All Things Travel: State's New Tourism Director
BOSTON (CBS) - Although an official announcement has not been made, Massachusetts has a new Tourism Director.
Governor Charlie Baker has named Rich Doucette of Swampscott as the new Executive Director of Travel & Tourism. He has started work in the State Transportation Building in Boston.
He will report to Jay Ash, Secretary Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development.
Doucette replaces Betsy Wall who held the position for the last seven years. In that period, Massachusetts welcomed record numbers of domestic and international visitors.
The latest estimated figures available for 2014 indicate that a record 23.5 million people visited the Commonwealth: 21.3 million were domestic travelers; 2.2 million came from other countries - 710,000 of those from Canada.
Doucette has an extensive marketing background. He organized The Boston Cup Classic Car Show on the Boston Common and headed Shoppers Marketing that assisted companies in the downtown Boston area. He has also held media sales positions.
In recent years, marketing efforts have concentrated more on digital platforms with their outside agency, Connelly Partners.
On April 7, Betsy Wall and Scott Madden Director of Strategy for the ad agency put on a joint presentation at the 2015 Ad Club of Boston travel conference. They pointed out that Massachusetts ranked behind Michigan in hits on MassVacation.com. However, Michigan has a much larger marketing budget.
The Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism is responsible for both domestic and international tourism, the Massachusetts Film and Sports marketing offices and other business development projects.
Governor Baker has indicated that a review of tax credits awarded for production of film and TV in the state is underway.
Doucette was unavailable for an interview this week. The Office of Travel & Tourism is expected to support Boston's bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. A statewide referendum to gage citizen support is expected in 2016.
Bob Weiss reports on business travel on Mondays at 5:55 a.m. on WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
