Candace Carr Strauss to advocate for state’s tourism
VISIT BIG SKY
Tourism is Montana’s
second largest industry and one of its local champions, Candace Carr Strauss, CEO
of Visit Big Sky and the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, has been appointed to
serve as its voice on the national level as director at-large of the U.S.
Travel Association Board of Directors on Feb. 21. The U.S. Travel Association, an
influential industry group, works to grow travel to and within the United
States. The association advocates on behalf of businesses and destinations
across the country, which together generate $2.4 trillion in economic output
annually while supporting 15.6 million American jobs.
Strauss took the helm
as CEO of Visit Big Sky and the Big Sky Chamber in February 2017 and since
then, Big Sky has risen to become the second largest hotel bed tax generator in
the state behind Billings, Montana’s largest city. As a newly appointed U.S.
Travel Association board member, Strauss joins her former colleague Elliott
Ferguson, who she worked with at Destination DC, in the nation’s capital.
Ferguson is now national chair of the U.S. Travel Association.
“I look forward to working with Elliott
[Ferguson] and the other directors to strengthen the position of the U.S. as a
premiere international travel destination,” Strauss said. “It will be an honor
to serve the industry by helping to grow travel champions and
advocating for pro-travel legislation needed to fuel the economic engine that
is the #PowerofTravel,” said Strauss, who heads to Washington D.C.
on April 10 to participate in the association’s “Destination Capitol Hill” and her first board meeting.
The board includes representatives from
Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Mississippi, Maryland, Maine, New York, Oklahoma and
more.
“Candace does an
amazing job of bringing attention to the tourism industry’s significant
economic impact on the state’s economy,” said Dax Schieffer, director for
Voices of Montana Tourism. “What an opportunity for her powerful voice of
Montana tourism to contribute to furthering the conversation happening on a
national level.”
The U.S. Travel
Association is a champion for public lands and national parks, evidenced by its
support of the Land and Water Conservation Act recently passed by both chambers
of Congress. The association is currently urging Congress to pass the Restore
Our Parks Act, which addresses the $12 billion maintenance backlog. The backlog
is a common topic of conversation in Montana, with Glacier National Park and
its three entrances to Yellowstone National Park, which helped attract the
state’s 12.5 million non-resident visitors in 2017.
