D M O s
Oakland, California salutes Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider. She won the hearts of television fans with her 40-game winning streak last year and now she’s won the heart of her city. September 7 was officially declared “Amy Schneider Day.” Peter Gamez, President & CEO of Visit Oakland, and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf applauded Amy to commemorate the occasion, with the mayor tweeting that the publicly transgender local resident has “made our city proud” as the “winningest woman and second-longest winning streak ever” on Jeopardy!
State of Washington Tourism will be holding its first state tourism conference in over a decade. Scheduled for Oct. 11-12, 2022 at the Seattle Airport Hilton, travel expert (and state resident since middle school), Rick Steves is the keynote speaker.
Florida is on the menu. The first-ever 2022 Florida Michelin Guide is now published online. It features 118 restaurants, including 29 tagged as Bib Gourmand, or “worth a detour,” and 15 that earn a Michelin star. One restaurant, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Miami’s Design District, earned two stars. With support from Visit Florida, three desinations —Miami, Tampa, and Orlando—join the shortlist of U.S. cities covered by the prestigious guide. “Our cuisine is a huge part of who we are,” said Dana Young, CEO of Visit Florida. “The launch of the Michelin Guide in Florida is fantastic news for our state.”
Experience Kissimmee has been named as the Official Travel Destination of the NFL London Series in the first partnership of its kind.
Kissimmee will have exclusive branding for the games on October 2 (Minnesota vs. New Orleans); October 9 (New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers); and October 30 (Denver Broncos vs. Jacksonville Jaguars.) The first two games will be at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium while the third game is at Wembley Stadium.
As a six-year partnership with the Premier League’s West Ham United ended this spring, Experience Kissimmee and the Kissimmee Sports Commission started exploring the chance to have a new international presence.
On October 13, Visit Lauderdale will be unveiling their new brand campaign and 2023 marketing plan.
New Agency of Record Alerts:
Henderson County Tourism Development Authority, in North Carolina, (Visit Hendersonville) has appointed Paradise Advertising & Marketing.
Periscope, a full-service advertising agency, announced a three-year engagement as the official creative agency of record for Meet Minneapolis, securing its first venture into the tourism space.
Space Coast Office of Tourism announced sales and marketing representation in Europe and the UK in collaboration with Tricia Henson Consulting, based in Orlando. The representation will concentrate on travel trade marketing, sales and public relations activities in the key European markets of the United Kingdom and Ireland; German-speaking Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria), and The Netherlands.
Visit Tampa Bay announced its an agreement with AVIAREPS to represent the destination in the key markets of Colombia and Mexico. This new relationship creates new opportunities for co-op marketing with key trade partners and airlines and consumer-direct advertising through online travel agencies, airlines and media.
Cabarrus County, North Carolina, 20 minutes north of Charlotte, has unveiled new branding. The Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau held a ribbon-cutting on August 24 at the visitor center in Concord to officially introduce “Explore Cabarrus” (with the emphasis on “us”). The branding also includes the tagline “There’s More to Us.”
The Vikings have landed. It was the maiden voyage for the five-deck ship, the first in many years built specifically for cruising on the Mississippi River. “We can’t wait to welcome Viking Cruise Lines to their new port city of Alton,” said Cory Jobe, President/CEO of the Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau. The 450-foot-long ship has five decks, 193 rooms that can accommodate 386 guests and 148 crew members. Viking Cruises operates nearly 100 river and ocean going vessels; this was the first of four visits to Alton, Illinois this year. Additional and extended port calls are planned for 2023 – 2024. Jobe said the other two cruise lines, American Queen Voyages and American Cruise Line, have had an economic impact in the region of almost $7 million.
At the annual SATW (Society of American Travel Writers) convention in Bogotá, Colombia last week, Discover Puerto Rico announced they will serve as the host for 2023.
