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July 19, 2022 by Laurie Jo Miller Farr Leave a Comment

EJ King has been named as Manager, Social Media at Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. Previously, he served as lead brand ambassador for Porsche Experience Center Atlanta.

David Bradley returns to the DMO as Vice President of Business Development at Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau & Sports Commission. Prior to his role as Vice President of Sales & Service since 2015, he had been Convention and Meeting Sales Director at Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board.

Caleb Peterson has an expanded role at Visit St. Pete Clearwater as the Senior Business Development Manager of the Sports & Events Department. He joined the DMO in 2018.

Peter Harvey is now with Visit Sarasota County as Director of Sports. He joins from a role as Senior Director of Sport Development at the Buffalo Sports Commission where had had been since 2007.

Also at Visit Sarasota County, Shantel Norman is starting a new position as Interim Meetings Sales Manager. She has been with the DMO for nine years.

Also in Florida, Matt Algarin takes on a new role as Tourism Director at Visit South Walton. He joined the DMO in 2017.

Brady Renard joins Visit Lake Charles as the Director of Content/Video Marketing. As a Louisiana nomad, he is familiar with the destination where he spent the past seven years as sports director at the local news station, KPLC.

Visit Temecula Valley, California has promoted Annette Brown to Chief Marketing Officer. She previously served as the Senior Director of Public Relations and has been with the company for 11 years.

Devin McConnell has been appointed to a new role as Manager, Sustainability and Climate Initiatives at Sonoma County Tourism, which he joined in 2017. The Northern California organization is an industry leader in embracing the transition from destination marketing organization to destination stewardship organization.

Dustin Arnheim joins Choose Chicago as Senior Vice President Sales & Services from his prior role as Senior Vice President of Sales & Customer Experience at Visit Baltimore. Previously, he was in a senior sales role at Visit Indy.

Visit Salt Lake has named Suzanne Bajek as National Sales Manager for the Northeast region. She was most recently with Mohegan Sun Resort and is based out of Connecticut. Bajek will work with Karen Staples, Managing Director of Sales-East Coast.

Sarah Crock has been promoted to Leisure Marketing Manager at Experience Columbus, which she joined last year.

After 27 years, Mary Kerr is retiring as President and CEO of Destination Ann Arbor as of July 31.

Sarah Miller (right), the current COO of Destination Ann Arbor, will assume Mary’s duties as the Interim President & CEO. A search committee will be placed to move forward in naming a permanent successor.

Jerri Barkley will serve as the Executive Director of newly-formed Visit Chelan County, formerly called Washington’s Playground. She had been with Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce.

After six years, Emily Bertram departs St. Cloud Area Convention & Visitors Bureau in Minnesota as Marketing Manager to join St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce as Director of Marketing & Communications.

Callie Easley has started a new position as Communications Specialist at Travel Texas. She was most recently a Marketing Executive with Visit Wales since 2019.

In North Carolina, Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau welcomes Jonah Forte as Digital Marketing Manager. His background includes a role as photographer and assignment editor for Spectrum News 1 in Charlotte.

Mariana O’Connor is now in the role of Specialist, Digital Marketing Analytics at Destination Canada, based in Toronto.

Valerie Bradley has left her position at Visit Macon as Vice President of Marketing & Communications, which she joined in 2011. She joins Meta as a Partner Solutions Manager.

Douglas McClain has joined MMGY NextFactor as Senior Vice President of Destination Strategy. He joins from Visit Newport Beach, California, where he was Senior Vice President & CMO since 2014. Prior, he was a marketing executive with Visit Tampa Bay and Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association.

Candace Carr Strauss has joined Wander as Vice President Partnerships & Community Engagement. Her DMO leadership roles as CEO include Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau and Visit Big Sky / Big Sky Chamber of Commerce. Most recently, she has been consulting on Brand MT within the Montana Department of Commerce.

Also, two internal announcements on the Wander team, Chris Spagnuolo (below left) was named as Chief Product Officer and Jonathan Davis (below right) was named as Chief Technology Officer.

Adam Johnson has been promoted to the new position of Sales Director at Zartico, which he joined in March 2021 from Adara following a 12-year career at Visit Saint Paul.

