Blogs

The Myrtle Beach Area (SC) Chamber of Commerce and Orlando (FL) Regional Chamber of Commerce are celebrating big milestones this month.

On Friday, April 19, 22 past presidents of the Orlando Regional Chamber and its current volunteer leadership attended a special luncheon to kickoff the 100^th anniversary of Orlando, Inc. (Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce). The chamber will continue the celebration in September with a gala event. See the website the chamber prepared in honor of its big anniversary.

Then on Tuesday, April 23, about 500 miles north of Orlando, the Myrtle Beach Area (SC)Chamber honored its 75 years of service during an annual meeting and celebration with its membership at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. The event not only recognized the chamber, but also members who have served the community for 50 plus years.

Congratulations to both organizations!

Of course jobs and investment are key outcomes of successful economic development, but they’re not the only outcomes worth measuring.  

Listen to this webinar recording from March 28, 2013 as Mac Holladay, CCE, president and CEO of Market Street Services shares some of the innovative ways chambers and regions are now measuring economic development success.

Click to watch - ACCE Economic Trends: Economic Development Metrics

New “Discover Cuba” Itinerary Offers Americans Legal Travel to Cuba via People-to-People Cultural Travel Program

Central Holidays is pleased present an exciting new “Discover Cuba” travel program that takes U.S. travelers to connect with locals in Cuba and learn about the architecture, music, art and culture of this enchanting country.  The U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control has granted a license to provide people-to-people cultural exchange travel programs to Cuba to Premier World Discovery/CE, strategic partner of Central Holidays, enabling the company to offer this trip to U.S. travelers.

The fascinating 8-day “Discover Cuba” itinerary provides a full time schedule of activities that result in meaningful exchanges through people-to-people contact, offering insightful, cross-cultural and educational experiences at every turn.  Travelers will explore the UNESCO World Heritage site of Old Havana with the largest collection of Spanish-Colonial architecture in the Americas, the beautiful baroque-style Cathedral of Havana built in 1748, and the “Maqueta de la Habana Vieja” Museum that houses a detailed scale model of the City of Havana.  Further along, travelers visit Viñales Valley and Pinar del Rio, known for its stunning scenery, a landscape of prehistoric looking flat-top mountains or “mogotes”, tobacco plantations, caves, and rivers.  An excursion to Guanabacoa takes travelers to discover the religious diversity of this land and visit Hemingway’s Farm where the Nobel Prize winner lived with his wife for 21 years.  This itinerary features experiences that showcase the treasures of Cuba including a tour of an authentic cigar factory, tobacco farm, and rum factory as well as meals in local restaurants.  Visitors will also tour an art studio and craft market, and dance studio and interact with welcoming locals, artists and dancers.

“Adding Cuba to our destination offerings allows us to further cater to our robust family of repeat customers who wish to explore the world in the signature Central Holidays way,” said Gianni Miradoli, CEO of Central Holidays. “We are pleased to introduce this novel Cuba itinerary that brings travelers the rare opportunity to visit a fascinating country on an enriching travel program replete with cross-cultural interaction, education, and discovery.”

For additional information about the Discover Cuba travel program available through Central Holidays, please call Central Holidays at 800-935-5000 or visit them online at www.centralholidays.com. 

About Central Holidays:
Founded in 1972, Central Holidays offers superior travel programs, value and service to enchanting destinations across the globe including Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, plus dozens of Mediterranean and European River Cruise itineraries, worldwide ski programs, as well as people-to-people educational exchange travel to Cuba!  For more information, contact Central Holidays at 1-800-935-5000 or visit their Web site at www.centralholidays.com.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Marlene Oliver
(305) 491-0512, moliver@njccorp.com
NJC Communications

Mick Fleming, president of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, was a featured guest on the Executive Leaders Radio Show recently. He discussed  influences that led him to his career as an advocate of chambers as community leaders, competition for the ACCE leadership job that he accepted in 2001, challenges he overcame in those early days, and much more in the 12-minute interview.

The show’s profiles of business executives primarily from the Mid-East are heard on radio stations in 20 states across the country, and are available online via iTunes, radio.com and numerous other podcast directories. Listen to the interview.

How many chambers of commerce have an Emmy in their lobby? The Greater Memphis Chamber now has three for The Soundtrack Project, a series of eight documentary shorts that capture the entrepreneurial spirit in Memphis.

The Soundtrack Project began in 2010 as a partnership between the Chamber and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra to highlight both the strength of the Memphis arts community and breadth of the local small business community.

“These multimedia movements serve as both a local point of pride and as a snapshot of Memphis’s business community for a global audience,” said John Moore, president and CEO, Greater Memphis Chamber. “You really get a sense of the authentic and determined spirit of Memphis’ small business owners when you watch each video.”

Watch the videos at: http://www.memphischamber.com/soundtrack 

Headlines and opinion from around the economic and community development world...

Des Moines Goes SXSW

The Greater Des Moines Partnership was in Austin last week repping Central Iowa's start-up scene and arts/culture vibe at South by Southwest , the music, film, technology and innovation festival. 

KC's Fiber Houses

Market Street Report blog introduces readers to fiber house, the newest noun in entrepreneurship.

Not Just a four-Year College Degree

The Dayton Area Chamber and its education partners have a huge success in associate degree attainment, worker retraining, and career academy high schools. Lumina Foundation devoted an entire issue of its magazine to Dayton's work.

Market Driven Planning

Citiwire's Curtis Johnson examines how a market driven, "place-making" approach to development is paying dividends for smaller communities and big regions in Texas

Aaron Nelson, IOM, president and CEO of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, has been named one of the best comedic story tellers for 2012 in The Monti story telling competition in Chapel Hill, N.C. His Sept. 14 performance last year dealt with a 2009 presentation he made "on the other side of the world" to the World Chambers Federation about the Chapel Hill community. Listen now.