Welcome to The Tourism Power List for December! The Power List features the Top 10 professionals in the tourism industry! You can view the previous Power Lists for the Tourism and Hospitality industry by clicking here.

Sponsorship options are now available for The Tourism Power List! If you want to sponsor this month’s list, click here for prices and info on sponsorship levels.

If you want to be eligible for The Power List, do this:

1 – Follow me on Twitter. Make sure you have your position and the technology company you work for listed in your profile.

2 – If you want to nominate someone else to be on the Power List, tweet me their username on Twitter and I will be happy to check them out.

 

Here’s where you can find all the candidates for The Tourism Power List. If you’re on that list, you are eligible for the Power List.

Here is the Tourism Power List for December.  There will be a number after their name in parentheses that shows the change in their score this month versus last:

1 – Kathryn Shea Duncan, Sr Director of Social Media, Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 95(+1). The Queen stays on top! Congrats to Kathryn for holding down the top position yet AGAIN. And this really is a testament to how well Kathryn uses Twitter/X to amplify and promote events and happenings in the Lake Charles and surrounding areas. The competition at the top of the Power List is very strong, and Kathryn continues to lead the pack. Her volume of tweets if off the charts, but it isn’t quite overwhelming. She shares a mix of media: Articles, podcasts, images, videos, she has it all, and all focused on the Lake Charles and surrounding areas. Well done, once again!

2 – Jim Hagen, Sec of Tourism for South Dakota, Power List Score – 93 (-). Jim keeps cranking out solid month after solid month.  Good posting volume, good mix, he does a great job of highlighting South Dakota and why you should want to travel there. The amount of talented tourism pros at the top of the Power List is just insane. Jim, congrats on another stellar month, I have no doubt an even bigger 2024 is in store for you!

3 – Ben Berthelot, Lafayette Travel CEO, Power List Score – 92 (-). Ben just keeps getting better. Good volume, love how he adds a little bit of personal view on most content he shares. Jim and Kathryn, if Ben has another big month like this in December, I think January’s Power List could be in for a change at the top. Good luck guys, and well done Ben!

4 – Leisha Elliott, Executive Director, Marion Co, WV CVB, Power List Score – 88(-3). So this is where comparisons hurt Leisha’s score a bit.  Leisha posts a lot of content, but 100% of it are reposts. It helps to have some variety and add in some personal takes on the content you share. It can simply be a sentence or two, but it helps the rest of us understand why your content is worthy of our attention.  Kathryn, Ben and Jim all do this, and if Leisha could start working in some personal additions to the content she shares, her score would quickly jump back up to the 90s. Still, 88 is a very solid score!

5 – Chris Landry, CEO Louisiana Travel Assoc., Power List Score – 85 (+2). Another good month for Chris. His posting volume isn’t as frequent as the Top 4, but it’s still pretty good. He has a nice mix of content, works in some personal comments as well. Volume is really the only difference why his score wasn’t even higher.  Keep it going, Chris.

6 – Kyle Edmiston, President/CEO of Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 84 (-1). Not a bad month for Kyle, posting was a bit inconsistent. But honestly, the competition on this Power List is so strong, the slightest hiccup can cause a score drop, and that’s the case here. No worries, it will be easy to see a bounce-back month for Kyle soon!

7 – Adriana Cruz, Executive Director, Texas Economic Development & Tourism, Office of Gov Greg Abbott, Power List Score – 80.(-1) Volume of content falls a bit for the rest of this Power List. Adriana’s content is always focused more on economic development in Texas than tourism. If Adriana can increase her posting volume and have more of a focus on attractions and destinations in Texas, her score could easily jump 5-10 points.

8 – Jessica Blankenship, Exec Dir of KY Music HOF, Rockcastle Co Tourism, Power List Score – 77 (-2). A fairly quiet month for Jessica. Of all the tourism pros in the Power List, I think Jessica is the one I want to see more content from the most.  I would love to see more content on the music and country music scene in Kentucky, as well as info on the state as a whole. I know she wears many hats, but so do many members of the Tourism Power List.

