Top 10 Quotes About Building Inclusive Tourism Organizations

It was a pleasure to connect with new and old friends at the New Jersey Tourism Industry Association’s (NJTIA) 2020 virtual conference. Thank you to the NJTIA team for organizing such timely and inspiring content. 

We were especially impressed with a session led by Melvin Tennant, CEO of Meet Minneapolis, on “Strategies for Building an Inclusive Tourism Organization.” In this session, Tennant led two other panelists in conversation and dove into very challenging topics and issues that we must work to address. 

In conversation with Angela Nelson, VP, Multicultural Business Development, Experience Grand Rapids and Michelle Mason, President and CEO at Association Forum and Association Forum Foundation, this session revealed strategies for industry leaders to build more inclusive teams. 

Here are a few of the top quotes and session highlights below:

On how it feels to approach the 6 month anniversary of the death of George Floyd:

What changes can you people make in their realm of influence?

What can we do to ensure people of color are prepared to compete and be considered for leadership positions?

How is this going to be a sustainable set of circumstances that will help us get to a place of real change?

For more inspiration about building diverse and inclusive teams view this open letter to tourism industry leaders published by Connect or these resources curated by Angela Nelson on Instagram. You can also read more from Melvin Tennant and his team about Meet Minneapolis' response to George Floyd's death and how the organization hopes to move forward.