David Whitaker, who led destination marketing organizations for Miami and Toronto, is taking the CMO reins at Brand USA, the campaign that promotes overseas tourism to the US.
Whitaker was recently president and CEO of the $37M Tourism Toronto DMO. He spent 17 years with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, departing as executive VP and CMO. He earlier led marketing for the United Way of Miami-Dade.
At Brand USA, which he joins in May, he will report to president and CEO Christopher Thomson and oversee consumer marketing, trade outreach and similar endeavors.
Hill+Knowlton Strategies is Brand USA's external PR firm, defending the work in a review last fall.
Brand USA is the former Corporation for Travel Promotion, formed in 2010.
Weber Shandwick is providing PR and marketing communications services to the Moroccan National Tourist Office in New York.
Finn Partners has filed its six-month contract with the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation, which is worth $240K.
Weber Shandwick wrapped up its work for the Ministry of Bahamas at the end of 2023.
The Aruba Tourism Authority is boosting its budget 29.4 percent to $2.2M at Zeno Group, according to its 2024 contract, effective Jan. 1.
As inflation continues to impact spending, consumers are revisiting their list of what they’re willing to spend more of their money on. Luckily for those in the travel industry, experiences seem to be trending up on the “splurge” list. 
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