Visit California and TravMedia Host California Pavillion at IMM USA

Visit California continued its partnership with TravMedia into 2023 by again hosting the California Pavilion at IMM USA. A delegation of 46 destination partners and businesses traveled to New York to participate in the California Pavilion on Jan. 26, taking over 1,100 appointments with key travel and lifestyle media and influencers.

On Jan. 25, Ryan Becker, vice president of communications at Visit California, moderated a sustainability panel during the TravMedia Summit. The panel commenced with an overview of Visit California's work to promote sustainability — including the California Responsible Travel Code and partnership with Kind Traveler — before diving into a discussion of best practices and case studies. Panelists included Claudia Vecchio, CEO of Sonoma County Tourism; Eusi Skeete, director of USA Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc; and Rob Holmes, founder & chief strategist of GLP Films.

As a sponsor of IMM USA, Visit California hosted the welcome reception for TravMedia Summit attendees, including approximately 250 media. In partnership with the Wine Institute, Visit California served sustainable wine at the reception that evening, along with California craft beer. California Pavilion delegates were all welcomed to attend the evening reception.

California delegates attended an additional day of programming as part of the New York Media Mission. The morning kicked off with a brunch at Dotdash Meredith. A fusion of networking and knowledge-building, this informative session fostered new connections for California delegates with key editors from the Dotdash Meredith team. Dotdash Editorial Director Liz Vaccariello, former editor in chief of People Magazine, led a discussion about sustainability in the travel space in which she identified key coverage opportunities in the 2023 landscape and helped acquaint California partners with today's top contributors. The brunch was attended by editors from Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Parents, Real Simple and People.

The second and final event of the day was an afternoon broadcast panel, also moderated by Ryan Becker. Panelists included Hena Doba, host and news anchor at Cheddar News, and Beth Feldman, senior vice president of communications for The CW Network & Nexstar Media Group. During the event, panelists Hena Doba, host and news anchor at Cheddar News, and Beth Feldman, Senior Vice President of Communications for The CW Network & Nexstar Media Group, shared their diverse perspectives on how best to connect and engage with today's busy broadcast professionals, be they traditional news outlets or streaming platforms.

The Los Angeles Media Event is coming up next on May 4. For more information about Visit California’s media event programming and to get involved, reach out to Domestic Public Relations Manager Kristen Bonilla.