The Buffalo Bills played the LA Chargers on Thursday and that (of course!) prompted a fun wager between their fun-loving destination CEOs.

From the Facebook page of Visit Buffalo Niagara: 

“It’s game day! In the spirit of friendly competition, Visit Buffalo Niagara‘s President and CEO, Patrick Kaler, raised the stakes of tonight’s game with the President and CEO of Discover Los Angeles, Adam Burke. If the Bills win (and they will), Adam has to buy lunch from Joe’s Deli Buffalo NY for our entire staff. If the Rams win , Patrick will buy lunch from Canter’s Deli for the LA staff. As always, GO BILLS!”

Thanks to Madden Media, here’s the inside scoop. Patrick used to work at LA Tourism. He spotted a fun opportunity with the LA Rams being reigning Super Bowl Champs and the Buffalo Bills expected to head to the Super Bowl this year, playing the first game of the season against each other. Patrick presented the challenge to Adam and let him pick the stakes…lunch for the staff delivered from a quintessential deli in each of their cities.

“Hoping this is the first of many wins for the Bills. We’re looking forward to following the team all the way to Phoenix!” said President & CEO Patrick Kaler. 

(How was your Reuben sandwich, Patrick?)

All the way from Brooklyn, NY, the 7-year-old and his family were invited by South Dakota Department of Tourism and Mitchell Convention and Visitors Bureau to visit and tour the Corn Palace. Now, he’s South Dakota’s Official Corn-bassador.

Calling it “the most beautiful thing,” Tariq (whose last name isn’t used on social media) highlighted the moment “everything changed” in his life: when he put butter on some corn.

“I really like corn,” Tariq told Julian Shapiro-Barnum, a comedian who interviews children in New York City. “It has the juice. It’s the part that mostly makes me like the corn,” he said.

Shapiro-Barnum uploaded the clip titled “The CEO of Corn,” in which Tariq declares that “corn is awesome!”

“It’s corn!” Tariq exclaims in the video, while munching on the cob. When asked to describe corn to someone who’s never tasted it, Tariq said it’s like “a big lump with knobs.” The interview has since racked up more than 3 million views on YouTube and over 875,000 on TikTok. 

The Gregory Brothers — known for putting social media’s most viral moments to music on their account, “Schmoyoho” — released a remix on Aug. 18 that was soon trending on TikTok. The sound has been used in over 645,000 videos on TikTok alone.” — Washington Post

Gov. Kristi L. Noem announced on Twitter that September 3 was designated “Official Corn-bassador Tariq Day.” As Tariq says, “Cheers to corn!”

Tennessee Department of Tourist Development and Armchair Productions teamed up to launch a six-episode podcast series titled “Tennessee Music Pathways.” Presenter and award-winning journalist Aaron Millar traveled across the state to capture unique musical stories, performances and interviews with musicians, historians and fans, highlighting each distinct region’s musical heritage. Next up in the series:

Episode 3 (airs Sept. 19, 2022) – The Blues and the Big Nine (Chattanooga, Nashville, Jackson and Brownsville)

• Cabin of Sleepy John Estes, Tina Turner Museum at West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville
• Grave of Sonny Boy Williamson in Jackson
• Tennessee Legends of Music Museum at the Carnegie at the Carnegie in Jackson
• Sidewalk Stages SoundCorps in Chattanooga
• Songbirds Guitar & Pop Culture Museum in Chattanooga
• Tennessee Music Pathways’ Interactive Tour in Chattanooga
• National Museum of African American Music in Nashville

Tennessee Music Pathways stretches across all 95 counties and connects visitors to musical points of interest though an online travel-planning experience. Hundreds of landmarks and attractions are featured from across seven music genres that call Tennessee home. More than 500 possible locations for markers have been identified including birthplaces, resting places, hometowns, high schools, churches and locations of first-known recordings or performances of the pioneers and legends influenced and shaped by Tennessee.

Visitors can curate their own paths based on music interests through an interactive guide. Follow the conversation on social at #tnmusicpathways.

SmokyMountains.com has released their 2022 Fall Foliage Map, the ultimate visual planning guide to the annual progressive changing of the leaves throughout the USA. 

Everyone can help by crowdsourcing Mother Nature’s reveal. The map features a slider to view the predicted changing of the leaves across U.S. regions according to a color key. With a swipe, see what stage of color change the trees are expected to be in on any particular date. “While no tool can be 100% accurate, this tool is meant to help travelers better time their trips to have the best opportunity of catching peak color each year.” SmokyMountains.com is comprised of five destinations plus the Smoky Mountain National Park: Gatlinburg, TN; Pigeon Forge, TN; Sevierville, TN; Dollywood; and Asheville, NC.

Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau and Tourism Diversity Matters are partnering to launch an inaugural apprenticeship program.

The collaboration running through 2022 is designed to support workforce development and economic enhancements within the tourism and hospitality industry.

TDM’s Apprenticeship Program is a 600-hour paid rotational opportunity for diverse professionals interested in tourism and hospitality careers. Apprentices gain experience in various areas, including event management, marketing, communications, public relations, sales, finance, and sports management, after which there’s the offer of a full-time position with the program host or a participating partner.

“The program originally launched in Philadelphia more than two decades ago,” said Greg DeShields, Executive Director of Tourism Diversity Matters. “Currently, TDM has Apprenticeship Programs in Columbus, OH; Chicago, IL; Washington, DC; and Minneapolis, MN. We continue to expand and will soon have programs in Philadelphia, PA; Houston, TX; and New York City.”

“Destinations now play an essential role in workforce development,” said Martha J. Sheridan, President & CEO of Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau.  “We are so proud to be working with Tourism Diversity Matters and pioneering this work in Boston, with our core values of equity, accessibility, diversity, and inclusion underpinning the entire model.”

Visit Mobile relaunched its five-week Tourism Ambassador Program this week following a two-year Covid-19 hiatus. Twenty-five participants had a full day of learning, starting with a tourism update at the History Museum of Mobile. “The ambassador program has had an incredible impact on our visitors’ experience here in Mobile, and we’re excited to provide it again for our tourism industry partners and the public,” David Clark, said president and CEO of Visit Mobile. “This program is a significant piece to Visit Mobile’s mission — to strengthen Mobile’s image as a national destination, increase economic stability and enhance the region’s quality of life. Educating our local community on the importance of tourism and having them join the effort is imperative.”

A window into the tourism marketing process will be opened for area residents this fall when Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau hosts a trio of monthly community listening sessions beginning this month. Additional listening sessions are on the mornings of October 25 and November 22 at the bureau’s office (yes, coffee and pastries are being served).

Residents are encouraged to learn how they can become involved in the process. Each session also will include input from local opinion leaders, employees of the DMO, and tourism partners.

“These sessions are a way to bring interested locals into one room, give them an idea of what we do and how we do it, and really engage them in telling us their favorite parts of this destination that we all love,” said Executive Director Lori Campbell Baker. “I think we learn a lot every time we speak to a group, and we look forward to learning even more.”