Tourism Executive Visits Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG - Suzanne Fletcher, executive director of the newly formed Washington Tourism Alliance, will visit Waitsburg and Dayton on Friday afternoon.

Her visit here is part of Fletcher's tour of the greater Walla Walla area that starts with a meeting with local tourism and hospitality industry leaders at the Walla Walla Regional Airport 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. that day.

She is scheduled to meet with members of the Touchet Valley Tourism Alliance and other local business owners and government officials at 3 p.m. at the Coppei Coffee Co. on Main Street in Waitsburg.

At 4:30 p.m., she will visit Dayton-area alliance members at the Dayton Chamber of Commerce office on Main Street.

The Washington Tourism Alliance, or WTA, was established after budget cuts forced the state Legislature to close down the longtime state Department of Tourism. In early August, the alliance named Fletcher, a veteran tourism, meetings and marketing executive, as its first executive director.

Fletcher most recently served in two different marketing roles for Concur Technologies in Redmond, where she contributed to the sales and marketing strategy for the corporate travel and expenses service provider, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Forbes magazine named Fletcher one of the 25 Most Influential Women in the travel industry for 2008. From 1996 to 2008, Fletcher was director of travel and meeting management, transportation and food services for Weyerhaeuser Co.

Between 2005 and 2007, she served as president and CEO of the National Business Travel Association and, during her tenure, served as global travel industry consultant to the Boeing Co.

Many in the tourism industry see the newly formed WTA as an opportunity to strengthen and unify the effort to promote the state as a whole, Tourism Walla Walla Director Michael Davidson said.

"In the years before the State Department of Tourism was eradicated, its dwindling budget rendered it almost useless," he said. "Tourism industry leaders are buoyed by the fact that now, the industry itself holds the reigns to promoting the state."

The Walla Walla region is presented on the board of WTA by Walla Walla Valley Alliance Executive Director Duane Wollmuth, former head of the Southeast Washington Economic Development Association.

Fletcher is touring the state to visit the different tourism regions in an effort to discuss industry challenges and to learn each region's issues.

Her schedule in Waitsburg and Dayton will allow for a brief meeting, open to the public, and a walking tour.

Local tourism enthusiasts say Fletcher's visit is a great opportunity to show off what the Touchet Valley has to offer and be better connected to an organization, WTA, that promotes the entire state to travelers.

To attend the morning meeting at the airport, please RSVP to mdavidson@wallawalla.org.