Today’s guest on Tourism Heads & Their Tales is an acknowledged and universally recognized industry leader. We welcome Todd Davidson, CEO of Travel Oregon. Tune in as Todd and I discuss change management and Oregon’s Covid challenges, how successful growth can be achieved by reinvesting in local communities, and how Oregon’s 10-year strategic vision was developed and its plans to redesign tourism with a destination stewardship mindset. Todd’s wisdom, leadership, and passion for our industry shines through on this podcast.

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Today we are joined by Wit Tuttell representing the Tar Heel State as its VP, Tourism and Marketing for the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, Executive Director of Visit NC, State Tourism Director of the Year and a recognized travel & tourism industry leader. Listen as Wit explains the indispensable value of blending economic development with tourism, the challenges of ARPA funds, partnering with regional communities, why educating legislatures matters, post pandemic trends, the value of data driven decisions and so much more.

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Today’s Tourism Heads & Their Tales podcast focuses on the world of meeting planners, hotels, CVBs and booking technology. We sit down with hospitality veteran Tim Flors, SVP and Chief Customer Officer with Groups360.

Tim explains how his company is changing the very nature of group transactions. We learn about the philosophy behind Groups360, its rapid expansion, and its partnering with major global hotel chains. We hear how the company introduced instant bookings for meetings and dive into the tech that supports room blocks, attrition, BEOs, and the art of qualified leads. Plus the impact Groups360 is having on the meetings industry beyond hotels, DMO’s and meeting planners. This is a “must listen” episode.

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Today, Tourism Heads & Their Tales welcomes Scott Balyo. Scott is the Executive Director of Capital Region USA (CRUSA), which is the official destination marketing partner of Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia, working together to promote the region to overseas leisure travelers.

In this episode we discuss the history of Capital Region USA, its programs and initiatives, we talk about the relationship with DC, Maryland and Virginia and how that partner model operates, we find out how DMO’s and CVB’s can enter international markets, we learn what CRUSA did during the pandemic and what trends they are seeing with the post pandemic recovery, we hear about international feeder markets and trade shows that generate the most business and what Scott’s outlook is for the future.

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Today’s Tourism Heads & Their Tales episode focuses on the best part of travel: the “things to see and do” that trigger a leisure trip. The desired experience.

Join us as we sit down with Douglas Quinby CEO and co-founder of Arival, as we gain valuable insights in to travel’s third largest and most essential sector: Tours, Activities & Attractions. Learn about the changing needs of customers post Covid, hear about how fragmented the sector is and how distribution is also changing the landscape, and learn more about emerging experiences and even a discussion about ChatGPT. Turn on and tune in today!

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Brand USA is our nation’s DMO, tasked with showcasing the USA as a premier travel destination. In this episode we welcome Tom Garzilli, Chief Marketing Officer for Brand USA. During today’s episode Tom will dive into Brand USA’s mission to create and build incremental inbound visitation from around the world to impact the diverse experiences our country has. We’ll also discuss which international markets are recovering post pandemic, understand how creative storytelling continues to inspire mature and emerging markets, and discover new trends and how to leverage opportunities with the numerous programs and tools within Brand USA. No better way to kick off a new year of Tourism Heads & The Tales.

* Note: Tom Garzilli recently announced that he’ll be pursuing other ventures away from Brand USA at the end of the month and we wish him the best.

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