The sales team at Visit Fairfax is hard at work promoting and selling Fairfax County as a prime meeting destination. From virtual tradeshows and virtual FAM tours to in-person conferences, events, and meetings, our sales managers are planning many exciting strategies to represent the great assets and businesses of Fairfax County.

Here is a snapshot of some upcoming events, activities, and appointments our sales team is working on. The team is always happy to share updates and notes from these events, so feel free to reach out at any time.
 


On the Meetings Side:

Dean Miller, our National Sales Manager in the Associations/Reunions markets, has been back out at tradeshows and seeking new leads for Fairfax County. Here are some recent updates:

  • We started off June by attending The Military Reunion Network (TMRN) Educational Summit in Colorado Springs, CO, where we met face-to-face with the planners from more than 30 military reunion groups, talking up our great attractions, including the new National Museum of the United States Army.
  • Also in June, we attended the Virginia Society of Association Executives (VSAE) annual Conference in Virginia Beach, VA, meeting with the more than 50 Virginia association executives and planners attending.Destination Southeast
  • In July, we traveled to Marco Island, FL, to meet one-on-one with twenty-five association, government, and corporate planners at the Destination Southeast trade show.
  • In August, we played our special life-sized game of Clue with the planners in attendance at the Reston – Herndon Meeting Planners (RHMP) “Summer Camp” event, held at the Hyatt Regency Dulles.
  • Also in August, Dean Miller and Eric Kulczycky will both be in Tampa, FL for Connect Marketplace.  Each will meet individually with more than 25 planners over three days – Dean with association planners, and Eric with sports tournament organizers.
  • We’ll travel to Louisville, KY in September and Myrtle Beach, SC in October to attend trade show events sponsored by Meetings Today magazine
  • October will be a very busy month; in addition to Myrtle Beach, we’ll also be in Boston, MA and San Antonio, TX for trade show events, and in Richmond, VA with eleven of our Fairfax County hotel partners, exhibiting at the VSAE Fall Conference.

 

On the Tour & Travel Side: 

Linda Horowitz, our National Sales Manager for International and Domestic Group Tour, has been working on some innovative virtual offerings and will be back out on the road later this month. Here's the scoop on Linda's markets:

  • NVTP - Historic Homes Virtual Tour - 2021In collaboration with the Northern Virginia Tourism Partnership (NVTP), Visit Fairfax hosted its second virtual tour —Historic Homes and Figures— on 6/22/21 as part of four-tour summer series. Over the next couple of months, NVTP will host thematic tours that inspire, educate, and provide tour operators with resources for planning exciting group tour experiences. Each session will highlight the Northern Virginia destinations of Arlington County, Alexandria City, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County.

  • In partnership with Brand USA, Visit Fairfax participated in Chalo USA, a webinar focusing on self-drive family vacations that was presented to travel trade in India. This thematic virtual tour provided participating DMO partners from Fairfax, Virginia, Memphis and Niagara Falls with an opportunity to provide the latest attraction highlights, hotel and dining updates as well as any COVID-19 related information. Over 309 tour operators and travel agents across India attended the webinar and reported that the session was very informative with inspiring content for future travel planning. See Visit Fairfax’s presentation here at 35 minutes 19 seconds.

  • Visit Fairfax will for the first time participate in RTO Summit South in Tampa, Florida from August 29-31. This Florida-based show tradeshow capitalizes on a high number of receptive operators based in the state. More receptive tour operators have opened headquarters or tour operations in Florida to take advantage of its weather, reasonably priced office space, and the travelers who visit the area’s theme parks each year. Florida now is home to over 120 receptive companies most of which service Latin American markets, Europe, and increasingly, Asia and the Middle East. We will participate in one-on-one prescheduled appointments with these receptive operators to develop new international business.

  • Visit Fairfax will attend IPW in Las Vegas, Nevada from September 18-22. This leading international inbound travel trade show is one of the largest in the US, with buyers from 30+ countries present. The Westin Tysons Corner will also be attending IPW as a booth partner. We will jointly have pre-scheduled appointments with top international clients, as well as introduce Fairfax County to many new international tour operators.

 

On the Sports Side:

Eric Kulczycky, our National Sales Manager in charge of the sports market, has been working hard on furthering Visit Fairfax's foray into sports event tourism:

  • We will be attending Connect Marketplace at the end of August to meet with more than 25 sports tournament organizers over three days.

  • SportsNOVA - LogoFairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, and Stafford counties have announced the launch of SportsNOVA, a new regional sports tourism partnership that will market Northern Virginia as a premier destination for travel sports events. With the goal of generating economic impact and fostering community development in the region, SportsNOVA will work collaboratively to attract multi-sport and large single-sport events that can only be accommodated through a collective effort. Read the press release here.