Bob Provost's guest appearances

Bob Provost

Destination On The Left

Calvary Bible Church - Fort Worth, TX

Chapel@TMU

Get Overit

Drew McLellan

Rick Antonson

Paula White

Mike Rea

Ryan Hanley

Sarah Morris

David Gilbert

Melanie Deziel

Eric Patrick

Stacy Jones

Joe Pulizzi

John Calvin

Richard Arnold

Dalene Heck

Gary Murphy

OwlTail

“It’s counterintuitive to think that tourism serves the resident… but tourism is not a goal. Tourism is the means to an end.” What exactly is that end? It’s about helping and improving that community and the quality of life of the residents. In this week’s episode, we talk to Bob Provost, President and CEO of the New York State Tourism Industry Association (NYSTIA). Some people see tourism as fun and games, but before the pandemic, tourism was the 3rd biggest industry in the state of New York. Learn about how the industry has been impacted during COVID and how they’re moving forward.  

“It’s counterintuitive to think that tourism serves the resident… but tourism is not a goal. Tourism is the means to an end.” What exactly is that end? It’s about helping and improving that community and the quality of life of the residents. In this week’s episode, we talk to Bob Provost, President and CEO of the New York State Tourism Industry Association (NYSTIA). Some people see tourism as fun and games, but before the pandemic, tourism was the 3rd biggest industry in the state of New York. Learn about how the industry has been impacted during COVID and how they’re moving forward.

Ep. 13: Bob Provost - Refocus and Rediscover

Bob Provost, president, and CEO of New York Tourism and Industry Association (NSYSTIA) has been pretty much everywhere in New York State, from Long Island to the Thousand Islands. He currently resides on a small farm in northern Rensselaer County. When Bob joined NYSTIA as a member in early 2017 he had no idea he would be joining the staff as president and CEO in September of 2018. He felt that there was tremendous potential yet to be realized in the organization and terrific people to work with. Prior to joining NYSTIA, Bob enjoyed success as chief marketing officer with the Hearst newspapers in Albany, New York from 1987 to 2005. He then served as CMO of the Star-Ledger, Newjersey.com. During his time there, Bob campaigned for a more structured, proactive tourism infrastructure in the Garden State. In 2015 Bob transitioned from his role as a media executive to become president and CEO of the Greater Newark Convention and Visitors Bureau where he dramatically upgraded digital marketing and international outreach, achieving increases in occupancy, average daily rate, and welcome the first new hotels in that market in decades. Bob has worked with students throughout his career as a faculty member at Sienna College and Rutgers Business School, and with hundreds of interns. He has served on the boards of many institutions, colleges, cultural and arts organizations, chambers and CVBS, as well as social service organizations. On this episode of Destination on the Left, I talk with Bob about the economic impact of tourism, and how to really listen to residents and help them understand and embrace the positive impact of tourism. He says, improve the visitor experience and you will improve the resident experience. Find out how to get neighbors and business owners on board and treat tourism as the economic development engine it is.  What You Will Learn in This Episode:  Why best practices are more important than industry experience How to help a community understand that good tourism means an economically healthy community How internships from outside hospitality can be a win-win The 8 Ps of Tourism Marketing The importance of embracing change as communities and tourism itself evolves  Tourism as Economic Development Too often, the wider economic impact of tourism is overlooked by residents. Bob wants to change that by helping people involved in tourism change the narrative. Bob shares how if your tourism sector is successful, then you will have revitalized downtowns in small towns as well as jobs and small business success. Tourism also reduces their tax burden and increases employment opportunities. It enhances the quality of life choices that are available to them by supporting restaurants, attractions, and other leisure opportunities. Bob wants the business community to understand how they can hitch their wagon to that visitor economy and increased sales and success. Embracing Change Bob ended our conversation with this message: “I’m a big believer that healthy organizations are very much like healthy organisms. They need to embrace evolutionary change or they will not survive the competition of the fittest.” If you don’t evolve, change is going to be a lot more traumatic. Making a smaller, incremental change on a consistent basis allows you to move forward as an organization and thrive. That’s the philosophy he is embracing for NYSTIA and one that we all have had to learn – hopefully not the hard way! Resources:  Website: nystia.org  Episode Transcript We value your thoughts and feedback and would love to hear from you. Leave us a review on your favorite streaming platform to let us know what you want to hear more of. Here is a quick tutorial on how to leave us a rating and review on iTunes!: https://breaktheicemedia.com/rating-review/

