The COVID-19 pandemic led to a 48% reduction in visitor spending in Pima County in 2020. Visit Tucson CEO Brent DeRaad will discuss his agency’s efforts to bring back visitors and their dollars to metro Tucson.
Brent DeRaad has served as President & CEO of Visit Tucson for nine years.
DeRaad and the 34-member Visit Tucson staff market, promote and sell metro Tucson and southern Arizona as a leisure, meetings, film and sports destination to potential visitors throughout the world. Visitors spent $1.3 billion in metro Tucson in 2020.
DeRaad serves currently as immediate past board chair of the Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association and president of Destination Marketing Association of the West’s board of directors.
He is also a board member of the Tucson Conquistadores and Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl and serves on the Arizona Governor’s Tourism Advisory Council and as an ex-officio board member for the Downtown Tucson Partnership.