CenStates Chapter, Travel Tourism and Research Association

Save the date! Our 2025 TTRA CenStates Annual Conference will be in Destination Ann Arbor October 22-24, 2025. Make sure you get this on your calendars and more information to follow! #tourismresearch

?? Join us at Marketing Outlook Forum in Fort Worth, Texas! From January 27-29, 2025, connect with industry leaders and gain insights into the future of travel and tourism marketing. Featured Speakers Include: John Heimlich, Vice President & Chief Economist, Airlines for America Maria Sheetz, Senior Director of Media Solutions, Amadeus Hospitality Jennifer Stoll, PhD, STS, President & CEO, Cimarron Global Solutions Naveen Bandla, Director of Research, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) Don’t miss this opportunity to network, learn, and collaborate with the best in the industry. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gr7TZnF Let's shape the future of tourism marketing together! Who's joining us? #TravelIndustry #TourismTrends #DestinationMarketing #TourismAnalytics #MarketingConference

We had an amazing time in Sioux City last week! Thank you Explore Siouxland for hosting our 2024 Chapter Conference. A big thank you to all the attendees, speakers, and sponsors who made our event a success. We already are looking forward to the 2025 conference for another unforgettable experience - perhaps in a place known for its innovative spirit and world-class university? Stay tuned for more details!

We wrapped up our conference with a presentation from Robert Navarro (Heritage Corridor Destinations) and Gina Speckman (Chicago's North Shore Convention & Visitors Bureau) on: How Partnerships can Increase Access to Data. A great way to end our time together and remember how important collaboration is to all of our success.

We continued our agenda full of insights with an emerging role for many organizations: Placemaking. Thank you Jay Burress (Hunden Partners) and Brenda Myers for your session on: Placemaking Assessments & Action Plans: How DMOs Become Leaders in Placemaking

Continuing on with learning about international visitation, we had a great presentation from Skylar Clark from Brand USA teaching us about “Unlocking Global Potential: 101 Guide to Attracting International Visitation and Collaboration with Brand USA”.

Kicking off Day 2 with industry leader David Bratton from Future Partners teaching us about “State of the International Traveler”.

Beomjoo Kim, a doctoral student from the University of Missouri-Columbia, successfully presented his research entitled "Understanding transformative experience on the Camino de Santiago: Comparing first-time and repeated pilgrimage tourists" at the 2024 CenStates Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) Conference in Sioux City, IA. His study found that while first-timers experience immediate psychological and physical benefits, repeated Camino visits can lead to more sustained and profound changes in emotional stability, physical health, and social connectivity. Results from this study help inform targeted marketing efforts for the growing Camino pilgrimage tourism in the future. Congratulations to Beomjoo for well-presenting his study. #CenStatesTTRA #Camino #Transformativeexperience

Time for our final session of a day 1 packed with insights! We are learning about “City-Wide Leisure & Sport Events: Creating Lasting Legacies & Building Stronger Communities” with Bingjie "Becky" Liu-Lastres from Indiana University Indianapolis, Amelia Klatt, MPA from Greater Des Moines Partnership, and Christine Zetzl from Visit Indy. Thank you to all our speakers on Day 1!

Carleigh Dworetzky is joining us from 2Synergize, a Simpleview Consulting Agency to speak on “Unlocking the Potential: Meetings & Convention Business in the Central States”. This informative session is helping our attendees learn more about group meetings and conventions, and how they’re behaving in our region.