Bob Provost, president, and CEO of <a href="https://www.nystia.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">New York Tourism and Industry Association</a> (NSYSTIA) has been pretty much everywhere in New York State, from Long Island to the Thousand Islands. He currently resides on a small farm in northern Rensselaer County. When Bob joined NYSTIA as a member in early 2017 he had no idea he would be joining the staff as president and CEO in September of 2018. He felt that there was tremendous potential yet to be realized in the organization and terrific people to work with. Prior to joining NYSTIA, Bob enjoyed success as chief marketing officer with the Hearst newspapers in Albany, New York from 1987 to 2005. He then served as CMO of the Star-Ledger, <a href="http://Newjersey.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Newjersey.com</a>. During his time there, Bob campaigned for a more structured, proactive tourism infrastructure in the Garden State. In 2015 Bob transitioned from his role as a media executive to become president and CEO of the <a href="https://www.newarkhappening.com/about/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Greater Newark Convention and Visitors Bureau</a> where he dramatically upgraded digital marketing and international outreach, achieving increases in occupancy, average daily rate, and welcome the first new hotels in that market in decades. Bob has worked with students throughout his career as a faculty member at <a href="https://www.siena.edu/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIu9G1wszG4QIVxbbACh2tUgT-EAAYASAAEgLHVfD_BwE" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Sienna College</a> and <a href="http://www.business.rutgers.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Rutgers Business School,</a> and with hundreds of interns. He has served on the boards of many institutions, colleges, cultural and arts organizations, chambers and CVBS, as well as social service organizations. On this episode of Destination on the Left, I talk with Bob about the economic impact of tourism, and how to really listen to residents and help them understand and embrace the positive impact of tourism. He says, improve the visitor experience and you will improve the resident experience. Find out how to get neighbors and business owners on board and treat tourism as the economic development engine it is. What You Will Learn in This Episode: <ul> <li>Why best practices are more important than industry experience</li> <li>How to help a community understand that good tourism means an economically healthy community</li> <li>How internships from outside hospitality can be a win-win</li> <li>The 8 Ps of Tourism Marketing</li> <li>The importance of embracing change as communities and tourism itself evolves</li> </ul> Tourism as Economic Development Too often, the wider economic impact of tourism is overlooked by residents. Bob wants to change that by helping people involved in tourism change the narrative. Bob shares how if your tourism sector is successful, then you will have revitalized downtowns in small towns as well as jobs and small business success. Tourism also reduces their tax burden and increases employment opportunities. It enhances the quality of life choices that are available to them by supporting restaurants, attractions, and other leisure opportunities. Bob wants the business community to understand how they can hitch their wagon to that visitor economy and increased sales and success. Embracing Change Bob ended our conversation with this message: “I’m a big believer that healthy organizations are very much like healthy organisms. They need to embrace evolutionary change or they will not survive the competition of the fittest.” If you don’t evolve, change is going to be a lot more traumatic. Making a smaller, incremental change on a consistent basis allows you to move forward as an organization and thrive. That’s the philosophy he is embracing for NYSTIA and one that we all have had to learn – hopefully not the hard way! Resources: <ul> <li>Website: <a href="https://www.nystia.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">nystia.org</a></li> </ul> <a href="https://breaktheicemedia.com/transcript-121/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Episode Transcript</a> We value your thoughts and feedback and would love to hear from you. Leave us a review on your favorite streaming platform to let us know what you want to hear more of. Here is a quick tutorial on how to leave us a rating and review on iTunes!: <a href="https://breaktheicemedia.com/rating-review/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">https://breaktheicemedia.com/rating-review/</a>

Episode 121: Ending the Tourist vs. Townie Divide, with Bob Provost

A compilation of excerpts from the messages that Bob Provost shared at CBC’s Missions Conference in 2009.

Highlights from Bob Provost