Wednesday, May 22
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Breakout II 

Dark Tourism: Dark Magic or Tourism Boom?

Your tourism angle is death and tragedy — now what do you do? Travel Weekly describes this as a morbid, voyeuristic and fundamental human urge, but visitors often feel a desire to see the aftermath of disaster and destruction when they travel. The result is an increasingly common and popular form of travel — dark tourism. Learn how to capitalize, but not exploit, from those that have become centerpieces of this trend, and become a major stop on every traveler’s agenda.
                             

   
Kelly Schulz,
Vice President, Communications and Public Relations, New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau		Kate Fox,
Executive Director, Destination Salem		Andy Hollinger,
Director, Communications, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  
            

Additional Speaker Information
 
Kelly Schulz is vice president, communications and public relations at New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. A New Orleans native, Kelly returned to her hometown in 2006 to join the CVB team which was rebuilding New Orleans’ five-billion-dollar tourism industry in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her team has managed media relations for the five anniversaries of Hurricane Katrina as well as the BP oil spill. Under Kelly’s leadership, the New Orleans CVB has received 16 international awards for best practices in crisis management from the Public Relations Society of America  (PRSA) and other organizations. In 2010, she was named one of HSMAI’s “Top 25 Minds” in Sales and Marketing. Connect with Kelly on Twitter.
 
Kate Fox is executive director at Destination Salem. She oversees the destination marketing efforts for the dynamic city of Salem and its many attributes, including the Salem Witch Trials history, Haunted Happenings festival, maritime heritage, literary connections, arts and culture. Kate has presented sessions on heritage tourism, product development, audience cultivation, and social media at the North of Boston Tourism Summit (2010), the national tourism conference of Failte Ireland in Dublin (2008), the International Heritage Development Conference (2007, 2005), and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Annual Conference (2006). She holds a B.A. from William Smith College, and lives north of Boston with her husband and two sons. Connect with Kate on Twitter.
 
Andy Hollinger is director, communications at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.