9 – Diana Plazas,CSMO Caribbean & Latin America at Marriott International, Power List Score – 75. (-2) Diana’s profile is like that scene in a horror movie, “It’s quiet…too quiet!”  I would love to see more content as she works in an adjacent industry (hospitality). Let’s hope we see more activity on Twitter/X from this talented tourism pro in 2024!

10 – Kari Eakins, Dir of Strategy and Business for the Wyoming Office of Tourism, Power List Score – 72 (-).   Kari does just enough to stay in the Power List for a second week.  Congrats Kari, I hope you can build on that next month and go even higher!

 

So that’s it for the final Power List for Tourism for 2023. I love this group, it’s so strong, especially at the top.  A round of applause for all of you for shining a light on the attractions and destinations in your area! I hope each of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Please follow the people that made this list, you can click on their name and it will take you to their Twitter profile so you can follow them. If you would like to nominate yourself or a peer for inclusion in The Tourism Power List, please follow me on Twitter, and make sure you have your position and the company you work for clearly listed in your Twitter profile. That’s it! All candidates for the Power List are on this list.

Would you like to sponsor The Power List for Tourism? Here’s information on available options as well as prices.

Welcome to The Tourism Power List for November! The Power List features the Top 10 professionals in the tourism industry! You can view October’s Power List for the Tourism and Hospitality industries by clicking here.

Sponsorship options are now available for The Tourism Power List! If you want to sponsor this month’s list, click here for prices and info on sponsorship levels.

If you want to be eligible for The Power List, do this:

1 – Follow me on Twitter. Make sure you have your position and the technology company you work for listed in your profile.

2 – If you want to nominate someone else to be on the Power List, tweet me their username on Twitter and I will be happy to check them out.

 

Here’s where you can find all the candidates for The Tourism Power List. If you’re on that list, you are eligible for the Power List.

So before we jump into the Power List for November, a couple of takeaways:

1 – Consistency counts. I had to make a couple of close calls on ranking some of the members of the Power List. When it comes to frequency of posting, I tend to look at body of work moreso than the last month.  We now have been tracking the Power List for Tourism for a few months now, so it’s harder to have a big month and leap up in the rankings. That was possible at first, but now it’s more about your body of work and that will be even more important moving forward.

2 – Still seeing a lot of reposting of tweets versus sharing tweets with a quick explanation of why it’s interesting. Adding personal thoughts on content you share is a great way to increase engagement AND build thought leadership.

Here is the Tourism Power List for November.  There will be a number after their name in parentheses that shows the change in their score this month versus last:

1 – Kathryn Shea Duncan, Sr Director of Social Media, Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 94(-). Kathryn’s hot streak at #1 in the Power List continues, but it was super close this month.  Kathryn had a ton of tweets again this month, but all reposts. Hopefully she can slip in a few thoughts on her tweets next month. But her grip on the top spot lives on, congrats Kathryn!

2 – Jim Hagen, Sec of Tourism for South Dakota, Power List Score – 93 (+1). Jim just keeps inching toward the top of the Power List. His volume isn’t as high as some of the other members of the Power List, but Jim always does a great job of sharing some quick thoughts with tweets that he shares.  That is always appreciated, and if he has another great month in December, it could lead to a new #1! We’ll have to see what happens…

3 – Ben Berthelot, Lafayette Travel CEO, Power List Score – 92 (+4). Banger of a month for Ben! Good volume of content, and he does a great job of mixing in some quick comments and takeaways. This is the second month of being ranked in the Power List for Ben, so body of work dinged him a bit.  If Ben can put together a couple more months like the last one, he could be flirting with the top spot.

4 – Leisha Elliott, Executive Director, Marion Co, WV CVB, Power List Score – 91(-). Very solid month for Leisha, although all her content was reposts. Still, she had great variety, and even as reposts, her content does a great job of highlighting attractions and events in the Marion Co area.

