beyond

Legal name

Olympia - Lacey - Tumwater Visitor & Convention Bureau

Website

https://experienceolympia.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Experience Olympia & Beyond is the official Destination Marketing Organization for Thurston County, Washington, promoting nine communities to leisure travelers, meeting planners, sports organizers, and film productions through a digital platform, AI trip planner, and annual visitor guide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Destination Marketing Services

NAICS

Convention and Visitors Bureaus (561591)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Full-Service Destination Management (Ground Handling & Onsite Operations) (THAHADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Experiential & Cultural Programming (Tours, Activities, CSR/Voluntourism) (THAHADAF), Sports & Active Incentives (Golf, Ski, Sailing, Adventure) (THAHADAJ), Experiential Logistics & Tour Management (Roadshows) (MPAAAGAK)

Keywords

• Destination marketing services
• Tourism promotion
• Visitor guide publishing
• Meeting planner services
• Sports commission facilitation

Headquarters

HQ city

Olympia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Membership/Partner Fees: Local businesses, hotels, restaurants, and attractions pay to become partners, gaining access to the Partner Portal and inclusion in promotional materials including the annual Visitor Guide and website directory listings.
2. Tourism Promotion Services: Providing destination marketing services including sports commission, meeting planners support, film commission facilitation, and wedding planning resources for the Thurston County region.
3. Visitor Guide Publication: Produces and distributes the annual 2026-2027 Visitor Guide (print and digital) featuring local experiences, accommodations, and attractions. Free to visitors, monetized through partner advertising.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Experience Olympia & Beyond is the official Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) for Thurston County, Washington, providing destination marketing services across nine communities. The organization operates a trip-planning website featuring the AI-powered "Ollie By Golly" chatbot, publishes an annual Visitor Guide, manages a partner extranet portal where local businesses maintain listings, runs an interactive events calendar, and delivers specialized sports commission, film commission, and meeting planner services. The DMO supports leisure travelers, meeting planners, sports event organizers, and film productions with curated content, planning tools, and on-the-ground coordination.

