What to Do in Washington DC This Summer

Image: PHOTO: The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. (photo via Flickr/Pedro Szekely)

by Janeen Christoff
Last updated: 8:00 AM ET, Sat May 13, 2017

Free activities, festivals and 4th of July fireworks all add up to a fabulous lineup of summer events for Washington, D.C.

Will it be enough to drive visitor numbers higher than the record number that visited the nation's capital last year?

D.C. travel and hospitality leaders announced earlier this week that the city received 20 million domestic visitors in 2016, making it official that it had another record-high year. D.C. shattered another milestone with visitor spending at $7.3 billion, an increase of 3 percent over the previous year.

"These numbers articulate the national appetite for new and enduring tourism inventory in the District as well as Destination D.C.'s [DDC] ability to capture consumers on multiple platforms," said Elliott L. Ferguson, president and CEO of DDC, the official destination marketing organization for the District of Columbia.

DDC plans to build on this momentum by promoting a full list of activities this summer.

"We help summer visitors discover their #myDCcool," said Elliott L. Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC (DDC). "Washington, DC packs a lot memory-making into 68 square miles: Kayak on the Potomac before breakfast, explore historic homes and gardens in Georgetown after lunch then hit Union Market food stalls and Ivy City distilleries once the sun goes down."

Visitors will find planning made easy with a concierge hotline (800-635-6338) as well as the website Washington.org, where they can access neighborhood guides, seasonal itineraries, a calendar of events, as well as more than 50 summer deals and discounts.

DDC is also capitalizing on its success within the commercial space with two new summer-themed television spots. Fifteen and 30-second video spots will run in feeder markets in the Northeast Corridor and Los Angeles. BuzzFeed and regional magazines such as The New Yorker and New York Magazine will roll out ads about Washington, D.C.

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If you are in town, there are a number of events to take advantage of.

Over Memorial Day Weekend, a salute to active duty military and veterans includes the Rolling Thunder motorcycle honor ride. There is also a concert by the National Symphony Orchestra as well as the nation's largest Memorial Day Parade.

A full list of events throughout the summer is available on Washington.org.

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