Jessica Bush Aslanian, a hospitality tech leader, has been appointed Vice President-Commercial at Flip.to.

Following a six-month national search, Alex Stettinski is joining San Jose Downtown Association as CEO, departing his role as Executive Director of the Downtown Reno Partnership in October. He had previously been COO and interim CEO at Visit West Hollywood and also Executive Director at Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce.

Ariel Greenstein departs as Marketing Manager at Choose Chicago since 2019. She is heading to United Airlines to be a Manager of Aviate Marketing & Communications.

Merrick Vinke has started a new position as Media Manager at MMGY Global, which she joined last year.

Logan Hildebrand has joined Simpleview as a Product Marketing Manager. She departs Visit Topeka, which she joined in 2020, as Marketing Account Manager. Previously, she had been Digital Media Manager for the Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks and Tourism.

Deborah Cohen moves to Director Brand Communications at Maritz Global Events. She departs Discover Puerto Rico as Director of Meeting & Convention Marketing, prior to which she was in a similar role with Branson Lakes Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Bruce Gudenberg joins MPI as Vice President of Business Development. He previously consulted in event and marketing at Hilton and Choice Hotels and started a new DMO for National Harbor, MD.

Send us your people news and job openings (laurie@thetravelvertical.com). It’s a free service.

Hawaii Tourism Authority: Trouble in Paradise. Plus DMO News From Vegas, Memphis, NOLA, Tampa, and Connecticut.

June 28, 2022 by Laurie Jo Miller Farr Leave a Comment

Trouble in Paradise

As reported in The Travel Vertical [June 7, 2022] Hawaii Visitor and Convention Bureau lost its multi-year, multi-million contract with Hawaii Tourism Authority for the first time in its 100-year history. Now, the bureau has filed a formal protest regarding the $100 million award going to newcomer Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.

The contract is for the bulk of Hawaii’s tourism marketing, including its mainland USA brand management as well as global support services.

A popular local website, Beat of Hawaii, reports: “Here’s the unprecedented chain of events. HVCB first received the official nod for another multi-year contract. Thereafter, the current winner, CNHA, which again appears to have no marketing or hospitality experience based on their website, contested the award. Subsequently, the State of Hawaii rescinded the award. A second RFP was created, and this time, the loser became the winner.”

There’s a lot more to it and according to this coverage, “heads are going to roll over this” and that “This will be going on for months, if not longer. Even after that, the administrative review can then be appealed in state court. It looks like time for the parties to lawyer-up.” To read more: “Hawaii to Air $100M Dirty Travel Marketing Laundry.”

Elvis: We’re All Shook Up

Presley himself got married to Priscilla in Las Vegas in 1967, cementing his association with Vegas weddings. The Las Vegas wedding industry generates $2.5 billion a year and employs thousands. Lynn Marie Goya, Clark County Clerk, who led a marketing campaign promoting Las Vegas as a wedding destination, said the order for chapels to stop using Elvis couldn’t have come at a worse time for the sector, per Travel Weekly. “We are the No. 1 wedding destination in the world. We celebrated our 5 millionth wedding earlier this year. Obviously, Elvis is part of a big portion of that draw.” One venue, Graceland Wedding Chapel, performs 6,400 Elvis-themed weddings per year.

In May, Authentic Brands Group, a company that had purchased the intellectual property associated with the rock ‘n’ roll icon in 2013, issued cease and desist letters demanding that chapels stop using Elvis’ image and likeness. The company said it will halt unauthorized use of “Presley’s name, likeness, voice image, and other elements of Elvis Presley’s persona in advertisements, merchandise and otherwise.” The letter also said “Elvis,” “Elvis Presley,” “and “The King of Rock and Roll” are protected trademarks. By June, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, ABG clarified things by indicating they’d be open to partnerships rather than legal action.

Elvis: Memphis & the Movie

Summer is a time for blockbuster films. While “ELVIS” was filmed entirely in Australia, Memphis is looking for a boost. Indicating that the DMO never stopped promoting the destination to international markets during the pandemic, Memphis Tourism CEO Kevin Kane said, “We are so excited about this ‘Elvis’ movie, we think it will be a billboard for people to want to come to Memphis and to experience Graceland for themselves.”

