Tourism Development & Sales Executive

POSITION TYPE: Salary, Exempt JOB
SUMMARY: The Tourism Development & Sales Executive develops and secures tourism business that generates overnight visitation and visitor spending for Cape Girardeau. The position manages assigned markets and prospects through the full sales cycle, builds strategic industry relationships, develops business opportunities, and represents Visit Cape in regional, state, and national tourism markets. The position exercises independent judgment in identifying opportunities, developing sales strategies, and evaluating business based on destination fit and economic impact.

This is a non-supervisory, individual-contributor sales position; it does not set overall destination strategy or direct the work or priorities of the Visit Cape division.
MAJOR DUTIES:

• Develops and executes an annual sales action plan that carries out the sales goals and priorities established by the Visit Cape Manager, consistent with destination capacity and the approved budget.
• Develops and executes targeted business-development strategies for assigned tourism market segments, including meetings and conventions, sports tourism, group travel, motor coach, reunions, weddings, and other visitor-generating markets.
• Conducts ongoing market research to identify emerging tourism trends, competitive destinations, potential client markets, and opportunities for increased visitation, overnight stays, and visitor spending.
• Maintains an active prospecting program and develops a strategic prospect pipeline to identify and cultivate organizations, groups, events, and travel markets based on market potential, destination fit, anticipated room nights, visitor spending, and likelihood of conversion.
• Identifies and cultivates new sources of tourism business through independent research, industry intelligence, referrals, professional networks, strategic outreach, and established industry relationships.
• Owns and manages the full business-development lifecycle for assigned tourism opportunities, from market identification and prospecting through solicitation, proposal development, negotiation, booking, partner coordination, post-event evaluation, and identification of repeat or expanded business opportunities.
• Conducts proactive sales outreach through telephone calls, email, sales appointments, networking, sales missions, industry events, and other appropriate business-development activities.
• Responds to qualified requests for proposals and develops bids, proposals, presentations, destination materials, group packages, itineraries, and other customized sales materials in collaboration with hotels, venues, attractions, restaurants, City departments, and tourism partners.
• Coordinates partner availability, pricing, capacity, destination information, and facility connections necessary to develop competitive proposals and connect prospective clients with local suppliers.
• Coordinates and conducts client site inspections, familiarization tours, sales presentations, destination visits, and other activities designed to showcase Cape Girardeau's tourism assets and secure business.
• Develops an annual conference and trade-show attendance plan based on anticipated business-development value; represents Visit Cape at appropriate tourism, travel-trade, group-tour, meetings, conventions, sports, and destination-marketing conferences and trade shows; and secures advance appointments with qualified prospects whenever practical.
• Represents Visit Cape professionally in regional, state, and national business-development settings and develops relationships that strengthen the City's competitive position within targeted tourism markets.
• Develops and maintains relationships with regional, state, and national tourism and industry organizations and shares relevant market intelligence, emerging trends, and business opportunities with the Visit Cape Manager.
• Completes timely post-conference and post-sales follow-up; evaluates sales missions, conferences, trade shows, and other business-development activities based on qualified leads, relationships developed, opportunities generated, room nights, visitor spending, and measurable business potential.
• Develops strategies to increase the value and economic impact of recruited tourism business, including evaluating opportunities based on anticipated room nights, visitor spending, destination fit, economic impact, business potential, and likelihood of conversion. Develops proposals and presentations promoting Cape Girardeau as a…