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Missouri Joins Travel South USA

ST. LOUIS — Missouri has become the newest member of Travel South USA, bringing the regional marketing organization’s membership to 12 states. Travel South USA chairman Duane Parrish and executive director Liz Bittner officially welcomed the Missouri delegation at Missouri’s annual tourism conference on October 8.

“Missouri is a great fit for us because they are such a natural tie-in for trips travelers are already doing in the South,” said Bittner. “Their music, culture, history and foods match well with itineraries we are promoting in and out of neighboring states like Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. They know tourism in Missouri — they’re very good at it.”

Travel South USA will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2015, and Missouri will become only the second state to have joined the original members of the nation’s oldest regional travel marketing organization over that time. West Virginia joined in 1998.

Missouri’s tourism office joined the University of Missouri in forming a recent alliance with the southern United States. Missouri joined the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 2013, and state travel director Katie Steele Danner noted as much when she announced the tourism office’s membership.

“We join Travel South not as competitors, but as partners working toward the shared goal of bringing more travelers to our region of America and showcasing Missouri’s history, heritage and culture, along with the unique and exciting attractions we have to share with travelers,” said Danner.

In the past several years, Travel South USA has broadened its focus to include international inbound travel into the South, and in September, Missouri sent delegate Donna Gray to Orlando to join sales representatives from other states for a blitz directed at inbound tour operators. A rigorous two-day schedule included personal sales presentations and meals with receptive operators including Tourico Holidays; Hotel Beds USA, Inc.; Meeting Point North America; and Allied T-Pro.

In addition to its March domestic Travel South Showcase in Shreveport, Louisiana, the organization is now producing an International Showcase each December. On the heels of successful marketplaces in Atlanta in 2012 and Nashville, Tennessee, in 2013, the international inbound event takes place this December in New Orleans.

Travel South USA has released preliminary results from its hosted travel media program at the domestic Showcase in Charleston, West Virginia. Twenty-seven travel journalists, including Mac Lacy of The Group Travel Leader Inc, have already produced 108 articles in print and online, yielding nearly 9 million media impressions and more than $1.6 million in media value.

www.travelsouthusa.org