Now, with COVID-19 restrictions loosened both locally and internationally for visitors, Kane believes the city is in a prime position to reap the rewards of its work during the pandemic.

“I couldn’t be more excited to see that Baz Luhrmann’s latest film, “ELVIS,” with stars Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, is officially out! At the Memphis movie premiere, I had a chance to catch a sneak peek of the film, and I can say that you will not be disappointed. Luhrmann does a great job recreating all the historic places throughout Memphis that attracts visitors from around the world, including Elvis’ home Graceland, The Beauty Shop Restaurant, Beale Street, Sun Studio, The Arcade, and so many around. See the film today and then come to Tennessee to live the legacy!” — Mark Ezell, Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Tourist Development

Tourism University in NOLA

New Orleans & Company has reinstated its Tourism University educational series after having to skip it for three years. Members are invited to hear from the team: Kim Priez, SVP of Tourism Sales; Mark Romig, CMO; Jeremy Cooker, VP of Marketing; and Fran McManus, Travel Media Manager with Miles Partnership. They share information on opportunities that include the DMO’s COOLinary New Orleans restaurant program, Holidays New Orleans Style, and advertising on NewOrleans.com, in publications and consumer newsletters.

“Our restaurants, hotels, music clubs and venues, and attractions help make New Orleans the Culture Capital of the South,” said Mark Romig. “Tourism University is a great opportunity for our organization to meet face-to-face with members and share with them the ways in which New Orleans & Company showcases the value our members bring to the hospitality industry.”

Travel Agent Academy by Visit Tampa Bay

Visit Tampa Bay has expanded its popular Travel Agent Academy with the addition of Spanish and German language options. The updated program also includes multicultural tourism, LGBTQ+ and accessibility travel modules.

With each training module, specialists explore and learn about the destination’s unique experiences, world-class attractions, arts & culture, highly rated restaurants, luxury hotel developments, and more. Since launching in 2020, the program has enrolled over 3,800 travel agents and tour operators with an average conversion rate of enrollment to completion over 50% each month. Graduates of the Travel Agent Academy receive certification and are eligible to continue to earn additional education credits.

“Since the start of the year, we’ve welcomed our international travelers back in great numbers,” says President & CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, Santiago C. Corrada. “The expansion of the Travel Agent Academy allows us to continue to teach more agents how to promote Tampa Bay as Florida’s leading destination to reach larger groups of visitors.”

Connecticut: Find Your Vibe

Connecticut Office of Tourism is the first state to partner with the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA). “Every person has the right to be themselves, free of discrimination, fear, and prejudice, and we’re committed to sharing those values with all who live, work, and play in Connecticut,” said Gov. Ned Lamont. Connecticut Office of Tourism Director Noelle P. Stevenson said, “The LGBTQ+ community has always been an integral part of Connecticut’s fiber and the state’s tourism industry, and we’re putting that message front and center all year round in everything we do.”

The state recently launched a multi-million-dollar campaign titled “Find Your Vibe” to highlight Connecticut’s vibrant culture, featuring inclusive imagery and content on the website, plus a permanent LGBTQ+ section.

10 News Bites: ‘Summer Flight-Mare’ and a $19 Million LunchBuffet

June 21, 2022 by Laurie Jo Miller Farr Leave a Comment

1) Chicago has a new marketing campaign, “When You Go You Know” ready to hit social media and ad displays nationwide. This follows a guerrilla marketing campaign revealed in January, “Chicago Not In Chicago,” that broadcast about inventions with their origins in the Windy City (The Travel Vertical, 2/15/22).

In one example of the type of advertising the campaign will include, block letters on an animated billboard spell out the question, “Is it really just a 20-minute water taxi ride to China?” The next frame includes an image of Chicago’s Chinatown behind the word “Chicago” and the campaign catchphrase: “When you go you know.” The new campaign is intended to encourage visitors to stay longer than a day trip to drive hotel stays, said Lynn Osmond, president and CEO of Choose Chicago.

