Covering the Inbound Tourism Industry Since 1996

IPW 2018 Photo Album: Part One

May 29, 2018 by Tom Berrigan

The first half of this year’s photo album highlights a special event for the NAJ Group, which publishes the INBOUND Report: an appreciation luncheon held for its TourOperatorland clients and receptive tour operators. Then, we work our way through the weekend and end with the opening night festivities at Denver’s Performing Arts Center. And, of course, there are other moments …

Left to right: Floy Kennedy, director of travel industry sales, Colorado Springs CVB; Karen Viehover, senior international tourism manager, Europe, Travel Portland; and Brad Jones, tourism manager, Visit Seattle.

At the appreciation luncheon held by the NAJ Group (publisher of INBOUND) for its TourOperatorland clients and receptive tour operators are: Art Jimenez, executive director of tourism sales, Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority; Betsy Cooper, tour operator community manager/marketing, NAJ Group; and Terry Schumacher, tourism sales manager, Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority.

Left to right: Grey Brennan, deputy director, Alabama Tourism Development; Brian S. Jones, media specialist, Alabama Tourism Development; and Graham Roderick, international sales manager, Alabama Tourism Development.

Left to right: Betty Zhao, regional product manager, Southern California, for Tourico Holidays; Maria Olschansky, regional sourcing manager, Tourico Holidays; and Jake Steinman, founder and CEO of NAJ Group.

Bottom, left to right: Jessica Mitchell, senior travel industry marketing manager, Arizona Office of Tourism; Joanna Tejeda, event marketing manager, Arizona Governor Office of Tourism ; and Doug Price, president and CEO, Colorado Springs CVB. Top: David Becker (left), CEO, Attract China; and Samantha Sommers, tourism account executive, Mall of America.

Left to right: Kathy McCarthy, director of public relations and communications, Meet Minneapolis; Cheryl Offerman, global tourism sales manager, Meet Minneapolis; and Pamela R. Joy, media and tour account manager, Bloomington CVB.

Audrey Bialas, director of sales, Visit Hershey & Harrisburg; and Tony Funderburg, Sevierville CVB.

Becky Lewis (left), group tour specialist, Cedar Rapid-Brian Head Tourism Bureau; and NAJ Group President Sofia Williamsson.

Left to right: Ann M. Pilcher, tourism sales manager, Pocono Mountains CVB; NAJ Group President Sofia Williamsson; Peggy Nana-Sinkam, group sales manager, The Amish Farm and House; Lisa Arrell, director of tourism sales, Kitchen Kettle Village.

Renee Eicheleberger, director of leisure travel sales at Explore St. Louis.

From the Chester County (Pa.) CVB: Colleen Selner, tourism sales manager; and Greg Edevane, director of global development.

Douglas Killian, senior director, international tourism, Mall of America; and Brad Zorich, group sales manager, Snohomish County Tourism Bureau.

Flavia Perin, public relations director, Brazil, for US Travel, registers INBOUND’s editor

Jens Juliussen, head of product development, commercial & purchasing, dynamic packaging for Thomas Cook Northern Europe, spins the prize wheel in a lobby display at the Denver convention center.

Mei Mei Wang (left), senior commercial specialist, American Institute in Taiwan; and Kaitlyn Hou, commercial specialist, U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou

Left to right: Greg Marshall, senior vice president, director of marketing, Visit Rochester; Diana Rapp Keating, manager, market programs, Visit Rochester; and Ruth Williamson, senior commercial specialist, Consulate General of the U.S.A., U.S. Commercial Service, Toronto, Canada.

Nancy Hahn Bono (left), president NHB Marketing and Communications; and Rosemary McCormick, president, Shop America Alliance.

At the US Travel information desk—two of US Travel’s longest-serving employees: Shelley Conway, director, meeting & event services; and Valerie Hutchinson, membership assistant.

About to breathe in some flavored oxygen in order to cope with Denver’s high altitude are Family Travel television host Colleen Kelly (left); and Christina Paul, Family Travel writer and co-producer.

At the chilly, outside media brunch is Mike Gallagher, co-founder and co-chairman of CityPASS, which sponsors IPW’s Media Marketplace.

