Casandra Matej has been appointed president & CEO of Visit Orlando from Feb. 1, 2021. She led Visit San Antonio since 2011, first as executive director and then as president & CEO. Matej serves on the board of directors for U.S. Travel Association and was named to the Top 25 Women in the Meetings Industry by Meetings & Convention Magazine. Her more than two decades of experience in the tourism industry includes stints at Visit Dallas, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Hyatt Hotels. At Visit Orlando, she succeeds George Aguel who announced his retirement in August.
A few new job listings that we noticed over Christmas. Send us openings for sharing (listings are free). For 75 more job listings published last week, click here:
VP, Research & Market Analytics — Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.
CEO — Grenada Tourism Authority
CEO — Moscow Chamber of Commerce, Idaho
CEO — Gilmer County Chamber of Commerce, Ellijay, GA
Executive Director — Tucumcari/Quay Co. Chamber of Commerce, NM
Manager Marketing & Communications — Discover Albany, GA
Advertising & Promotions Sales Manager — Galveston Island, TX
VP, Marketing & Digital Strategy — Omni Hotels & Resorts, Dallas
Account Executive — MMGY Global, Shawnee KS
Events Producer — Skift (Remote)
Local Phoenix Expert — WishTrip
Digital Marketing Manager — Columbia Hospitality, Seattle
Customer Success Manager, West — Milestone Inc. (Remote)
Tourism Data Sales Associate — Idealab, Pasadena, CA
Head of FB App Brand & Strategic Marketing Insights — Facebook, San Francisco
Internal Communications Manager & Events Producer — Google, San Francisco
And a few quick facts and figures, FYI:
Despite pleas from health experts to stay home for the holidays, the TSA says nearly 1.3 million people flew on the Sunday after Christmas, a record number of passengers since the pandemic hit. The figure was approximately half of 2019 airport activity. Four days over Thanksgiving 2020 and six days over Christmas 2020 saw more than 1 million passengers nationwide. TSA checkpoint daily passenger numbers are found here.
Most people would be happy to never shake your hand again. Overall, 54% agreed with the statement, “I would be happy to never shake someone’s hand again” and 54% said they would only do so if required in a formal or professional setting. Click for the survey.
Since the onset of the pandemic, 17.3% of American travelers say they have gotten new ideas for places to visit from digital influencers. Click for the survey.
Road trips by US travelers who went 50+ miles from home and spent a minimum of 2 hours on their journey during Christmas week 2020 were -30% off from the same period in 2019. Click for the daily drive market index.
Black leisure travelers in the USA spent $109.4 billion on travel in 2019 – the most recent year reflecting normal travel spend prior to COVID-19. This spend was generated by 458.2 million Black U.S. traveler stays, which represents 13.1% of the U.S. leisure travel market. Get more details from the survey results here.
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