WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus (OACVB) held its first post-
COVID Annual Educational Conference January 25-26 in Columbus as well as their January Board
meeting. Keynote speaker for the Conference Jack Johnson, Chief Advocacy Officer of Destinations
International, presented on Destination Promotion: An Essential and Necessary Part of a Community.
The conference and luncheon, STAR Awards were presented for destination marketing and tourism
development efforts in nine different categories.
Knox County Convention and Visitors Bureau was awarded First Place in Specialty Marketing for their
collaborative work on TrailAPALOOZA 2022. “TrailAPALOOZA was an idea the Park District brought
to our team to celebrate the completion of our final corridor of our trail system and just to celebrate our
trails in general”, said Knox CVB Marketing Manager, Olivia Toth. “We gathered a great team together
to help implement this celebration and it was a success with over 200 trail users participating and
enjoying the trail that day. We’re excited to bring this event back this year, so stay tuned!”
The OACVB STAR Awards (“State Tourism Achievement Recognition”) honor outstanding efforts by
Ohio Convention and Visitor Bureaus in their work to market and promote their area destinations and to
generate overall awareness of the tourism industry. Recipients were honored for their innovation,
creativity, effectiveness and impact in travel and tourism marketing and advertising.
Convention and Visitors Bureaus are best described as destination marketing organizations and are
responsible for promoting travel and tourism product awareness to visitors. Many outstanding marketing
projects were submitted for the annual awards competition. Being recognized for a job well-done in the
promotion of travel and tourism throughout the state of Ohio is a highly valued achievement.
