CVB Update
Visit Milwaukee announced on March 3 it had closed 2025 with record-breaking sales, booking 328,659 room nights and reaching 114% of its goal, a 14.4% year-over-year increase.
The announcement was made in front of 800 guests at the Bradley Symphony Center at the organization’s annual meeting.
“Last year showed what happens when strategy and execution align,” said Peggy Williams Smith, President & CEO of Visit Milwaukee. “We’re carrying that momentum into 2026 with bigger partnerships, broader reach and a sharper national presence.”
At the meeting, Visit Milwaukee unveiled its Milwaukee Tourism Index, a new reporting framework that brings together marketing return, room-night production, and broader tourism indicators to provide a clear, ongoing measure of impact.
“There is real energy around the year ahead,” Williams Smith said. “We are hosting bigger meetings, bigger sporting events and welcoming more storytellers to Milwaukee than ever before, expanding access so more people can be part of it and holding ourselves to a higher standard of accountability. That momentum translates into jobs, investment and long-term economic strength.”
The Hawai‘i VCB announced on March 2 it has joined the Destination Think Collective, a global network of destinations committed to building a tourism industry that supports and benefits everyone in local communities, while protecting the planet and creating a resilient economy.
The Collective unites dozens of ambitious destinations worldwide, including Auckland, Banff, Copenhagen, Queenstown, and Aruba. For HVCB, membership aligns with its evolution toward what it calls a Destination Futures Enterprise, moving beyond a traditional destination marketing organization to steward Hawaiʻi as a living system, drawing on indigenous knowledge to shape visitor engagement while deliberately designing social, economic, and cultural outcomes.
“Tourism shapes how people understand the world and, as a result, what they choose to value,” said Aaron J. Salā, President & CEO of the Hawaiʻi VCB. “The willingness of destinations to redesign their tourism models around community well-being and environmental responsibility will ultimately define the next era of this industry. Hawaiʻi comes to this work grounded in indigenous knowledge systems that have long guided stewardship and reciprocity between people and place. We are stepping into this global collaboration ready to contribute what we have learned, to learn from peers doing serious work, and to help raise the standard for what tourism can and should deliver.”