‘Virginia is for Lovers’ slogan is honored

Forbes.com has rated “Virginia is for Lovers” as one of the world’s top 10 tourism campaigns.

“Who, after all, is against love?“ said travel journalist Rudy Maxa, one of Forbes.com’s judges for the top 10 campaigns.

“Virginia is for Lovers” debuted in 1969. It has become the longest-running state tourism slogan.

“This is a huge honor,“ said Tamra Talmadge-Anderson, public-relations director for the Virginia Tourism Corp., the state’s tourist promotion agency. She noted that Virginia is celebrating the slogan’s 40th anniversary this year.

Even after four decades, Maxa said, the “Virginia is for Lovers” campaign is still going strong—and still one of the greatest travel campaigns in history.

“It has . . . transcended tourism and become part of American culture,“ Talmadge-Anderson said. “You’ll see ‘Virginia is for Lovers’ everywhere.“

Thanks in no small part to the state’s slogan, she said, tourism has become a $19 billion industry for the Old Dominion.

“If we had to start from scratch, we could not afford to develop anything that comes close to the brand equity of ‘Virginia is for Lovers,‘“ she said.