Brand USA Newsletter - April 2016

Julie Heizer Honored with Distinguished Partner Award

The U.S. Travel Association bestowed Julie Heizer, Deputy Director of Industry Relations, of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) with a Distinguished Partner award for her efforts to bolster travel to and across the United States.

Julie Heizer

U.S. Travel presented the awards on March 16 at the association’s Destination Capitol Hill – the travel and tourism industry’s premier fly-in event dedicated to educating policymakers about the power of travel, providing a forum for travel leaders to meet with members of Congress in Washington and showcasing the industry as one of America’s strongest economic sectors.

Julie Heizer is this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Travel Ally Award. Ms. Heizer currently serves as the primary liaison to Brand USA and the private sector for NTTO, where she manages the Tourism Policy Council’s marketing and promotions working group responsible for implementing the National Travel and Tourism Strategy. Previously, Heizer worked for the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration (NTTO’s predecessor at Commerce), where she led marketing and promotion of international travel and tourism to the United States, and served in senior leadership roles at multiple destination marketing organizations, including Destination DC and the Maryland Office of Tourism.

“Julie Heizer has dedicated much of her long, illustrious career to championing the travel and tourism industry, mentoring the next generation of industry leaders and highlighting the great reasons international travelers should choose the U.S. as their destination,” said U.S. Travel Association President & CEO Roger Dow. “Her efforts have paid off. She is truly a fountain of knowledge, insight and creative spark for our industry, and for this, U.S. Travel recognizes Julie as this year’s Distinguished Travel Ally.”

Please join us in congratulating Julie on this fantastic and well-deserved award!