Product overview

Experience Olympia & Beyond operates as a unified destination marketing organization platform, combining digital visitor services with a partner business network. The core offering consists of a comprehensive trip planning website featuring the AI-powered Ollie by Golly chatbot, integrated events calendar, and interactive planning tools. Supporting this is the Partner Portal (Experience Builder-based extranet) enabling local businesses to manage their listings. Additional services include specialized commissions for sports, film, and meetings sectors, along with the Thurston Bountiful Byway agritourism program. The organization publishes visitor guides and maintains community presence across multiple digital and print channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Visitor Information & Trip Planning Platform Comprehensive tourism website (experienceolympia.com) providing visitor information, travel planning tools, events calendars, interactive maps, and destination guides for Olympia and Thurston County, Washington. Targets leisure travelers, meeting planners, and other visitors researching the region.
• Ollie By Golly AI Trip Planner AI-powered conversational chatbot providing personalized recommendations for things to do, places to eat, and local adventures throughout the Olympia region. Delivers insider tips and customized itineraries to leisure travelers and trip planners.
• Experience Olympia Partner Portal (Extranet) Self-service extranet portal (olympia.idss.com/extranet) allowing local partner businesses — hotels, restaurants, attractions, tour operators — to manage their organization listings, personnel, contact details, social media links, descriptions, photos, and special offers surfaced on the public DMO website and visitor publications.
• Thurston County Visitor Guide Annual print and digital Visitor Guide promoting tourism experiences across Olympia and Thurston County communities. Distributed free to visitors and monetized through partner advertising placements.
• Sports Commission Services Destination services attracting sporting events and tournaments to the region, including venue promotion, bid preparation, accommodation coordination, and local stakeholder engagement for athletic event organizers.
• Film Commission Services Destination services supporting film and television productions with location scouting, permit guidance, introductions to local crew and vendors, and on-the-ground coordination across Thurston County.
• Meeting Planner Services Destination services helping professional meeting, conference, and convention planners organize events in the Olympia region, including venue recommendations, accommodation block assistance, off-site activity planning, and logistics coordination.
• Thurston Bountiful Byway Program Agritourism initiative promoting a 60-mile scenic route through Thurston County featuring farms, markets, wineries, craft producers, and outdoor recreation, supported by an interactive digital map for self-guided travel.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100,000+ visitors annually to featured attractions
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) Brewing ProgramminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational partnership allowing Three Magnets Brewing (a featured partner) to utilize SPSCC brewing program's testing equipment for developing non-alcoholic beer recipes. The program supports both student education and local brewing community.
• Timberland Regional Library (West Olympia Branch)minorOthersLocated within Capital Mall, the West Olympia Timberland Library branch provides free library services including computer access, book borrowing, and holds pickup. Supports community literacy and visitor services.
• Chehalis, Nisqually, and Squaxin Island TribescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFormal acknowledgment of Coast Salish Tribes as the indigenous communities of Thurston County. The tribes are featured partners in Native Land Acknowledgement with tribal tourism experiences promoted through the organization's materials.
• Local Tourism Business PartnerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNetwork of hundreds of local hotels, restaurants, attractions, and tour operators who maintain listings through the Partner Extranet Portal and are featured in the annual Visitor Guide and website promotional materials.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Visit Seattle: Broad incumbent — larger Washington state DMO operating in the same state. Overlaps in traveler audience (Pacific Northwest leisure, MICE, sports) but operates at substantially greater scale, budget, and brand reach, making it both a partner and a competitive gravitational center for regional visitors.
• Brand USA: Broad incumbent — national destination marketing organization promoting inbound travel to the United States. Operates one tier above regional DMOs but with a directly comparable mission (destination promotion, content marketing, partner network, travel trade engagement).
• Destination DC: Broad incumbent — established, large-scale U.S. city DMO with a mature operating model covering leisure, conventions (Meet DC), and sports commissions. Comparable full-service DMO structure but at significantly greater scale and budget, serving as a benchmark for commission-driven DMO economics.
• Visit California: Broad incumbent — state-level tourism marketing organization with a comparable mandate (destination promotion, partner network, content marketing, MICE/sports facilitation). Demonstrates the upper bound of DMO operating scale and the institutional model Experience Olympia & Beyond could emulate across multi-county expansion.

Regional players

• Travel Portland: Regional peer — DMO for Portland, Oregon with comparable operating model (member-funded, content-led, partner extranet, AI trip planning). Comparable Pacific Northwest traveler base but anchored in a larger urban core; competes for the same regional visitor trip.

Direct peers

• Visit Bend: Direct peer — Pacific Northwest regional DMO of similar scale, promoting outdoor recreation, craft beverage tourism, and agritourism. Same funding model (lodging tax, member fees) and similar suite of planning tools, content calendar, and partner directory.
• Travel Tacoma + Pierce County: Direct peer — another Washington state DMO/Visitor Bureau promoting a multi-community region (Tacoma, Pierce County). Closely comparable business model (membership fees, partner extranet, visitor guide, sports/meetings commissions) serving a similar Pacific Northwest traveler base.
• Visit Spokane: Direct peer — Washington state DMO serving a single metro/region with the same operating playbook: partner memberships, AI/chat-assisted trip planning, event promotions, and commission services (sports, meetings). Comparable geography and target traveler.

Others

• IDSS (Internet Destination Services): Other / enabling — DMO technology vendor currently powering Experience Olympia & Beyond's Partner Extranet Portal and website infrastructure. Representative of the small set of specialized platforms that DMOs rely on for partner management and content publishing.
• Simpleview: Other / enabling — leading DMO-specialized CRM, CMS, and extranet technology vendor powering destination websites, partner portals, and AI trip planners for hundreds of DMOs. Directly comparable technology layer to Experience Olympia & Beyond's IDSS-powered extranet and Experience Builder site.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ExperienceOlympiaandBeyondVCB
• Instagraminstagram.com/experienceoly
• Xx.com/experience_oly

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Experience Olympia & Beyond