Left to right: Markus Elter, public relations manager, Germany, US Travel; Jamie Morris, manager, media relations, US Travel; Jo Thomas, public relations manager, UK, US Travel; and Cathy Reynolds, manage, media relations and lead manager, IPW press operations, US Travel.

Left to right: Bev Malzard, freelance travel writer; Jamie Foley, vice president, global communications, Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board; and Mark Wm. Sheehan, director, The America First Campaign.

Left to right: Bev Malzard, freelance travel writer; Jamie Foley, vice president, global communications, Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board; and Mark Wm. Sheehan, director, The America First Campaign.

For the Ukrainian Travel Gazette’s chief editor, Iana Slabinska, it was like a summer morning outside.

Chilly journalists—the temperature was about 40˚ Fahrenheit—focusing on the media brunch program.

Left to right: Kala Peterson, communications manager, international and brand public relations, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; Molly Castano, communications manager, international and brand public relations, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; and Bethany Drysdale, chief communications officer, Travel Nevada.

Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock joked with media attendees that Denver is proud of its diversity—even its diverse weather.

Indian freelance journalist Kiran Mehta makes sure she gets her chance to ask a question of Mayor Hancock.

Tony Lane, executive director of the Visit USA Committee Ireland (left) with best-selling author C.J. Box, a Wyoming resident who used to be known as Chuck Box when he operated Rocky Mountain International before moving on to a career as an author. Box was autographing copies of his latest book, “The Disappeared,” inside the Denver convention center.

Jenny Cerna, director of leisure sales, Fountainbleau Miami Beach, asks a Brand USA panel about the prospects for increased luxury travel to the U.S. Her question came near the conclusion of market reports from Brand USA in-country reps who gave generally upbeat presentations on the outlook for travel from Mexico, Canada, China and India,

Sheema Bohra (left), managing director of Sartha Global Marketing, which handles in-country representation for Brand USA in India, with Linda Horowitz, tour and travel national and international sales and marketing for Fairfax County, Virginia.

Archway welcomes delegates to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts party.

Roelof de Kroes (left), Players Travel and Tourism; and Debbie Flynn Kovalik, CEO of My Life, which specializes in marketing and travel and adventure planning.

Left to right: Denise Thevenot, executive director, Louisiana Tax Free Shopping; David Bradley, vice president of convention and tourism sales, Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau; and Sherry Constance, director of sales, The Court of Two Sisters in New Orleans.

Left to right: Karen Dodson, tourism sales associate, The Strong National Museum of Play; Sheryl Porto, director of tour & travel, Merani Hotel Group; and Christine Consunji, director of sales & catering, Great Wolf Lodge.

Armstrong Guan, marketing manager, East West Marketing Corporation, representing Choose Chicago; Sean Zhao, marketing manager, East West Marketing Corporation, representing the Philadelphia CVB; and the not-so-phantom Phantom of the Opera.

Left to right: Beth Duane, chief marketing and communications officer, Corning Museum of Glass; Sally Berry, tourism sales and marketing manager, Corning Museum of Glass; and Melissa Rose, tour reservations and sales coordinator, Corning Museum of Glass.

Left to right: Debbie Picard, tourism sales manager, Glacier County Regional Tourism Commission; Lucy Guthrie Beighe, public relations and earned media manager, Glacier Country Tourism; and Kara Bartlett, group sales manager, Destination Missoula.

Suzi Steiger, president, RMP Travel; and an ersatz 1940s nightclub cigar girl.

Ken Lawson, president and CEO of Visit Florida.

From Visit Baton Rouge: Chachere Lohmann, communication specialist; and Geraldine Bordelon, director of destination sales.

Donald Contursi, president, Lip Smacking Foodie Tours of Las Vegas.

Lynn Sun, general manager, Galaxy Tour Inc.

) Barbara G. B. Ferguson, Washington correspondent, Arab News; and Halla Abdulla, Middle Eastern freelance journalist.

Decades-long IPW veterans Cheryl Hargrove, tourism project manager, The Coast, Georgia Department of Economic Development, Tourism Division; and Peter Ellegard, freelance journalist from the UK.

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Watch for PART TWO of IPW 2018 Photo Album next week.

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