Thank you to all our sponsors, who help make the 2024 VA1 Governor’s Tourism Conference a reality!
The VA1 Governor’s Tourism Summit is brought to you by the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association, the Virginia Association of Destination Marketing Organizations, and the Virginia Tourism Corporation.
Host City & Reception Sponsor: | Visit Bath County, Inc, is a not-for-profit destination marketing organization working to positively impact the local economy by promoting Bath County as a year-round destination of choice. Visit Bath collaborates with local partners to create memorable visitor experiences and assists with the preservation and development of the county’s tourism products. | |
Platinum Sponsor: | LeisureMedia360 is an award-winning publisher of state and regional travel guides, including, for the past 20+ years, the Virginia Travel Guide. Our digital advertising opportunities on virginia.org and programmatic offerings have aided hundreds of clients with their marketing needs for the past 10 years. | |
Official Travel Sponsor: | Amtrak Virginia offers seamless connectivity for travelers seeking a comfortable and scenic journey to your destination! With 17 Virginia stops, visitors can connect from major northeastern cities like D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Passenger rail makes your destination more accessible and appealing, boosting tourism and economic growth! Visit Amtrak.com/virginia. | |
Conference Sponsor: | Nathan Beck is an internationally-known professional editorial and luxury brand photographer published worldwide. Over the decades, Nathan earned numerous national and international awards celebrating his photographic eye and master talent. His relaxed nature and commitment to producing the optimal images make all subjects his ideal clients. | |
Registration Sponsor: | The Sojern Travel Marketing Platform helps destination marketers reach and inspire travelers throughout their planning journey across digital channels. With unmatched visibility into travel demand and market insights, Sojern builds audiences to find the right travelers for your destination and demonstrate economic impact. | |
Super Session Sponsor: | Epsilon is an advertising, measurement, and marketing technology company. We connect advertisers with visitors to drive performance and ROI. Epsilon helps clients harness first-party data to enhance, activate, and measure campaigns. | |
Super Session Sponsor: | Orange142 is a premier ad tech firm specializing in travel and tourism marketing. As a black-owned business, it leverages the experiences and expertise of an excellent team to enhance visibility for DMOs/CVBs, boosting leisure travel and targeting meeting and sports planners. With innovative strategies and tactics, Orange142 drives impactful marketing campaigns. | |
Super Session Sponsor: | With over 38 years experience, VistaGraphics and VistaDigital Agency, has its roots in the hospitality industry. Having published its first hospitality title in 1985, the company has evolved as a media company to include a myriad of digital solutions that are specific to visitor and destination marketing. | |
Dessert Break Sponsor: | Tripadvisor is the world’s largest and most preferred travel guidance platform, helping hundreds of millions of people each month become better travelers. | |
Media Sponsor: | Virginia Business is the only publication dedicated to covering economic activity in every sector and every region of the state. Since its creation, our magazine has won awards, attracted loyal readers and established a reputation as a “must read” for anybody who wants to stay abreast of business news in the commonwealth. | |
Student Conference Sponsor: | Miles Partnership is a strategic marketing consultancy focused exclusively on travel and tourism. The company works with more than 150 destinations, hospitality businesses and other travel industry clients worldwide to develop marketing and management strategies that amplify local experiences, boost visitation, improve community relations and increase overall economic impact. | |
Silver Sponsor: | Adara helps brands win in the fast-paced digital economy by providing predictive intelligence for optimal consumer engagement. Adara connects destinations via digital advertising to 2.1 billion digital identities across 130 countries. This enables destinations to deliver personalized messages across customer journeys, driving (and reporting on) optimum revenue from every interaction. | |
Content Workshop Sponsor: | Love Communications is an independent agency headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Our mission is to help clients drive sales overnight and build stronger brands over time. We specialize in tourism, hospitality, retail, and cause marketing, and are experts at creating engaging, data driven campaigns that get results. | |
Key Card Sponsor: | The Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority is responsible for the county’s sports tourism program which brings in over $70M in economic impact annually as well as the management of Henrico’s public/private investments including the new 185,000-square-foot Henrico Sports & Events Center and the future 17,000-seat Green City arena. | |
Newcomers Welcome Sponsor: | Simpleview is a worldwide leading provider of CRM, CMS, website design, digital marketing services, and data insights for convention bureaus, venues, tourism boards, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), and attractions. The company employs staff across the globe, serving clients of all sizes, including small towns, world capitals, top meeting destinations, and countries across multiple continents. | |
Break Sponsor: | The Advance Travel & Tourism team is filled with destination marketing experts who specialize in bringing the traveler to you. Our team is proud to work exclusively within the tourism industry to help promote destinations, museums, attractions and other travel-related organizations across Virginia and beyond. | |