A distillery on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail (photo Ken Thomas / Wikimedia Commons)

2) Kentucky Department of Tourism and Brand USA announced a partnership to promote Kentucky’s bourbon tourism to international travelers. Launched on on National Bourbon Day, June 14, the two-year collaboration will work to promote Kentucky and “America’s Native Spirit.” The campaign includes using social media, marketing, press trips and more to a targeted audience of travelers in the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, India and Australia.

3) Journera and Tourism Economics have formed a partnership to give DMOs access to real time flight and hotel information for their market. DMO subscribers to Tourism Economics’ intelligence platform, Symphony, will see forecasted bookings on a national level, specific to their origin markets. Earlier this month, Journera raised $10 million in a series B-1 funding round, bringing total funding to over $36 million.

4) Destinations International has announced a partnership with Sparkloft Media to further develop its strategic social media presence, both at and beyond its conferences, seeking to increase engagement, deliver research, products, programs, and services among stakeholders and members.

“Social media is in a constant state of flux and innovation, and so is the travel industry which has reinvented itself during the pandemic,” said Martin Stoll, CEO, Sparkloft Media. “Our partnership with Destinations International will help shape marketing efforts, developing customizable strategies that will appeal to wide, and at the same time, targeted groups of travelers and destination organizations.”

5) Visit Baltimore announced the launch of a new training program last week to help hotels, attractions and restaurants in the city create a warm, accepting, and understanding environment for LGBTQ+ guests. The 30-minute training video created with Pride Center Maryland is part of the tourism group’s Warm Welcome program, which educates hospitality industry workers about how to make different minority groups feel welcome at their venues. “It’s very important, celebrating Pride month, to make sure everyone in that community feels welcome while they visit Baltimore,” said Al Hutchinson, President and CEO.

6) Earlier this year, Canada’s 60-year-old DMO, Tourism Vancouver Island [“located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Coast Salish peoples”], has evolved into a social enterprise called 4VI that supports communities, businesses, culture and environment. Because a social enterprise is a revenue-generating business that identifies a social benefit and directs revenues toward it, this is a completely new way to operate for a tourism destination.

As Joanna Haugen, Founder of Rooted reports, “The international attention is, in large part, because 4VI has completely turned the traditional DMO model upside-down…It’s a question a lot of destinations — and the tourism industry at large — have been grappling with over the last few years.” She quotes Jeremy Sampson, CEO at The Travel Foundation and chair of the Future of Tourism Coalition, who says, “It’s become increasingly clear that the tourism sector will need to adapt and innovate more than ever before in response to rising pressures on issues like climate change and equity. The old, entrenched systems simply don’t work anymore if the goal is for tourism to deliver outcomes far beyond year-on-year growth in arrival numbers.” Read more about the new DMO model here.

7) A brand new DMO is born. Have you heard of Revere, Mass.? Just a few miles north of Boston’s Logan International Airport, the city that was home to America’s first public beach and is connected to Boston by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, will launch a new website in July.

8) Now it’s LEGO‘s turn to build something. The company has announced Richmond, Virginia as its location for a new $1 billion carbon neutral run factory that will create 1,760 jobs. Construction starts in fall 2022 and the first America-made LEGO bricks are expected to roll off the production line three years later. The company’s U.S. head office is in Enfield, Conn., and it operates 100 LEGO branded stores across the nation.

9) An anonymous eBay bidder has paid $19 million to eat steak with Warren Buffet. Lunch at a New York City steakhouse (put your money on Smith & Wollensky) with the 91-year-old Berkshire Hathaway CEO is said to be his last in a series of auctions since 2000—two years were called off due to Covid—that have raised $53 million to benefit the San Francisco-based charity GLIDE to help the homeless. The winner can bring up to seven guests…the lunch tab seems fair when divided by 8, no?

P.S. What a great “Our Story” placement on the restaurant’s website. ——>

At London’s Heathrow Terminal 2, where an “issue with baggage system” has been blamed, there’s a growing “sea of luggage,” some bags tagged back as far as June 11. Ugh.

10) Major airports are having labor problems, causing trouble for travelers across the U.S. and abroad. In the lead up to Father’s Day and the Juneteenth holiday, more than 1,750 flights were reported as cancelled on Thursday; 6,000+ more flights cancelled on Friday (the busiest day so far this year); and 4,000 additional ones on Saturday. Delays were widespread; airfares are up 47% since January.

