Rossi Ralenkotter, President/CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) was appointed to the Brand USA board of directors. Brand USA is the DMO for the United States with a mission of increasing incremental visitation, spend and market share of international travelers.
Brand USA is governed by an 11-member board appointed by the Secretary of Commerce and it represents various regions of the United States, with members having expertise and experience in specific sectors of the travel and tourism industry.
“It is an honor to serve on the board for Brand USA,” Ralenkotter said. “International visitors have a great impact on the economy and help support hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide.”
Ralenkotter has worked in the travel and tourism industry for more than 40 years and is currently a technical advisory committee member of Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval’s Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee. He is also a past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the U.S. Travel Association.
Ralenkotter has served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Tourism and as Chair of the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board for the U.S. Department of Commerce. He is also a member of several travel related organizations including the American Society of Travel Agents, Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), the American Society of Association Executives and the Hotel Sales Marketing Association.
“Rossi Ralenkotter is one of our industry’s most respected and successful leaders, and we are thrilled he is a new member of the Brand USA board of directors,” said Christopher L. Thompson, president and CEO of Brand USA. “He has been strong in his support and was instrumental in the passage of the Travel Promotion Act, which brought Brand USA into existence, and his leadership will undoubtedly be influential."
Brand USA says its efforts have already had a positive impact. According to studies by Oxford Economics, from 2013 through 2014, the DMO’s marketing initiatives helped bring more than 2 million incremental visitors to the USA, benefiting the U.S. economy with nearly $15 billion in business sales; nearly $2 billion in federal, state and local, taxes; and supporting, on average, 50,000 incremental jobs per year.
