The End is Near: Southern California Visitor Industry Outlook Conference Explores How the Economy is Recovering
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 25, 2010
As the economy begins to recover from the recession, learn how the Southern California tourism industry is faring and hear predictions for 2011 at the 22nd annual Southern California Visitor Industry Outlook Conference.
Cal Poly Pomona’s Collins College of Hospitality Management and Colliers PKF Consulting USA are partnering again to host the conference on Friday, Oct. 29, at 9:30 a.m. at Hotel Maya in Long Beach. This year’s event is titled "Navigating the Recovery."
"Hotel occupancy is on the upswing and there are other signs of improvement that the visitor industry is returning to pre-2008 numbers. The Southern California Visitor Industry Outlook Conference brings together great minds from all aspects of the industry to explain why this is the case and what hope there is for growth,” said Andrew Hale Feinstein, dean of The Collins College of Hospitality Management.
Suzanne D. Cook, senior vice president of the U. S. Travel Association, will give the keynote address. For more than three decades, Cook has been a formidable thinker and leader in the U.S. travel industry. One of her notable projects includes the development of the Travel Economic Impact Model, which is the only national model that provides consistent and comparable estimates of domestic and international travel’s economic impact at the national, state and local levels.
Attendees will also enjoy a full day of panel discussions from industry experts and receive Colliers PKF Consulting USA's extensive lodging forecast report with detailed analyses of markets throughout Southern California. These markets include: Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties as well as the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley.
Panelists and speakers will include:
- Bruce Baltin, senior vice president, Colliers PKF Consulting USA
- Dr. Suzanne Cook, senior vice president , U. S. Travel Association
- Gary Sherwin, president & CEO, CDME
- Charles Ahlers, president, Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau
- Steve Goodling, president & CEO, Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Mark Liberman, president & CEO, LA INC. The Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Joe Terzi, president, San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Jeff Lugosi, senior vice president, PKF Consulting
- Jack Kyser, Chief Economic Advisor, Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)
- Dan Mishell, research director, California Travel & Tourism Commission
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.cpp.edu/~vioc/.
Media are welcome to attend the conference for free. They may also have a free copy of the forecast report upon request. Please contact Lisa McPheron, director of communications and external relations at The Collins College at (909) 869-3151 or lcmcpheron@cpp.edu for more information.
About The Collins College - Founded in 1973, The Collins College of Hospitality Management is the first and largest four-year hospitality management degree program in California and the only hospitality management college on the West Coast. Approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive a superior education in the state-of-the-art Collins College facilities, where they learn to apply hospitality management theories and concepts to real-world settings. Part of this unique academic experience includes managing and operating the full-service Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch.