There is no better way to promote the region than directly connecting destination experts with qualified and vetted tour operators and journalists! So, in early October, the Travel South team, our group of state tourism offices and city DMOs from Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, hit the road in Europe, meeting with trade and media in Brussels and Paris.
Highlights of this 4-day event included a workshop and dinner in Brussels and a media breakfast at the American Embassy with Ambassador Michael M. Adler. In Paris, we held trade events, office presentations, a media breakfast, lunch appointments, an influencer cooking challenge and an evening workshop for operators, agents and special guests.
Thank you to Delta Air Lines for sponsoring two round-trip tickets from Paris to the South for the lucky winner during the Travel South Workshop & Cocktail reception at Les Jardin de Saint Dominique, along with the Louisiana Office of Tourism for the cooking challenge event.
Our entire team is thrilled with the outcome, as we have received very favorable feedback from clients and journalists - A few stand out:
Thank you for having set up the event. I was more than happy to have attended & absolutely inspired. Looking forward to adding new routings to our offer. Would it be possible to receive an overview of the contact information of the representatives? We would love to set up a Teams/Zoom meeting to discuss future plans & enhanced partnership. Petra Buelens – Connections
We have had VERY good overall feedback from all types of participants (TOs, Influencers, journalists and Trade) while in Paris. People did love the format of the Trade Event on Oct 5 and congratulated us on mixing workshop sessions together with a cocktail. It was a great opportunity for them to catch up with the Travel South delegates, institutions, airlines and friendly competitors (especially for new actors on the market) The most recurrent comment is the ‘southern states should have this visibility more often.’ Yohann Robert – Bworld Communications