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Governor Henry McMaster headlines the annual South Carolina Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Travel scheduled for Feb. 19-21 at the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort and Spa. The conference is the largest annual gathering of tourism leaders and professionals to discuss trends in marketing, customer service and communications.  The conference is coordinated by the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism.

Gov. McMaster will deliver remarks at the awards ceremony at noon on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at which time he’ll present the Hospitality Employee of the Year award, the Bundy Cup award for rural tourism promotion and the Governor’s Cup for the most outstanding tourism initiative in South Carolina for the year.

Another highlight of the conference will be an update on the state of tourism in South Carolina and SCPRT’s strategy to continue its upward trend, to be delivered by SCPRT Director Duane Parrish at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

The conference opens up the afternoon of Monday, Feb. 19, with a general session on Airbnb and the future of travel led by South Carolina native Mindy Taylor, who works in Airbnb’s Home Team and ProHost operations. Later that day, a panel discussion featuring current and past South Carolina Chef Ambassadors will explore the Changing Role of Culinary Tourism.

On Tuesday, Feb. 20, New York Times Best-Selling author and business strategist Jay Baer will lead a general session on transforming customers to advocates. Breakout sessions later that morning will focus on multicultural tourism and the evolution of customer service.

Registration is $425 and can be found here. For more information on the conference, visit www.SCGovCon.com.

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