Tourism Specialist

About Visit The Woodlands

The Woodlands is a place designed for great experiences - from beautiful nature to top-tier amenities, globally-ranked venues to hidden gems, our goal at Visit The Woodlands is ensuring the visitor experience is seamless. An energetic and innovative 501 (c) (6) organization, The Woodlands Convention and Visitors Bureau (dba: Visit The Woodlands) is the official destination management and marketing organization for The Woodlands, Texas. Our primary purpose is to drive demand for both hotel and retail tax collections to promote economic growth and improve quality of life for The Woodlands. We work with the community to create and maintain productive public and private partnerships while serving as a reliable and credible source for The Woodlands tourism industry.

Position Objectives

The Tourism Specialist will help solidify Visit The Woodlands standing as the official voice of tourism in The Woodlands through a combination of creative programs designed to support local hospitality partners and drive hotel tax collections. This role will report into the Assistant Director, collaborate closely with Visit The Woodlands Marketing Manger, and cultivate strategic partnerships along with leisure tourism initiatives to create economic impact for The Woodlands. Sample responsibilities include:

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

The Tourism Specialist works in conjunction with and under the direction of the Assistant Director to assist with the following initiatives for Visit The Woodlands:

• Serve as an ambassador between the CVB and local hospitality businesses in The Woodlands
• Create leisure travel hotel packages, discounts and itineraries around annual events, seasonal holidays, programs and other opportunities.
• Maintain a database of hospitality businesses within The Woodlands via the TWCVBs Customer Relationship Management system, (Simpleview CRM).
• Source, add and maintain special offers into Simpleview CRM for use in sales, tourism and marketing campaigns and initiatives.
• Work with the Assistant Director to develop and execute National Travel and Tourism Week marketing campaign and activities, and provide reporting on impact.
• Serve as Visitor Services liaison between Visit The Woodlands and Market Street-The Woodlands, tracking monthly visitor count and creating collaborative programs to help further the partnership.
• Set up and attend or find qualified volunteers for TWCVB booth at Visit The Woodlands sponsored events in The Woodlands such as IRONMAN Texas, The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival or other similar events.
• Work with the Assistant Director to develop and executive a Hospitality Training Program for hospitality partners within The Woodlands.
• Track and input all leisure market production into Simpleview CRM. This includes working with the hotels to create rate codes to help track the impact of leisure events and shows at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Follow up will include gathering leisure event hotel hotel utilization and pickup information as available.
• Provide promotional campaign support, particularly in the areas of customer service, research, data collection, analysis, and public outreach.
• Provide economic impact reporting on all leisure events (LPGA Chevron Championship, Ironman, The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival, Pavilion Concerts, and more) through Destinations International EIC Reporting platform and track impact within CRM.
• Provide high level of customer service to visitors by answering questions and providing information at local events or tradeshows, via social media and phone calls.
• Use Simpleview CRM to import, maintain & fulfill visitor guide lead requests from various sources including paid leisure advertising placements, website, leisure market tradeshows, TWCVB sponsored events and special activations.
• Develop regular partner communications via email, in-person meetings and other TWCVB functions when assigned.
• Participate in industry-related educational opportunities via webinar, colleague mentoring, conferences and/or other training when applicable.
• Other administrative duties as required.
  
  

Supervisory Responsibilities: This job has no supervisory responsibilities.

Competency: To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

Oral Communication - Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; Listen and gets clarification; Responds well to questions; Demonstrates group presentation skills; Participates in meetings.

Written Communication - Writes clearly and informatively; Edits work for spelling and grammar; Varies writing style to meet needs; Presents numerical data effectively; Able to read and interpret written information.

Minimum Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education: Bachelor's degree (B. A.) from four-year College or University.

Experience: Over one year up to and including three years related experience and/or training especially in the travel and tourism industry; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Experience in marketing and customer relations is essential.

Licenses And Certifications

• Must possess a Texas driver’s license within the first ninety (90) days of employment and meet the driver safety policy requirements.
• Tourism, marketing or communications related certifications a plus
  
  

Computer Skills: The preferred candidate for this position has experience in the following:

• Microsoft Office
• Experience in graphic design elements preferred
• Social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and others
• Simpleview Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or other CRM database system
• Simpleview Content Management System (CMS) or other CMS platform
• Constant Contact or other email marketing service
• Muck Rack, Meltwater or other media monitoring service
  
  

The Woodlands Township is an Equal Opportunity Employer and values diversity at all levels of its workforce