Record-breaking attendance and an emphasis on local community engagement defined this year’s iteration of Destinations International’s Annual Convention, which took place July 16-18 at the JW Marriott Tampa Water Street in Tampa, Florida.
According to Don Welsh, president and CEO of Destinations International (DI), a sell-out crowd of nearly 1,900 attendees from 34 different countries and territories were in attendance.
“In so many ways, Tampa is a unique and special convention for us, and we have made a concerted effort to engage with the local community, from supporting local businesses and non-profits to providing mentoring opportunities for local youth,” he said.
“We were honored to host such an illustrious group of attendees and are already hearing incredible stories about their time experiencing the wonderful sites, sounds, and people of Tampa Bay," said Santiago C. Corrada, President and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay.
The association for DMOs worked closely with Visit Tampa Bay for their annual convention to curate an experience at the event where they hoped attendees could feel engaged and connected with the Tampa Bay community by learning about issues that affect the residents and economy of the area. This was a seemingly intentional move for the association, which has firmly expressed opposition to strategies like destination boycotts in states like Florida, where controversial legislation has made national headlines and stirred hesitation by some meeting professionals to bring business there.
Activating and engaging with the local communities is a practice the association has preached, and DI used the convention to show this in action. Some of the on-the-ground initiatives included:
- Partnering with the NAACP of Hillsborough County to allow high-school students to shadow DI professionals.
- Community service efforts with Feeding Tampa Bay.
- Creating a “Giving Circle” through which attendees could donate funds to local non-profits.
- Teaming up with Visit Tampa Bay to showcase small local businesses during the convention.
- Encouraging conference attendees to support Visit Tampa Bay’s Summer Market on July 17 from 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., where a diverse variety of local businesses, including several which are minority owned, welcomed all conference attendees, Visit Tampa Bay partners and the public to the Unlock Tampa Bay Visitor Center to sip, shop and save.
Following the convention, DI plans to catalogue these efforts into a “Tampa Case Study” that will be shared with DMOs both domestically and internationally later this year.
DI isn’t the only visiting convention to employ this strategy. When Omega Psi Phi Fraternity hosted its 84th and largest Grand Conclave ever at the Tampa Convention Center—drawing 30,000 attendees generating an estimated overall economic impact of more than $21 million—it held book and voter registration drives.
[Related: 10 Ways Meeting Planners Can Work With CVBs to Create a Welcoming Environment]
Destinations International Makes Strides in Advocacy and Inclusivity Efforts
During the convention, DI made a number of announcements around their advocacy and inclusivity efforts.
Destinations International and TravelAbility Launch 'Accessibility Playbook'
DI partnered with TravelAbility, a leading conference and media company dedicated to making travel easier and more enjoyable for people with disabilities and the aging population, to launch the “Accessibility Playbook. ” This comprehensive guide equips destinations and travel businesses to help them improve their accessibility and inclusion initiatives for travelers with disabilities.
While strides have been made in accessibility in the meetings industry, there are still many gaps. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the global population, live with disabilities, and travelers with disabilities continue to face many barriers on their journeys for leisure or business, from initial travel research to visitation.
Now available online for purchase by DI members, the “Accessibility Playbook” is a comprehensive resource and tool for DMOs to use in their destinations, containing technology recommendations, use-case scenarios and data to inform accessibility strategy and decision. The Playbook includes more than 90 tips vetted by leading disability advocacy organizations, in addition to “TravelAbility Trusted” innovations, amenities and a directory of third-party providers that can help destination organizations and travel businesses assess and scale existing accessibility efforts.
“Accessibility is a critical and growing focus for our members,” Welsh said. “It’s important to visitors as well as residents, and a key component of a welcoming and thriving community.”
“This is a win-win for travel organizations and the millions of travelers who can benefit from more accessible and inclusive travel experiences,” said Jake Steinman, founder and CEO of TravelAbility. “TravelAbility is thrilled to partner with Destinations International to advance the cause of accessibility in the travel industry. What excites me the most is that this partnership opens the door to reaching more than 750 destinations worldwide to help them become more inclusive.”
Destinations International Launches Destination Effect Advocacy Awareness Campaign and Website
Galvanizing support for the travel and meetings industry on a local and federal government level has been a major focus for associations like DI, U.S. Travel and others in recent years. To continue these efforts and best prepare DMO professionals to educate policymakers, elected officials, media and the public on the importance and impact of DMOs, DI launched a new campaign around the idea during its Annual Convention.
The “Destination Effect Advocacy Awareness Campaign” is a public facing advocacy effort to foster better understanding of the important role and impact of destination organizations in their communities. It’s part of the association’s ongoing work to raise awareness and enhance understanding of the significant role of DMOs.
Other strategies this year included the publication of “Destination Promotion: A Catalyst for Community Vitality,” a report that identifies how DMOs are uniquely positioned to help drive positive transformation in the local community.
"The Destination Effect is achieved by using destination promotion to transform a location into a destination,” said Jack Johnson, chief advocacy officer at DI. “A destination is where people want to visit, live, work, play and invest. Together, these are the indicators of community vitality—a community’s energy, liveliness, drive and ambition. The work of destination organizations is to be the catalyst for community vitality, and they are uniquely positioned to do it.”
The campaign will offer a range of materials developed by DI and its members, including key industry research, case studies and storytelling. These materials will be made available on the campaign website, www.thedestinationeffect.com, which launched this week and will continue to be expanded and refreshed for those seeking to learn more about our industry sector as well as those who seek to improve their community by incorporating the best practices from DMOs around the world.
The website will host links to resources of interest to policy makers and elected officials such as industry briefs, blog posts and podcasts from the membership of DI, peer organizations, other non-profit policy centers and academia, along with a wide range of other sources.
Destinations International Names Chicago as 2025 Annual Convention Location
Next year, DI announced that it will take the Annual Convention to Chicago from July 9-11, 2025.
"We had a record-breaking Annual Convention in Tampa this year and based on our guest feedback we couldn’t be more pleased by the results,” Welsh said. “We’re deeply grateful to Visit Tampa Bay president & CEO Santiago Corrada and his outstanding team for their warm hospitality, partnership and hard work to make this year’s convention an unforgettable experience. We’re excited to be heading to Chicago next year for our 2025 Annual Convention and look forward to working with Rich Gamble, interim CEO at Choose Chicago and his entire team to plan another must-attend conference for our members. Chicago holds a special place in my heart as my family and I called it home for five years when I served as the CEO of Choose Chicago."
DI also named its new chair leadership at the conclusion of this year's convention. Scott White, president amd CEO of Visit Greater Palm Springs, assumed the role of chair of DI, and Amir Eylon, president and CEO of Longwoods International, assumed the role of chair of the DI Foundation.
