Friday Morning General Session

Opening Remarks: Secretary Caren Merrick

The Honorable Caren Merrick with announce the 2024 Virginia Meetings Study and highlight the results to help grow tourism in the Commonwealth.  In 2023, meetings and conventions in Virginia generated $5.8 billion in direct spending, with $2.1 billion, contributed solely by visitors.

•  Meetings and conventions visitors in Virginia contributed 6.3% to the Commonwealth’s total visitor spending.
• Visitor-driven meetings-related spending grew by 14% from 2022, outpacing the total statewide visitor spending growth of 10%.
• The impact of meeting operations was massive compared to the visitor-driven spending, with organizers and venues spending $3.7 billion directly to operate and run these events.
• Meeting operations accounted for 64% of meetings and conventions spending, while visitor spending made up the remaining 36%.

Meetings and conventions visitors spent nearly $6 million per day in Virginia.

• Of the $2.1 billion in meetings and conventions visitors spending, lodging captures the largest share of visitor’s dollars at 42% followed by food & beverage with a 30% share. Transportation accounted for 13% visitor spending, retail for 10%, and recreation represented 5%.
• Lodging and food & beverage spending saw the most year over year growth, each increasing by 15%, followed by recreation spending at 14%, retail at 12%, and transportation at 9%.
  ional efficiency.

Speaker: Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick

Implementing AI: Practical Steps for Organizational Integration

AI represents a seismic shift in how consumers access information and engage with the world, but this is only half the opportunity. Tourism faces one consistent problem as an industry: delivering more with less.

Discover the strategic edge AI can offer your destination by removing the mundane tasks burdening your team’s daily lives so they can truly focus on what’s important. Learn from real-world examples and gain insights into integrating AI tools that drive performance and operational efficiency.

Speaker: Todd Brook

Authentic Leadership: From Aspirations to Achievements

Unlock the leader within with this fantastic presentation from Lovell Casiero. Lovell will dive deep into what it takes to become a leader in the hospitality and tourism industry. Discover how to turn adversity into a growth opportunity, how to lead with authenticity, harnessing the power of thoughts, challenging the status quo and much more.

From entry level to the C-suite, this presentation will help audiences craft their path to career success.

Speaker: Lovell Casiero