OWENSBORO, Kentucky — More than 200 travel industry members gathered March 9–11 in Owensboro, Kentucky, for the 2025 Select Traveler Conference, a meeting that has drawn domestic and international affinity travel planners, travel companies and destinations since 1996.
Owensboro is an Ohio River port city best known as the home of bluegrass music and for producing award-winning western Kentucky-style barbecue and Kentucky bourbon. Delegates were treated to all three during evening events at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum, as well as at a Kentucky Derby party that featured custom-made hats from the Kentucky Derby Museum and Louisville Tourism.
“We really enjoyed having these travel planners in Owensboro because we know that once you come here, you’ll want to come back,” said Visit Owensboro president Mark Calitri. “The Group Travel Family was great to work with, and the delegates who came represent a lot of future business for us.”
“Visit Owensboro pulled out all the stops for us,” said Select Traveler Conference general manager Jennifer Ferguson. “Mark Calitri and his staff were on top of every detail and made sure our delegates experienced all of Owensboro’s authentic visitor appeal. The Owensboro Convention Center is as visually appealing as any we’ve ever met in.
“I want to give a shout out to Teresa Jones of Visit Owensboro who attended every session with us and made certain the city was well represented. She worked all their events, attended marketplace and was at all our meals. Teresa made our jobs a lot easier.”
Visit Owensboro organized sightseeing tours for all delegates to local sites like Moonlite Bar-B-Q, the new Owensboro Racing and Gaming venue and Green River Distillery. The Owensboro Convention Center, where delegates enjoyed floor-to-ceiling views of the Ohio River, showcased the area’s bustling river commerce.
The opening session featured an interactive conversation about working with DMOs between Stacey Cabell, owner of Starstuff Travel in Tom’s River, New Jersey, and Charlie Presley, founder of The Group Travel Family and founding partner of the Select Traveler Conference. At the conference’s annual buyer breakout session, travel planners identified dozens of domestic destinations like Hawaii, Nashville, South Dakota and New Orleans for 2025 trips and listed many popular countries including Italy, Ireland, Iceland, Scotland and Spain for 2025 oversea excursions.
Meal sponsors included Collette, James B. Beam Distilling Company, Mayflower Cruises and Tours, Visit Owensboro and Visit French Lick West Baden. Two days of marketplace appointments yielded thousands of one-on-one sales discussions among travel planners, destinations and travel companies.
Next year’s conference will take place in historic Williamsburg, Virginia. Ally Ramello, group sales manager for Visit Williamsburg, came to Owensboro to extend the invitation to all attendees for 2026. The final dates will be announced in coming weeks. For registration details, visit selecttravelerconf.com or call 800-628-0993.