5 – Kyle Edmiston, President/CEO of Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 85 (-4). A quiet month for Kyle, especially compared to the rest of the Top 5. It happens, this is a busy time of the year, let’s see what next month has in store for him.

6 – Chris Landry, CEO Louisiana Travel Assoc., Power List Score – 83 (+10). Very nice sophomore effort from Chris.  His volume of tweets was up, and he had a great mix and some personal opinions added to the content he shared.  I believe a 10-point jump is the biggest one month gain in ANY Power List so far, not just for Tourism.  Nice going, Chris!

7 – Adriana Cruz, Executive Director, Texas Economic Development & Tourism, Office of Gov Greg Abbott, Power List Score – 81.(-1) Once again, a bit of a struggle with where to rank Adriana. Decent volume of tweets, all reposts. A bit more focus on destinations and attractions and some original content would jump her score way up.

8 – Jessica Blankenship, Exec Dir of KY Music HOF, Rockcastle Co Tourism, Power List Score – 79 (-). Volume of content shared will be a bit of an issue for the last three spots of the Power List. Jessica wears multiple hats, as do a couple other members of the Power List. But both her jobs are so interesting and content around either or both jobs would do very well for her. Let’s hope the volume improves a bit throughout the rest of the year.

9 – Diana Plazas,CSMO Caribbean & Latin America at Marriott International, Power List Score – 77. (-3) Another quiet month for Diana. Let’s see what December brings!

10 – Kari Eakins, Dir of Strategy and Business for the Wyoming Office of Tourism, Power List Score – 72.   New entry alert! Congrats to Kari for sneaking in the Power List at the last spot. There is a noticeable decrease in number of tweets among the last few members of the Power List, so if Kari can increase her volume of tweets in December, she could jump of 2-3 spots easily.  Congrats Kari!

 

So that’s it for our 3rd Power List for Tourism! We will close out 2023 next month with the final edition of the Power List for the year.

Please follow the people that made this list, you can click on their name and it will take you to their Twitter profile so you can follow them. If you would like to nominate yourself or a peer for inclusion in The Toursm Power List, please follow me on Twitter, and make sure you have your position and the company you work for clearly listed in your Twitter profile. That’s it! All candidates for the Power List are on this list.

Would you like to sponsor The Power List for Tourism? Here’s information on available options as well as prices.

Welcome to The Tourism Power List for October! The Power List features the Top 10 professionals in the tourism industry! You can view September’s Power List for the Tourism and Hospitality industries by clicking here.

Sponsorship options are now available for The Tourism Power List! If you want to sponsor this month’s list, click here for prices and info on sponsorship levels.

If you want to be eligible for The Power List, do this:

1 – Follow me on Twitter. Make sure you have your position and the technology company you work for listed in your profile.

2 – If you want to nominate someone else to be on the Power List, tweet me their username on Twitter and I will be happy to check them out.

 

Here’s where you can find all the candidates for The Tourism Power List. If you’re on that list, you are eligible for the Power List.

So before we jump into the Power List for October, a couple of takeaways:

1 – The tourism pros, especially those in the Top 5 of the Power List, are competing against themselves as much as they are the rest of the list. Sometimes if I am torn on where to rank two pros, it can simply come down to activity over the last month. This is a very strong group, but that also creates more competition and means everyone has to be on their A game each month.

2 – I see a lot of reposting of content versus sharing content with an explanation of why it’s interesting. I think part of this is due to experience, the more experienced tourism pros seem more likely to share an original take on the content they are sharing, while their less experienced peers seem more likely to share and move on.

3 – We have three new entries this month! I feel like this makes a strong group even better!