Watch: Mainstream media news reports like this one, “Summer Flight-mare” from Good Morning America — United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby saying, “…traffic controllers are working their tails off but when you’re at 50% staff it’s a nightmare…” — don’t help consumer confidence.

‘The British Are Coming.’ Yellowstone is Closed. Dollywood Rocks. And More Curated News Bites.

June 14, 2022 by Laurie Jo Miller Farr Leave a Comment

Read through super-fast items of interest curated from this week’s industry news.

Send us your news bites?

ADVERTISING — $623 million: That’s the amount travel brands invested in advertising from January through April, a 43% increase over the year-earlier period, according to advertising intelligence platform MediaRadar. — Source: Ad Age

APPLE — At last week’s WWDC 2022, the annual developers conference, Apple unveiled a host of new features for iOS 16 and MacOS Ventura, the next operating system for Mac computers. There’s an edit text message function, lock screen widgets for fonts and colors, and the ability to plug an iPhone into a Mac for webcam use. Source: CNET. Read about the upgrades here.

“THE BRITISH ARE COMING” — Immediately following news of the CDC lifting the COVID-19 testing requirement, MMGY Travel Intelligence fielded a study including U.K. travelers to determine whether this would impact intention to travel. Source: MMGY NJF

52% of British respondents said they are more likely to book a trip to the U.S. in the next six months because the COVID-19 testing requirement has been removed.
37% said the news affects the likelihood of them booking a trip to the U.S.
Only 11% said the end of the testing requirement would make them less likely to book a trip to the U.S.

CHOICE HOTELS > RADISSON — Choice Hotels International is buying Radisson Hotel Group Americas for $675 million to get a foot in the door of a more upscale market in North, Central, and South America. For Choice, this will add 624 hotels with 68,000 total rooms and a strong presence on the West Coast. Choice Hotels International is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world, currently with nearly 7,000 hotels, representing nearly 600,000 rooms, in 35 countries and territories. Source: Choice Hotels press release.

DOLLYWOOD — Big news out of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Tripadvisor shows Dollywood as the #1 theme park in the U.S. and #8 in the world for the 2022 Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best Awards.

1. Dollywood (Pigeon Forge, TN)
2. Universal’s Islands of Adventure (Orlando)
3. Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park (Orlando)
4. Universal Studios Hollywood (Los Angeles)
5. Universal Studios Florida (Orlando)
6. Silver Dollar City (Branson, MO)
7. Funland (Rehoboth Beach, DL)
8. Fun Spot America (Kissimmee, FL)
9. Santa’s Village (Jefferson, NH)
10. Busch Gardens Tampa (Tampa)

U.S. parks hold two of the 10 spots on the worldwide theme park list. Full listings here.

1. Siam Park (Spain)
2. Puy du Fou (France)
3. Beto Carrero World (Brazil)
4. Puy du Fou España (Spain)
5. The Milky Way Adventure Park (UK)
6. Hot Park (Brazil)
7. Waterbom Bali (Indonesia)
8. Dollywood (USA)
9. Universal’s Islands of Adventure (USA)
10. Parque Terra Magica Florybal (Brazil)

DUTY FREE SHOPPING — New stores featuring local brands at San Francisco Airport are augmented by digital experiences, such as interactive digital wine tables allowing customers to place a bottle on the table and learn about the brand and vintage via an on-screen display. DFS has also partnered with Inflyter, the duty-free shopping app, enabling travelers to browse and buy duty free as soon as a flight booking has been made, alleviating the need to wait until the airport. Source: DFS Group

LONG ISLAND, NY — Discover Long Island has selected its first-ever agency of record, Paradise Advertising & Marketing, Inc., a 20-year-old agency based in St. Petersburg, Florida.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — NYC & Company says the city is on track for full recovery, recapturing more than 80% of its record 2019 visitors by year-end. Some 12,000 new hotel rooms will come online over the next three years, plus more than 20 new Broadway shows, major upgrades at the region’s three major airports, and arts and culture additions including the brand new Museum of Broadway, The Louis Armstrong Center, and the American Museum of Natural History’s Gilder Center opening this year.

