Aerialists hung from the rafters pouring Champagne. Electronic violinists meandered through the crowd on stilts. Benjamin Franklin looked on from his elevated perch inside the museum that bears his name. This was no average cocktail party. It was the opening event for the 2017 RIMS Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia. These ideas were born nearly a year prior as the Philadelphia CVB assisted RIMS in hosting its INsite Tour, a two-and-half-day-long scouting trip for RIMS meeting planners and their major exhibitors.

In March 2018, Los Angeles welcomed over 200 ConferenceDirect associates who collectively represent over 50,000 in annual booked room nights for Los Angeles. The conference was an overwhelming success and took place March 25-29 2018.

How do you facilitate $130 million in international travel buying, international relationship building and showcase your own destination in three days? That’s the question the Kalispell CVB pondered when successfully bidding for Kalispell, Montana, to host the 2018 International Round Up.

In the summer of 2017, seven years of work on the part of the region’s horticulture sector resulted in the arrival of 350 garden writers for the Association for Garden Communicators annual conference, the GWA Annual Conference & Expo. Visit Buffalo Niagara also helped facilitate the event.

Meetings Today Destinations Content Director Marlene Goldman sat down with Destinations International President & CEO Don Welsh during its 2018 Annual Convention in Anaheim in July 2018 to find out how the organization is helping DMOs adapt to the next generation of meeting planners, and the challenges DMOs face in areas such as destination boycotts and the “weaponization of travel.”

Las Vegas police are conducting a criminal investigation into the mishandling of funds by Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), according to reporting published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

California’s Santa Clara CVB had its funding suspended for 60 days by the City of Santa Clara until a new management company can be found. Employee salaries and benefits will be paid during the 60 days.

The Memphis CVB changed its name to Memphis Tourism and debuted a new logo and tagline.

Visit Anaheim launched a major marketing campaign to show off the its fun new group offerings that appeal beyond Disneyland.

A new day is dawning for the embattled tourism promotion industry in Puerto Rico, as CVB veteran Brad Dean, who helmed the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce as CEO for 15 years, is set to take the reins of the newly created Puerto Rico Destination Marketing Organization (PRDMO).