Break Sponsor: | MediaOne is a full-service digital marketing firm with serious pedigree in travel and tourism. We believe that each destination defines their “win” uniquely and collaborate and innovate to help you achieve that success. MediaOne delivers the measurable results and accountability that you need, expect, and deserve for your digital spend. | |
Break Sponsor: | Across every travel sector, North Carolina is ranked 2nd when it comes to driving travel into Virginia (after Virginia itself). Reach your North Carolina neighbors with a custom advertising partnership with America’s second largest privately published state magazine. Our stunning 91-year-old monthly publication is the perfect addition to your marketing tool chest, and we are proud to sponsor VA1 again this year. | |
Break Sponsor: | STR is the leading provider of premium global data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace for the global hospitality industry. We provide data that is confidential, reliable, accurate and actionable, and our comprehensive reports empower our clients to strategize and compete within their markets. | |
Break Sponsor: | The Hodges Partnership is a Richmond-based strategic communications firm. We help clients identify, articulate, and amplify their story to reach the right people at the right time and with the right messages. From PR to social media, marketing to graphic design, we work with clients in hospitality, tourism, education, transportation, government and more. | |
Break Sponsor: | Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau is responsible for promoting year-round leisure, meetings, conventions, international, and sports travel to Virginia’s most populous city. As the official destination marketing organization, the CVB is responsible for ongoing promotion of the tourism and hospitality industry. To drive tourism revenue that powers our local economy, the CVB also focuses on attracting tourism product development to ensure our destination stays competitive. | |
Reception Entertainment Sponsor: | Freight Train Management (based in Richmond and female-owned) is focused on independent Roots-music artists, serving as their advocates and strategic career advisers. We believe integrating local music into tourism efforts highlights Virginia’s vibrant creative community and enriches the visitor experience. #listenlocal | |
Welcome Reception Sponsor: | The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail winds over 333 miles in the mountains of Southwest Virginia connecting over 40 destinations that showcase old time and bluegrass music. The Crooked Road celebrates 20 years of promoting traditional music in 2024 and we invite you to join in the celebration! | |
Supporting Sponsor: | Carvertise is a disruptive advertising company on a mission to revolutionize the way brands communicate with consumers outdoors. By leveraging a network of over 550,000 registered rideshare drivers, Carvertise is turning Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash cars into moving billboards for Destination Marketing Organizations across the country. | |
Supporting Sponsor: | As Virginia’s lead natural resource conservation agency, the Department of Conservation and Recreation protects the natural habitat, clean water and access to the outdoors. From Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, Virginia State Parks has something for everyone. Our Natural Heritage Program conserves Virginia’s biodiversity through inventory, protection and stewardship. | |
Supporting Sponsor: | Disney Advertising is responsible for advertising sales and integrated marketing for The Walt Disney Company’s entertainment and sports offerings through linear, digital, social, audio and ad-supported streaming businesses. This includes ABC, ABC News, Disney+, Disney Channels Worldwide, Disney Digital, ESPN Networks, ESPN+, Freeform, FX, National Geographic, Hulu, and its eight ABC-owned local stations. | |
Supporting Sponsor: | OutCoast LLC supports LGBTQ-inclusive destinations, businesses and experiences in Florida through online blog channels, networking opportunities, content creation and consulting. | |
Supporting Sponsor: | TransPromotion is bringing innovative and effective out-of-home advertising to destination market organizations leveraging box trucks and tractor trailers to create eye catching “moving billboard” style ads. Now offering mobile ID data collected from the exposed audience of your truckside ad! | |
Supporting Sponsor: | Established in 2020 to commemorate Virginia’s role in the 250th anniversary of American independence, the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission (VA250) aims to form a more perfect union by educating Virginians about their history and civic duty and sharing diverse narratives that capture Virginia’s complete story and role in shaping the nation. | |
Supporting Sponsor: | Visit Williamsburg is the official destination marketing organization (DMO) for Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown, Virginia. The organization is committed to driving overnight visitation, growing/enhancing destination awareness, and supporting industry partners through its advertising, marketing, public relations, and sales programs. |
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Wednesday Beverage Sponsor: | For over 29 years, Blue Ridge Outdoors has inspired adventure in the Southeast through our publication and website. We feature outdoor destinations, events, gear, and travel ideas. Blue Ridge Outdoors is a proud partner of the Virginia Tourism Co-Op program! | |
Thursday Beverage Sponsor: | Letterpress Communications is a boutique marketing agency based out of Farmville, VA with teams across the state. Letterpress specializes in rural, community-powered marketing serving a range of industries. Focusing on community, Letterpress helps clients leverage the power of their teams and stories to create growth and good for their community. | |
Event Sponsor: | Cvent is an industry-leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider. Since 1999, our technology has empowered event planners, marketers, hoteliers, and travel professionals around the world to deliver incredible experiences and accelerate their success. | |