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I've recently returned from seeing many friendly faces at our January Commission meeting in San Francisco. We had record attendance at both the International Summit and the meeting, which shows that California's partners understand the importance of leveraging positioning with CTTC programs. Many thanks to all of you who attended, and for all your critical input. Thanks also to Commissioner Rusty Gregory for speaking about the importance of the ski industry. The industry is truly rallying to address the challenges ahead. If you missed the meeting, please click here for meeting materials, and here for International Summit presentations.
At that meeting, the Commission voted to approve the preliminary 2009-2010 budget - which means that we're hard at work planning how to market California in the next fiscal year. Additionally, we said goodbye to Terry Westrope as Chief Financial Officer, and welcomed Andy Fichthorn in her stead. Many thanks to Terry for years of wonderful service, and I look forward to working with Andy to keep our organization financially sound and cost-conscience.
As National Chair of the United States Travel Association (U.S. Travel), I strive to represent all components of the $740 billion travel industry in Washington, D.C., serving as an advocate of the travel industry within the U.S. government. On January 14, I was joined by Jonathan Tisch, Chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels (former chair of the Travel Business Roundtable, Tisch also serves as U.S. Travel Chairman Emeritus), and Roger Dow, President and CEO of U.S. Travel, to brief key D.C. media on U.S. Travel's amplified public affairs focus, upcoming initiatives and what specific policy recommendations or requests U.S. Travel will make in 2009.
The newly formed U.S. Travel plans to:
- Build and communicate the most compelling case possible as to why travel matters to individuals, businesses and policymakers.
- Firmly establish travel and the travel community as an ally to President Obama on economic and diplomatic issues.
- Implement policies to increase international inbound travel.
- Expand the U.S. Travel Association’s domestic issue expertise and participation.
- Establish the travel community as a greater political force.
An additional priority for U.S Travel is the plunging corporate travel market, based on the fallout from the actions of certain companies receiving government bailout funds. In a historic and unprecedented move, U.S. Travel sat down with several national travel organizations to draft a corporate responsibility travel policy, which I have been hard at work, along with Roger Dow, promoting to the media. With this step, we hope to protect a valuable travel market responsible for thousands of jobs and millions of revenue dollars. For more information, click here.
Another one of my roles as California Tourism CEO is to support the Governor's trade and tourism missions. I'm preparing to accompany the Governor to Hannover, Germany, in March, when he'll be attending CeBIT 2009, the world's largest technology trade show. As the first state to partner with CeBIT, this is a great chance for California to stand out in this fast-growing market during these difficult times. Click here for more information, and stay tuned for a full recap.
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President & CEO's Message
Excerpt from National Journal
Destination U.S.
"Although the slumping economy has many people forgoing vacations, the U.S. Travel Association hopes to change that. The group is doubling its spending on advocacy efforts in Washington to $6 million in 2009, President and CEO Roger Dow says.
"The association is also more than doubling its staff to 15 people as part of the effort to boost its message that tourism is a major industry for the country that adds tax dollars to state and local government coffers. And travel is "good for your health," adds Caroline Beteta, CEO of the California Travel & Tourism Commission."
Distinctive destination
Congratulations to Santa Barbara for being selected as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" for 2009. Click here to see how the National Trust is promoting this great city.
california at Cebit
If you'd like to be part of the California delegation to this exciting event, please e-mail Susan Wilcox, Vice President of Communications, at swilcox@visitcalifornia.com.
new Commissioners
In January 2009, the California Travel and Tourism Commission welcomed four new Commissioners. Joining the Commission are Jot Condie, President of the California Restaurant Association (CRA); Mike Gallagher, Co-CEO and Founder of CityPass Inc.; Lynn Mohrfeld, Vice President of Marketing & Business Development for the California Hotel & Lodging Association (CH&LA); and Roy Ritenour, General Manager for the Hertz Corporation.
Click on the thumbnails to the left for full-size photos. Right-click, then choose "save picture as" to download. Contact Brooke Byrd at bbyrd@visitcalifornia.com for high-res images.
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