Travel through two deserts and the transition zone between two ecosystems as you journey from the low to high desert. Below 3,000 feet, the Colorado Desert encompasses the eastern part of the Joshua Tree National Park and features natural gardens of creosote bush, ocotillo, and cholla cactus. The higher, moister, and slightly cooler Mojave Desert is the special habitat of the Joshua tree. The western part of the park includes some of the most interesting geologic displays found in California’s deserts. Rugged mountains of twisted rock and exposed granite monoliths testify to the tremendous earth forces that shaped and formed California’s Wild West. This tour includes multiple stops for photos, including Keys View Overlook (weather permitting) where you can see all the way to Mexico on a clear day! So don’t forget your camera, as you will want to take pictures of the gigantic boulders, Joshua trees, yuccas, and other lush plant life that thrive in this area.

The Joshua Tree Excursion is a ticketed event and proceeds will benefit the Destinations International Foundation. Tickets for the excursion can be added on to your CEO Summit registration. If you have already registered for the summit, you may search for your existing registration and then Add Session to purchase excursion tickets.

The Destination International Foundation will hold a fundraiser golf tournament at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa to support the mission to invest in research, advocacy, talent development and global engagement. The tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m., followed by the Opening Reception at 5 p.m. at the JW Marriott Desert Springs. Come early to golf on one of Greater Palm Springs’ iconic courses.

The Golf Tournament a ticketed event and proceeds will benefit the Destinations International Foundation. Tickets for the excursion can be added on to your CEO Summit registration. If you have already registered for the summit, you may search for your existing registration and then Add Session to purchase excursion tickets.

Special thanks to Simpleview for support of the Foundation golf tournament.

Join this fireside chat to hear about where things currently stand and where they're heading with regard to business and leisure travel.

The events of the past few years have challenged relationships across all facets of life as we navigated new challenges personally and professionally. Destination and travel brand leaders were forced to be not only flexible and nimble in ways unimagined before, but also more empathetic. Join Expedia Group President Ariane Gorin for an intimate conversation on her experiences and learnings from 25+ years in technology sectors, including nearly 10 years in the travel industry, which among other things has consisted of overseeing a global workforce and ecosystem of travel suppliers and destinations during a pandemic, on why she believes destinations are at the heart of travel, and her perspective on how a shared commitment to both leading with empathy and helping the industry recover and rebuild will enable us to withstand future uncertainties and emerge on the other side even better.

Put on your comfortable shoes and hit all of the best Palm Springs shopping spots. The shopping excursion is open to summit attendees and their guests.

The shopping excursion is a ticketed event and proceeds will benefit the Destinations International Foundation. Tickets for the excursion can be added on to your CEO Summit registration. If you have already registered for the summit, you may search for your existing registration and then Add Session to purchase excursion tickets.

The last two years have challenged businesses to rethink how and where their employees work, while also placing an increased emphasis on employee well-being and a healthy work-life balance that produces results. The pandemic has also caused us to reflect on the importance of local makers and small businesses, and the value they bring to local economies. Learn how destination organizations can embrace these changes and challenges to not only improve their own internal operations, but also identify strategic ways to capitalize on emerging travel trends such as authentic community experiences, wellness and flexible business travel, in order to effectively market their destination to today’s traveler.

Join Brand USA President & CEO, Chris Thompson as he shares updates on the reopening of the U.S. border to vaccinated international travelers, consumer sentiment, and the industry's path forward.

How have worked with your marketing and comms teams to rebuild your destination: what metrics are you currently using for destination promotion and achieving community well-being?

Destinations International has stated that addressing the need for destination promotion is done for the benefit and well-being of every person in a community. Therefore, it is critical to identify clear, powerful, and understandable community facing measurement(s) to determine the progress a destination organization is making towards filling the community need for destination promotion and achieving community well-being. These measurements are known as “community indicators.” They must be understood and accepted by the community, be reliable and valid, and answer three simple questions: How much did a destination organization do? How well did the destination organization do it? Are the residents of the community better off? This session introduces the effort by the Destinations International Foundation, in its role to innovate and incubate new ideas for our industry, to identify one or more key destination promotion community indicators.

Join this discussion to understand how to identify clear, powerful, and understandable community facing measurements to determine the progress a destination organization is making towards filling the community need for destination promotion and achieving community well-being.

Join members of the 30 Under 30 Alumni Council and Class of 2021 for a candid discussion about how destination organizations should be structured for a new generation of organizational and community development. Learn how workforce development and talent retention are becoming critical drivers to maintaining the health of your organization and walk away with the key values that attract and motivate the new generation of leaders.

Join this discussion with Mike Gamble of SearchWide Global as he talks about the importance of workforce development across generations.

An engaged and motivated workforce enjoys greater job satisfaction, higher motivation, morale and retention and increased productivity and efficiency. All of these factors contribute to an organization that can stay competitive in a global marketplace. This panel of workforce development innovators will share the processes, stories and best practices that provided the transformation and results that have allowed their teams and their destinations to thrive.

As CEO of Simpleview, Ryan George has a bird's eye view of the issues facing 1000+ client destinations. Join this fireside chat to gain insights into the opportunities these "unprecedented times" have provided to those destinations with the courage to reinvent themselves — and what's needed in the year ahead.

How have you and your team innovated in terms of engaging and motivating the team; what new tools have you used to recruit new staff?

Join this intimate conversation with Roger Dow as he shares his career highlights and his views on where the industry stands today.

Join the discussion with Paul Ouimet to hear about key findings from DestinationNEXT assessments and strategic planning work during the past year. He will review various initiatives to address the third transformational opportunity in the 2021 Futures Study - Values Based Marketing.

Join this discussion to hear about the key industry initiatives to ensure continued focus on moving EDI forward in the travel and tourism industry.

Join Tanya Ladipo and Destination International’s new Chief Diversity Officer, Sophia Hyder Hock, as they discuss Sophia’s philosophy and approach to EDI, what EDI means to Destinations International and what it can and should mean to destinations around the globe.

During this session, we will discuss the importance of making a business case for EDI and telling the stories and histories of people and places in order to expand a destination’s focus to attract new business and/or leisure visitors. This session will also provide crucial insight and information on CEO succession planning.

Join this facilitated table discussion with your peers around the EQ skills needed for conversations about race, gender, sexuality, and other topics we avoid.

Join this facilitated table discussion with your peers to talk about the strategies we can use to reduce our own unconscious biases.

Join this facilitated table discussion with your peers to discuss a case study to which each group can apply their EQ, bias awareness and bias management skills to produce different outcomes.