These local entrepreneurs will be spotlighted at Delaware Tourism Summit

The tourism industry is a major force in the Delaware economy. That may be even more true now that it’s the presidential home state, especially after weeks of watching then-President-elect Joe Biden speaking from The Queen and outside of the Chase Center on the Riverfront.

On Thursday, Dec. 2, the inside of the Chase Center will be the site of the Delaware Tourism Summit, which sets out to showcase the industry as both innovative and crucial to the economy.

One of the ways the event is highlighting innovation is by featuring local entrepreneurs and business leaders, including Carvertise cofounder Mac Macleod, 1440 Film Co. founder Mike Pfeiffer, and Joanna Ford and LeAnn Qualls of AB&C Creative.

Keith Hunt, chief diversity and inclusion officer for the State of Delaware, will also speak, and Delaware Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock will deliver closing remarks. The keynote speaker will be bestselling author and marketing expert Andrew Davis, who built (and ultimately sold) a thriving digital marketing agency, produced for NBC’s “Today Show,” worked for “The Muppets” in New York and wrote for famed journalist Charles Kuralt.

At the center of the summit will be a tourism data presentation review of 2022 called “Travel Data: A Forward-Thinking Approach,” presented by Andria Godfrey from Longwoods International, which will include an overview of current visitor research for Delaware as well as national travel sentiment data.

Some of the sessions during the daylong summit will be tourism industry-specific, such as “What is the future of sports tourism and how can partners work with events?” with Al Kidd and Jennifer Stroll of Sports ETA and “How to enhance group visits” with Sally Davis Berry. But other professional development sessions transcend it, including sessions on reconnecting with your coworkers, videography on a budget, how to make analytics less overwhelming, and recruiting and retaining for an inclusive work culture.

Who should attend? The summit is aiming to include professionals and entrepreneurs, especially those is industries impacted by tourism, such as hospitality, retail shops and marketers, along with state nonprofits.