Contact: Kelly Daniel 936-560-5533
Membership & Marketing Manager
The Nacogdoches County Chamber Fourth Friday Luncheon is noon to 1 p.m., Friday, May 20 at Austin Hall, 4603 North St. with guest speaker Carl Watson, executive director of the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“Tourism is a great economic engine for Nacogdoches, because not only does it put heads in beds, it has a ripple effect throughout the community,” Watson said. “We are blessed with a well-known destination and are working hard to make Nacogdoches an even greater premier destination than it already is.”
Watson comes to Nacogdoches with 40 years of hospitality experience. For close to 25 years he was in senior positions in the hotel industry, serving as general manager of properties throughout the U.S.A. and as managing partner of a scuba diving resort for several years in the Bahamas. For 12 years he worked in executive positions with chambers of commerce in Southeast Florida, primarily focusing on destination marketing. During his tenure as president of the Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Chamber of Commerce he was instrumental in increasing walk-in traffic to their small welcome center from 6,000 visitors per year to nearly 40,000 with the addition of welcome center signs on a major interstate highway and elsewhere. As director of the Cleburne, TX Chamber of Commerce Convention and Visitors Bureau for six years he oversaw the addition of a new tourism website and visitors guide.
Prior to moving to Nacogdoches in September 2015, Watson was executive director of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority, which was responsible for the destination marketing of five cities in Volusia County, just south of Daytona Beach, FL.
Attendee RSVPs are requested by noon, Wednesday, May 18, and lunch is $16. Find the secure “pay online” option in Hot News at nacogdoches.org or call (936) 560-5533.
All attending may enter the $50 drawing, sponsored by Commercial Bank of Texas. All Chamber members are entered in a $250 drawing, sponsored by Axley & Rode, but you must be present to win.
