Four destination marketing organizations received achievement awards in a recent competition with their colleagues from the West. Sponsored by Destination Marketing Association of the West (DMA West), the annual Best Idea Program showcases innovative projects and creative marketing strategies as submitted by DMA West members. This year’s Best Idea Program awards were presented during the 2022 DMA West Education Summit, September 14-16, 2022 in Ventura, CA.

DMA West congratulates the following member DMOs ─ Visit Bend, Visit Glenwood Springs, Visit Mesa, and Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory ─ for receiving outstanding achievement awards for their organizations in the 2022 DMA West Best Idea Program.

The Bend Sustainability Fund | Visit Bend

The Bend Sustainability Fund is a newly developed grant program launched in response to the need to give back and to take care of the places that take care of us. At a time when room tax revenues are at an all-time high, so is visitor usage of the places which make destinations like Bend so popular. Click here to continue reading about this initiative. Supporting attachments for this initiative can be found here, here, and here. 

Glenwood Gold Visitor Stimulus Initiative | Visit Glenwood Springs

To revive visitation in 2020 during the most significant downturn of the pandemic, Visit Glenwood Springs created a visitor gifting program that awarded $100 in a community currency (that was created for this program) to guests who booked a minimum two-night stay with a mid-week check-in. Click here to continue reading about this initiative. View the supporting attachment here.  

Travel Accessibility in Mesa, Arizona: Live Life Limitless | Visit Mesa

Last year, Visit Mesa adopted several objectives supporting DEI programming with the backing of our stakeholders and implemented these efforts in our 2021-2023 Strategic Plan. The planning process highlighted the need for accessibility promotion and helped Visit Mesa target the development of accessible travel offerings in the visitor industry. Click here to continue reading about this initiative. Click here to view the supporting attachment. 

Federal, State and Local Collaboration for Visitor Safety: Clackamas River Corridor Wildfire Reopening | Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory

In September of 2020, the Riverside Wildfire ravaged the southeastern area of the Mt. Hood National Forest, leaving many important recreation assets inaccessible in its wake for years to come. Click here to continue reading about this initiative. You can view supporting attachments here, here, and here. 

Best Idea entries will be available for viewing in DMA West's online resource library later this fall. Questions? Contact Will Hixson at will@dmawest.org. 

Wes Rhea, CDME is the 2022 recipient of the Brad Burlingame Spirit of Leadership Award. He is the CEO of Visit Stockton and has held that position since 2005. Wes prides himself on being a very tech savvy DMO leader, and loves to work with new and emerging technologies and vendors in the destination marketing space. A Stockton native, Wes is very involved in his local community and serves on the board of the United Way of San Joaquin County, where he has also served as president; the Stockton Maritime Museum, and the Downtown Stockton Alliance. Professionally, Wes has served on the board of the California Travel Association, and as past-president of DMA West and the Central Valley Tourism Association. Congratulations, Wes!