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Media alert: Samantha Brown and brand rollout highlight Tourism Outlook Annual Meeting, Nov. 9

November 4, 2021

What: Join the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau (VCB) at the Marriott Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa to kick off the 2021-22 tourism season with special guest speaker Samantha Brown, host of the Emmy Award-winning travel series Samantha Brown’s Places to Love.

There’s more: Get a first look at the VCB’s new branding strategynew marketing campaignnew website and new visitor guide.

Also, the annual Junonia Award will be presented to an individual who positively impacts Lee County’s tourism community. The award is named for the junonia, a treasured shell known for its rarity and exceptional quality.

Tourism Outlook Annual Meeting Agenda
9:30 a.m.: Registration and networking, Palms Ballroom pre-function area
10:15 a.m.: Program begins, Palms Ballroom
11:30 a.m.: Lunch
Noon: Samantha Brown, keynote speaker
1 p.m.: Adjourn

Where: Marriott Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa, 17260 Harbour Pointe Drive, Fort Myers

Of note: The November Tourist Development Council meeting will be held in advance of the Tourism Outlook Annual Meeting at 9 a.m. in the Gardens Ballroom of the hotel.

About Samantha Brown: Samantha Brown is a two-time, Emmy Award-winning TV personality and travel expert. Her fun-loving style has made her a revered and engaging TV personality whose approach is less expert, less host and more a person you would want to travel with.

She started her TV career at the Travel Channel, spending 15 years creating many iconic travel series, including Great Hotels, Passport to Europe, Great Weekends and Samantha Brown’s Asia.

In 2018, Samantha moved from Travel Channel to PBS. Her new show, Samantha Brown’s Places to Love quickly became the highest-rated travel program on PBS. In 2019 she earned two Emmys (Outstanding Travel and Adventure Program and Outstanding Host for a Lifestyle, Children’s or Special Class Program) and has been nominated every year since.

In Places to Love, she finds the destinations, experiences and, most importantly, the people who make you feel like you belong to a place, and not just a consumer passing through.

She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. with her husband, Kevin O’Leary, and their 8-year-old twins.

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Media Contacts

Francesca Donlan
Jackie Parker
Miriam Dotson