Fox Cities Tourism Leaders Named to Governor's Council on Tourism

Two Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau (FCCVB) staff were recently named to committees of the Governor’s Council on Tourism, which support the Wisconsin Department of Tourism in developing and enacting its 2019-2021 strategic plan. FCCVB Executive Director Pam Seidl will serve on the Meetings and Convention (M & C) Committee, and FCCVB Director of Sports Marketing Matt Ten Haken will serve on the Sports Marketing Committee.

The M & C Committee, made up of industry and tourism professionals from across the state, provides specialized knowledge and tools necessary to advance the state’s meeting and conventions sector, focusing on market-related activities, collaboration, partnership and grant funding. In the Fox Cities alone, meetings and conventions drove more than an estimated $4.3 million in direct visitor spending in the region last year.  

“The meetings & conventions market is a key driver of tourism in the Fox Cities as well as throughout Wisconsin,” Seidl said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues at the state level to raise the profile of Wisconsin as a destination for meetings and conventions.”

The Sports Marketing Committee, made up of industry and tourism professionals from across the state, provides specialized knowledge and tools necessary to advance the state’s sports marketing sector, focusing on collaboration, partnership and grant funding. In the Fox Cities alone, sporting events drove more than an estimated $6.2 million in direct visitor spending in the region last year. That number is expected to exceed $8.8 million in 2020; this is due, in part, to the addition of the Community First Champion Center, which opened in Grand Chute in November 2019 and is the Midwest’s newest premier hard court and ice indoor sports complex.  

“Wisconsin is already one of the leading states in sports tourism, and I look forward to the challenge of helping take the state to the next level,” Ten Haken said. “By increasing the promotion of Wisconsin as a destination for high-level sporting events, all Wisconsin communities, including those in the Fox Cities, will benefit.”

In addition to the M & C Committee and Sports Marketing Committee, the Governor’s Council on Tourism also has the Joint Effort Marketing (JEM) Grant Committee; Tourism Information Center (TIC) Committee; Outdoor Recreation Committee; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CEI) Committee; and Marketing Committee.

The Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau strengthens the local economy by investing in and promoting our community. In the Fox Cities, which includes 19 communities, visitor spending totaled more than $490 million in 2018. The Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates this direct spending created more than 5,750 jobs and $109 million in income for Fox Cities residents.