MINNEAPOLIS
Attendees flocked to Destination Marketing Association International’s (DMAI) 2016 Annual Convention in record numbers, with a final count of 1,537 in attendance, primarily leadership and staff from the destination marketing organizations (DMOs), also known as CVBs. The total bested attendance at last year’s event in Austin.
Operating under the theme “It’s a Brand New Day,” this year’s event, held Aug. 1-3 at the Minneapolis Convention Center, was the first since a large-scale organizational change that brought in Don Welsh as the association’s president and CEO earlier in the year.
Welsh came to DMAI from his position as CEO of DMO Choose Chicago.
In other DMAI news, the association announced its annual inductees into its Hall of Fame. Following is a description provided by DMAI that describes the accolades of the inductees to its 2016 Hall of Fame class:
Ray Bloom
Chairman and Founder, IMEX Group
The IMEX Group organizes worldwide exhibitions for the incentive travel, meetings and events industry in Europe and the U.S. Bloom has been a successful entrepreneur for many years. He started his career in the motor industry, entered into the hotel industry and ultimately the exhibition industry. Bloom has an established career in creating the leading tradeshows in the meetings and incentive travel sector, including the annual IMEX in Frankfurt and IMEX America in Las Vegas. He is heavily involved in numerous industry associations.
Brad Burlingame
Visit West Hollywood
Brad Burlingame led West Hollywood’s (WeHo) tourism bureau as President and CEO for 18 years before he passed away in 2015. Under his leadership, Visit WeHo’s marketing programs and initiatives, including expansion into the overseas markets, helped West Hollywood become a major travel destination.
Burlingame was incredibly successful in branding the iconic Sunset Strip; however, among his peers, he is highly regarded as a champion of California tourism. Long before other industry leaders assumed a position, he worked to gain the respect of state legislators and to ensure they had a solid understanding of the visitor industry.
Nicki Grossman
Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB
Nicki Grossman retired June 1, 2016, after 21 years as President of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. Under Grossman’s leadership, tourist spending increased by more than $8 billion and annual visitation grew from 6.1 million in 1996 to more than 14 million, representing 15 percent of total visitation.
In recognition of Grossman’s numerous accomplishments, Broward College created a legacy scholarship in her name. The Nicki Englander Grossman Endowed Hospitality and Tourism Management Scholarship will be awarded annually to students who study hospitality-related fields at Broward College’s campuses.
Gary Sain
Visit Orlando
In his role as President and CEO of Visit Orlando, Gary Sain was credited with helping to put Orlando “on the map” as the world’s leading tourism destination before he passed away in 2012. Under his leadership, Orlando welcomed a record 51.5 million visitors in 2010, the first U.S. destination to break the 50 million milestone. Since this time, major travel destinations have implemented 50 million visitors as a benchmark.
Sain was known for working tirelessly with associations, such as U.S. Travel, to help advance important industry initiatives ranging from travel promotion and visa reform to promoting the value of meetings.
The 2016 Hall of Fame award induction took place on Tuesday, August 2, at 5:00 p.m. during DMAI’s Annual Convention in Minneapolis.
For more information about DMAI, visit www.destinationmarketing.org.