VISIT LAUDERDALE — A new microsite, visitlauderdale.com/accessibility, focuses on accessibility at hotels, restaurants, attractions, even wheelchair-friendly beaches and equipment that can be rented and delivered to staterooms in cruise ships.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — The closures—first in three decades—come as heavy rainfall prompted flooding and rockslides affecting all five park entrances. The closures come as Yellowstone was gearing up to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Local communities that are heavily dependent on tourism were counting on a rebound this summer. Yellowstone extends into Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Source: Reuters. Read more here.

$17 Billion Cannabis Tourism Industry Plus Campaigns From Connecticut, Sun Valley, Steamboat Springs

May 31, 2022 by Laurie Jo Miller Farr Leave a Comment

“California has emerged as the center of cannabis tourism for now,” reports Forbes. (Will we call it a canna-cation?)

Visit Modesto partnered with Cultivar, a cannabis tourism strategy firm, to launch the MoTown CannaPass, a passport-style reward program that helps visitors discover a variety of restaurants, activities and cannabis retailers in the area.

Visit Oakland is the first U.S. destination to launch a Cannabis Trail, a dedicated immersive experience relating the city’s marijuana heritage, plus retailers, a map and a glossary.
And in West Hollywood, the destination was dubbed “Amsterdam of the Far West” by the Los Angeles Times due to its many cannabis dispensaries.

The Michigan Cannabis Trail guides visitors around legal cannabis in the Great Lakes region.

Nineteen states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational cannabis, with several more states poised to do likewise this year.

The Connecticut Office of Tourism has unveiled a $3 million tourism campaign, “Find Your Vibe.” According to a press statement from the governor’s office, the campaign “reflects a more updated, youthful, and holistic view of Connecticut’s vibrant culture, while focusing on the energy and excitement travelers experience when visiting tourist attractions, hotels, and restaurants, and exploring the state’s abundant outdoor offerings.”

The #CTvibe campaign will run through Labor Day and encompasses broadcast, online, print and billboard advertising, along with a website update. The campaign will also include advertisement placements:

Inflight video on JetBlue for the entire summer on targeted flights, including all those into New York City, Boston, Connecticut, and in/out of Florida, as well as all domestic flights (50 states, Caribbean, and Canada) on American Airlines in August.
Takeover of the large digital billboards in the new Moynihan Train Hall in Penn Station in New York City.
High-impact transportation placements targeting the Hamptons, NYC P
ride, and The Governors Ball, an annual music festival on Randall’s Island in NYC.

Visit Sun Valley (Ketchum, Idaho) has developed a new post-Covid campaign, STAY SUNNY, with their creative agency partner, Two Things. From “relative obscurity,” things changed quickly. “Almost overnight, Sun Valley became the place to be. Tourists flooded the valley in droves. And the locals tasked with satisfying the needs of these visitors became, in a word, overwhelmed.”

Each creative piece is informed by a pain point Sun Valley wanted to address. The creative brief indicates that “stay sunny” is a call to action, reflecting optimism while also emphasizing the blunt and honest need for visitors to be respectful, “Be kind to others or we’ll call your mother.”

Two Things says, “…communication has been delivered through non-traditional media, i.e., chalked sidewalks, construction site plywood, murals, bumper stickers, viewfinders…The money saved from not doing a traditional media buy has freed us up to do more local collabs and to execute all production locally.” In fact, they built a vault (digital toolkit) for local community partners to tap into and spread the message from napkins and coasters to radio spots.

Visit Sun Valley even created a partnership with four restaurants/coffee shops that provide customized wooden tokens for staff to hand out to patrons exhibiting good behavior. The tokens are good for a $15 discount on the tab. And a local brewery is gifting four packs for good behavior, too.

In Colorado, Steamboat Springs Chamber unveiled its communications strategy as seen on the website, including the new slogan, “Kindness Floats the Boat.”

The new slogan is part of the chamber’s new emphasis on destination management, which started with the pandemic-era slogan “Visit Responsibly.” When the pandemic brought an influx of summer visitors, many as first-timers in Steamboat, the chamber shifted its efforts toward informing visitors how to be responsible guests.

The chamber apportions 75% of its budget toward destination management, with the other 25% going toward destination promotion.