Attention Media: Please contact Jenny Smith or Becky Giantonio at Pita Communcations at (860) 293-0517, ext. 15/25, or jenny@pitacomm.com/becky@pitacomm.com  if you would like to join any of the fam tours to interview international tour operators.

Connecticut to Welcome More Than 50 European Tour Operators and 250 Tourism Industry Members From New England During Discover New England’s 13th Annual Tourism Summit & International Marketplace
Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism to Host the Event with the Greater New Haven Convention & Visitors Bureau

HARTFORD, Conn. (April 8, 2008) – Next week, Connecticut will roll out the welcome mat to international tour operators and writers looking to meet members of New England’s tourism industry and see what the states have to offer during Discover New England’s 13th Annual Tourism Summit & International Marketplace. The event takes place from April 14 to 16 at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale. Discover New England is the official international marketing alliance led by the six New England state tourism office directors.

The summit, hosted by the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism along with the Greater New Haven Convention & Visitors Bureau — the office of the Greater New Haven tourism region — includes one-on-one business meetings with tour operators; seminars on current travel trends in the British, French, Netherlands and German markets; a workshop on reaching the international market; and opportunities for networking with more than 50 tour operators from the U.S. and Europe, industry colleagues and state tourism staff and directors. More than 250 tourism industry representatives from New England — including hotel, attraction and visitors bureau staff — will attend the three-day event.

“International marketing efforts like this summit allow us to establish relationships with key players in the overseas tourism industry,” said Gov. M. Jodi Rell. “Attracting more European visitors to Connecticut will help us to grow jobs and improve our quality of life.”

“The Discover New England Summit is a key international marketing effort, offering the ideal opportunity to reach top tourism experts from around the world,” said Karen Senich, executive director of the Commission on Culture & Tourism. “With the Euro and British Pound stronger than the U.S. dollar and direct flights to Bradley International Airport from Amsterdam now available, now is the time to market our state’s many wonderful assets to potential visitors from Europe.”

Connecticut State Historian Dr. Walter W. Woodward and Lou Hammond & Associates’ Executive Vice President Terrence Gallagher will provide keynote speeches on April 15. Woodward became Connecticut's fifth state historian on July 1, 2004. Since then, he has traveled throughout the state meeting with educators, museum professionals, academic historians, family historians, genealogists and the public promoting the importance of Connecticut’s vital and ever-evolving heritage. Woodward also serves as an ex-officio member of several state boards involved in history, tourism and cultural affairs. He is an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut’s Greater Hartford campus.

Gallagher, a destination marketing specialist and hospitality marketing leader who has implemented strategic campaigns for a range of travel clients, will discuss public relations tactics for 2008. His most recent award-winning campaigns include the promotion of Providence, R.I., as one of New England’s hottest cultural and culinary getaway destinations, creating buzz for the opening of North Carolina’s only AAA Five Diamond full-service, luxury hotel The Umstead Hotel & Spa and publicity for Vermont’s Stoweflake Mountain Resort & Spa, including a dedicated feature on “Good Morning America.”

The summit also includes a New Haven welcome reception on April 14 at 6:30 p.m., and the Connecticut Gala Dinner on April 15 at 7:30 p.m. The welcome reception, to be held at the New Haven Lawn Club, will provide attendees the chance to sample the eclectic cuisine of the New Haven region while enjoying live entertainment provided by the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. On the evening of April 15, a pre-dinner reception hosted by the five tourism regions will take place at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale. United States Coast Guard chief arranger and pianist Ian Frenkel will perform during the reception. The Commission on Culture & Tourism’s Connecticut Gala Dinner will follow.

“This summit is a great opportunity for our five tourism regions to come together and showcase Connecticut’s historic charm, rich arts and cultural scene, attractions and scenic beauty,” said Ginny Kozlowski, president of the Greater New Haven Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The attending European tourism operators are key influencers in their markets and can offer firsthand insight as to how we can best work with and market to them moving forward.”

The tour operators will have the opportunity to see Connecticut’s offerings for themselves during pre- and post-summit fam tours throughout the state’s five tourism regions (please see full itineraries below).

Supporters of the summit include Yale University, the Town Green Special Services District, Market New Haven, the City of New Haven, Office of Cultural Affairs and Pilot Pen Tennis.

For more information, or to register for the summit, please visit www.DiscoverNewEngland.org/summit.htm.

About the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism
The Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism brings together tourism, film, history and the arts. Its mission is to preserve and promote Connecticut’s cultural and tourism assets in order to enhance the quality of life and economic vitality of the state. The Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism's new offices, which include a gallery, are located at One Constitution Plaza, Hartford, Connecticut. The Commission's arts gallery is open to the public weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The space features changing exhibits that directly relate to the Commission’s programs across all four divisions. For more information, log on to www.cultureandtourism.org.

About the Greater New Haven Convention & Visitors Bureau
One of five tourism regions in Connecticut, the Greater New Haven Convention & Visitors Bureau markets 19 communities in an effort to enhance the region’s economy and quality of life generating increased individual and group visitor spending. The region encompasses 19 towns and cities in southern Connecticut, including Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Clinton, Durham, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Killingworth, Madison, Middlefield, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Wallingford, West Haven and Woodbridge. For more information, visit www.visitnewhaven.com.

About Discover New England
Discover New England is the official regional marketing alliance led by the Directors of Tourism of the six New England state tourism offices with the mission to increase domestic and international travel and tourism, thereby strengthening the economic vitality of New England. For more information, visit www.discovernewengland.org.

###

Additional media contacts
Sue Norrington-Davies, managing director, Discover New England
(802) 253-2500, dne@together.net

Ginny Kozlowski, president of the Greater New Haven Convention & Visitors Bureau
(203) 777-8550, ginnyk@visitnewhaven.com

Fam Tour Itineraries

U.K./Dutch Fam Tour

 German Fam Tour

French Fam Tour

U.K. Fam Tour