Jody Halter, VP of ACCENT-DMC and President of SKAL International New Orleans, hosted more than 100 Skalleagues from across the globe on June 18th, 2016. They  gathered at the historic Napoleon House (www.napoleonhouse.com) in New Orleans to kick-off IPW 2016 (http://www.ipw.com).  Among the guests and dignitaries from the hospitality industry were  tourism and event planning  executives responsible to showcase the United States to the world.  Roger Dow, President/CEO of US Travel Association and Chris Thompson, President/CEO of Brand USA were also in attendance.

IPW is nicknamed the “Super Bowl of International Tourism”. The city of New Orleans is hosting 1700 international travel buyers and journalists along with 4700 tourism industry leaders during the IPW 2016, which is from June 18th to June 22nd.

The kick-off event was hosted by Skal International New Orleans.(http://skalneworleans.com)

SKAL International New Orleans is an association of select senior level executives and managers from all branches of the travel and tourism industry. Through networking at local, national and international meetings and events, SKAL members discuss matters relating to the tourism industry to strengthen the industry’s professionalism while assisting the community at large.