 

Here is the Tourism Power List for October.  There will be a number after their name in parentheses that shows the change in their score this month versus last:

1 – Kathryn Shea Duncan, Sr Director of Social Media, Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 94(-). Another solid month for Kathryn, she is a content machine! A good mix of different types of content; Articles, pictures, podcasts, all focused on the Lake Charles and surrounding areas of Louisiana. She did go a bit heavy on reposts this month, but she also mixed in more tweets with her original content than most tourism pros put out in several months. Well done, Kathryn, you again lead the pack!

2 – Jim Hagen, Sec of Tourism for South Dakota, Power List Score – 92 (+1). Jim had a very good month.  His volume of tweets was up, and although the majority were reposts, he did include his original take on several of the tweets that he reshared. This was honestly the difference between Jim being 2nd or 3rd on this list. Well done, Jim.  Keep it going!

3 – Leisha Elliott, Executive Director, Marion Co, WV CVB, Power List Score – 91(-2). A solid month for Leisha. It felt like her content output dipped slightly, but it was still really good. Almost all of her content was resposts, but it does a great job of helping to promote the Marion County area of West Virginia.

4 – Kyle Edmiston, President/CEO of Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 89(-). Status quo this month for Kyle, and that’s not a bad thing. His volume of tweets drops versus the Top 3, but he also does a better job of adding his original take on the content he shares. This really does help increase engagement, especially replies. This of it as if you are adding ‘This is why I think this article/picture/podcast/video is worth your attention.”

5 – Ben Berthelot, Lafayette Travel CEO, Power List Score – 88. New entry alert! Congrats to Ben for joining the Tourism Power List this month AND an impressive debut at #5 in a very strong group! Ben has a lot of content, and a good mix promoting the Lafayette, Louisiana area. Sports, music, nightlife, food, and festivals. Solid mix of content, a lot of it, and a few original takes sprinkled in.  Nice job, Ben!

6 – Adriana Cruz, Executive Director, Texas Economic Development & Tourism, Office of Gov Greg Abbott, Power List Score – 82.(+2) I again struggled a bit with where to rank Adriana’s profile this month. Adriana wears multiple hats, and much of her content is focused on  economic development news in Texas, as well as coverage of what Texas Gov Greg Abbott is up to. She does post a lot of content, but I would still like to see a little more content devoted to actual tourism in Texas.

7 – Diana Plazas,CSMO Caribbean & Latin America at Marriott International, Power List Score – 80. (-3) There is a noticeable decrease in posting volume for the last 7 spots on this list, starting with Diana. I enjoy her content and the mix, I hope to see more of it next month!

8 – Jessica Blankenship, Exec Dir of KY Music HOF, Rockcastle Co Tourism, Power List Score – 79. New entrant alert! Congrats to Jessica for joining the Power List! Jessica is like a few others on this list, she wears multiple hats. The majority of her content is focused on music events and functions associated with the KY Music HOF. So this content does work from a tourism angle as well. Congrats on joining the list, Jessica!

9 – Chris Landry, CEO Louisiana Travel Assoc., Power List Score – 73. New entrant alert! Congrats to Chris for joining the Power List this month. Chris’ frequency is a bit lot compared to the other members of the list. Hopefully that will increase as we move forward, and his score will follow I am sure.

10 – Robin Bloom, Director of Content, Philadelphia CVB, Power List Score – 70 (-3).   A quiet month for Robin, I hope that changes soon.

 

So there’s the FIRST update to our Power List for Tourism! And THREE new entrants, congrats again to Ben, Jessica and Chris!

Please follow the people that made this list, you can click on their name and it will take you to their Twitter profile so you can follow them. If you would like to nominate yourself or a peer for inclusion in The Toursm Power List, please follow me on Twitter, and make sure you have your position and the company you work for clearly listed in your Twitter profile. That’s it! All candidates for the Power List are on this list.

Would you like to sponsor The Power List for Retail? Here’s information on available options as well as prices.

Welcome to The Tourism Power List for September! This is my list of the Power accounts on Twitter for the tourism industry. The Power List will be updated once a month.

Sponsorship options are now available for The Tourism Power List! If you want to sponsor this month’s list, click here for prices and info on sponsorship levels.

