Fellow board members were also sworn in to serve one-year terms on the Executive Board, including Wit Tuttell, Vice Chair and Executive Director of Visit North Carolina, and Dan Lennon, who will serve as Secretary/Treasurer and is Director of Missouri Department of Tourism. Past Chairman Duane Parrish, Director of South Carolina Parks, Recreation and Tourism, will round out the Executive Board.

“I would like to thank my good friend Duane Parrish for his leadership as Chairman for the past two years,” said Kyle Edmiston. “Your unwavering support and creative pursuit of effective and scalable initiatives stands as a role model for regional destination marketing organizations. Our collective success in growing domestic and international visitors to the South and gaining market share around the world has helped every member state with economic impact, jobs and tax revenues. The world-class advertising, research, digital campaigns, social media and event marketing, specifically Travel South Domestic Showcase, Travel South International Showcase, trade shows and sales mission, are a testament to your superior guidance. On behalf of the entire southern travel industry, we appreciate your governance of this great organization.”

Mr. Edmiston also tapped Kristen Branscum, board member from Kentucky, as Board Liaison/Committee Chair for the PR/Earned Media Committee and Amy Shuler Goodwin from West Virginia as Board Liaison/Committee Chair for Advertising. Kevin Langston from Georgia will continue to serve as Board Liaison/Committee Chair for International Marketing, Sales and the newly formed International Research Committee.

Chairman Kyle Edmiston and President and CEO Liz Bittner also announced enhanced business partnerships with Tourism Economics and Miles. Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company, is commissioning a study of international market opportunities, and Miles has been named TSUSA’s agency of record for marketing. These new partnerships represent a big leap forward in delivering the resources and data that state tourism offices need to market themselves effectively in today’s global marketplace.

Tourism Economics
International visitor markets represent a significant share of the tourism economy nationally and among TSUSA member states. While this varies by destination, growth trends and the size of the market opportunity, any investments made in international marketing requires a clear understanding of the market opportunities.

To accomplish this, TSUSA has retained Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company, to provide an in-depth analysis and assessment of the international market opportunities for the TSUSA region and individual member states. This study will provide perspective on the size, scope and prospects of international markets that are both fact based and action oriented. The implications of the analysis will be highlighted as an avenue to reach relevant conclusions and recommendations.

Tourism Economics has extensive experience in assessing global tourism markets. They have worked with destinations, airlines, hotels, theme parks and travel associations across the globe to analyze travel market opportunities. Their in-house databases provide forecasts of travel by origin and destination across 190 countries and 300 cities. These databases are used by corporations and DMOs around the world. A partnership with Oxford Economics provides the best available economic and demographic forecasts as a foundation for analyzing trends.

Miles
In the past five years, TSUSA has significantly ramped up our international marketing efforts. One important foundational element has been to select a partner with exceptional online and international marketing expertise to service our internal partner community and leverage content strategies that deliver results. After completing a six-month analytics review of TSUSA’s marketing programs, we have awarded Miles the agency of record status.

Miles has spent the past 18 years building a reputation as a leading digital marketing agency in the travel space. In fact, Miles was named an Outstanding Web Developer by the Web Marketing Association for three years in a row; their website work for clients frequently sweeps the travel category at the annual WebAwards. To date, they’ve built more than 200 websites for destinations and hospitality businesses.

Miles takes a results-driven approach to all of their work. Together with TSUSA, Miles will continue to manage the www.TravelSouthUSA.org site; develop a comprehensive strategy for targeting international travelers by leveraging state investments in content and digital marketing to ensure that TSUSA’s budget stretches as far as possible; migrate to the new www.VisitTheUSA.com/TravelSouth site once it goes live with Brand USA; manage content on www.GoUSA.cn/TravelSouth and www.GoUSA.tw/TravelSouth; provide distribution strategies for in-language campaigns in English, German, French, Italian, Mandarin/Taiwanese, Portuguese and Spanish; integrate social platforms in multiple languages; and provide detailed analysis, metrics and reporting both for the region and for member states.

These partnerships are in addition to the high-value relationships TSUSA enjoys with the American Bus Association, Brand USA, Delta Air Lines, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Laurie Rowe Communications, Inc. (LRC), Qantas Airlines, Rhythms of the South, The Group Travel Leader, Inc. and Travel Market Insights, LLC.

About Travel South USA
Travel South USA is America’s oldest and largest regional travel promotion organization, formed in 1965 by resolution presented at the Southern Governor’s Conference. The long-standing regional collaboration of the state tourism offices of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia provides a foundation to positively position tourism as a vital and dynamic element in the region’s economic development. Tourism ranks throughout the region as one of the top three industries, behind manufacturing and agriculture, and is responsible for $135.7 billion in spending by visitors, generating 1.33 million direct jobs, $32.3 billion in worker paychecks, and more than $19 billion in state and local taxes.

For more information about the organization: www.TravelSouthUSA.org

For consumer information about travel to the South: www.TravelSouthUSA.com
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Contact:
Sam Lacy
Director of Marketing & Communications
Travel South USA
404-231-1790
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Travel South USA: Facebook / Twitter / YouTube
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Travel South USA
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