Advocacy in the Southeast
Episode 20
Today’s conversation takes a deeper dive into one of the largest regional demographics of our membership of destination organizations, the Southeast corner of the United States.
Destinations International understands we can’t always be everywhere and we try to work with regional and community entities that geographically represent these highly clustered areas of destination organizations. And for good reason: even though we are seeing more and more advocacy issues across state/province and international lines, we can still see highly concentrated and visible issues that can manifest in these regions based upon history, geography, and demographics.
No one knows this better than the Southeast Tourism Society, an entity whose responsibility includes empowering a diverse network of tourism professionals through education, advocacy, recognition, and networking for the Southeast. I’m excited to bring Monica Smith, president and CEO of Southeast Tourism Society onto the show to talk a little bit about what keeps her up at night. Monica, welcome to the show!
Introduced to the world of destination organizations by a random internship application to Visit Baltimore (then known as Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association), Andreas Weissenborn began an unexpected career into hospitality that left him with a continued passion towards the tourism industry.
Monica Smith serves as the President and CEO of Southeast Tourism Society (STS) and has over 26 years of experience in the hospitality and tourism industry. Prior to joining the staff of STS, she served on its Board of Directors while she was the Vice President of Sales and Services for Visit Jacksonville (FL), and as the President & CEO of Visit Macon (GA). Her other destination sales and marketing experience includes positions with the Pasadena CVB (CA), Visit Newport Beach (CA) and Destination Cleveland (OH).
About the Architects of Destination Advocacy
The Architects of Destination Advocacy Podcast is a part of the Destination Marketing Podcast Network. It is hosted by Andreas Weissenborn and Jack Johnson and produced by the team at Relic.