There’s two main reasons why I decided to do The Power List:

1 – I wanted to help give exposure to people who are doing a good job of using Twitter in a corporate environment. It’s damn hard to build a following and even any semblance of traction on social media for an account while also doing your core job functions. I wanted to build out The Power List as a platform to help give more exposure to others, and make it just a little easier for them to build a following and engagement around their content.

2 – I wanted to highlight the best use of Twitter, and use that as a way to show others how to improve their own use of Twitter. The Power List will become a way to showcase the best of the best, and also show all of us how to learn from the best of the best and improve our own efforts.

 

If you want to be eligible for The Power List, do this:

1 – Follow me on Twitter. Make sure you have your position and the technology company you work for listed in your profile.

2 – If you want to nominate someone else to be on the Power List, tweet me their username on Twitter and I will be happy to check them out.

 

Here’s where you can find all the candidates for The Tourism Power List. If you’re on that list, you are eligible for the Power List.

The Power List will rank the Top 10 Power users on Twitter. That number may expand past a Top 10 as the candidate pool becomes larger.  In fact I hope it does.

How is the Power List ranked?  How do I get to be #1?

I’ve been working with corporate teams to help them leverage Twitter as a communications tool for about 15 years now. So a lot of the Power List rankings is simply based on my experience working with people in a corporate setting and understanding what works and what doesn’t.

In short, there are two main consideration buckets I have when I rank the Power List:

1 – Posting frequency. I need to see enough content on your Twitter feed to see that you are making an effort to use Twitter to communicate with others. You don’t have to tweet every day, but if your last tweet is from December of 2022, you won’t be on the Power List.

2 – Original content. What I mean by that is I want to see content that’s written in your own unique voice. I get that working in a corporate environment comes with certain ‘challenges’ in regards to the tone and voice of your content. But that doesn’t mean that you should simply use your Twitter feed to repost your company’s press releases. Go behind the scenes, give us a sense of what your daily work day is like. One of the thoughts I should have when reading your Twitter feed is ‘Wow, that looks like a cool job, I wouldn’t mind working there!’

 

Before I get to the first Power List for the Tourism/Hospitality sector, I wanted to share some general takeaways on what I learned from spending a LOT of time the past few weeks looking at Twitter profiles in the space.

1 – This is the Power List I was most looking forward to. I have such fondness for the tourism space, I love how passionate the people in this space are for the work they do. I also have always loved how travel allows us all to create lifetime memories. Travel and experiences is the ONE thing you actually CAN spend money on, that buys you happiness. As proven by science.

2 – The list of candidates for The Tourism Power List is easily the strongest of any industry I’ve looked at so far. As a result, you’re going to see higher scores for this group, and deservedly so. This group is outstanding.

3 – With a few noticeable exceptions, this group is just as active on Twitter as it is on LinkedIn. I’ve spoken at many tourism and Governor’s conferences over the years, and I did see a few of my tourism contacts were no longer active on Twitter. But many of them still are.

 

The Tourism Power List for September:

1 – Kathryn Shea Duncan, Sr Director of Social Media, Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 94. So Kathryn started her current position via promotion last month. To say that she has hit the ground running is an understatement. I think she’s left more tweets in the last week than I have this year. And what’s amazing is, it’s all good content! Kathryn has an insane mix of content that she shares: Podcast episodes, articles, videos, images, her own personal accounts of events. All related to the Lake Charles area of Louisiana. She does an amazing job of leveraging Twitter as a channel to promote the Lake Charles area.  Which is exactly what she should be doing. Just an amazing job, Kathryn. Her score of 94 gives her the highest score of any Power List member, and I’m grading her too low if anything. Kathryn has shared an insane amount of content over the last week or so, I will be curious to see if she can keep up this pace.  If she can continue to share content at her current rate and continue share GOOD content at her current rate, her score will soon top 95, and may even flirt with 100.

