Hoteliers watch out. One of the men in charge of pitching Miami as a vacation destination around the globe likes to get away in his own backyard.
“At least once a summer,” said Rolando Aedo, chief marketing officer and executive vice president for the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, I “squirrel away anonymously at one of the hotels and really enjoy it.”
In his position he drives  marketing strategy leveraged by anywhere from $10 million to $12 million, funded publicly and privately, to promote Miami around the world.
At the moment, he said, Miami’s biggest source of visitors includes Brazil, Canada and Germany.
The agency is also working to allow Brazilians to visit the US more easily, through advocating for visa waiver and immigration changes with the US Travel Association, and is beginning to eye markets in Asia.
Many of those markets will require newer airplanes, like Boeing’s forthcoming 787 or the Airbus A380 that already services Miami, and the bureau is working to build the channels.
“We will be going to India in September to further develop those relationships,” he said. “So whether it’s Russia, India and China these are markets that we know have tremendous potential to bring more visitors, more money and [create] more jobs.”
Mr. Aedo discussed what’s being done to bring more visitors to Miami, particularly in the summer, the future of the cruise industry and what’s at stake at the Miami Beach Convention Center with Miami Today staff writer Zachary Fagenson.