2 – Leisha Elliott, Executive Director, Marion Co, WV CVB, Power List Score – 93. Leisha’s account is amazing. I honestly had to go back and forth between ranking Leisha first or second. Her volume of content isn’t as off the charts as Kathryn’s is, but Leisha has been tweeting every day or two consistently for the entire year. And it’s wonderful content, she makes you want to visit Marion County, WV immediately. A job very well, done, Leisha!

3 – Jim Hagen, Sec of Tourism for South Dakota, Power List Score – 91. Jim has another solid Twitter account.  Excellent frequency, excellent diversity of content, all positioned to make you want to visit South Dakota. And Jim, I love the updates on the Crazy Horse Memorial! I would like to see a few more updates with your own personal take or advice on the news and information you are sharing about the Mount Rushmore state. But that’s a minor quibble.

4 – Kyle Edmiston, President/CEO of Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 89. Kyle’s account sees a noticeable drop in frequency versus the Top 3 spots.  But Kyle still tweets on a very regular basis. However, Kyle does one thing with his tweets that I really don’t see anyone else on this list doing as well:  He is sharing his own personal opinions on the tourism content he is sharing AND he is sharing content about his team at the Lake Charles CVB, which I love. And he’s Kathryn’s boss, so that speaks to her performance as Director of SM for the Lake Charles CVB as well! Nice job Kyle!

5 – Diana Plazas,CSMO Caribbean & Latin America at Marriott International, Power List Score – 83. The frequency for Diana is lower than the Top 4, but she still consistently posts content on Twitter. It’s a bit different because Diana is posting content associated with Marriott, it’s properties and events and destinations that the hotel partners with. I enjoy Diana’s content, I do think she will need to post a bit more often to stay competitive with this group.  That’s not really a knock on her, it’s more a compliment to how well this group is doing.

6 – Kim Sabow, President and CEO, Arizona Lodging and Tourism Assoc, Power List Score – 81. So I struggled a bit with where to rank Kim’s profile. Her content is focused on what’s happening in the state of Arizona, but mostly at the governmental level. She has some very unique content in that she covers events that she’s participating in as an attendee and speaker, as well as interviews and interactions she and her assoc has with key politicians in her state. Her Twitter feed is a bit heavy on PR content at times, but it’s unique enough to stand out, even from this group.

7 – Adriana Cruz, Executive Director, Texas Economic Development & Tourism, Office of Gov Greg Abbott, Power List Score – 80. Adriana has another profile that I struggled a bit with how to rank it. She has solid frequency and decent content that is almost completely focused on economic development news in Texas, as well as coverage of what Texas Gov Greg Abbott is up to. I would like to see a little more content devoted to actual tourism in Texas.

8 – Becky Nave, Director of Destination Development at Virginia Tourism Corp, Power List Score – 74. A big drop in frequency in the last 3 spots. If Becky could up her content output and make that content be focused on travel in the Bristol, VA area and surrounding, it would greatly help her score.

9 – Robin Bloom, Director of Content, Philadelphia CVB, Power List Score – 73.   Robin has decent content, I would just like to see a lot more.  She has posted a bit more over the last month, so hopefully this is the start of a positive trend.

10 – Edie Emery, Sr Director of Publicity, Nashville CVB, Power List Score – 71. Edie shares good content, just not very often. If she could post at least weekly about events happening in and around Nashville, her score would likely jump 10 points or more.

 

So there’s the first Tourism Power List, and I must say, it’s a damn fine group.  Next week I’ll debut the Restaurant Power List, but so far, my tourism and travel pros are in a class by themselves.

Please follow the people that made this list, you can click on their name and it will take you to their Twitter profile so you can follow them. If you would like to nominate yourself or a peer for inclusion in The Toursm Power List, please follow me on Twitter, and make sure you have your position and the company you work for clearly listed in your Twitter profile. That’s it! All candidates for the Power List are on this list.

Would you like to sponsor The Power List for Retail? Here’s information on available options as well as prices.