The Las Cruces Convention & Visitors Bureau Advisory Board recently welcomed a new member to the board.

Monika Denten, General Manager of the Ramada Palms de Las Cruces Resort & Conference Center, began serving her term on the board in October 2008.

Denton has over 20 years of experience in hotel and property management and has been at the Ramada for three years.

All CVB board members are appointed by the Mayor with the consent of the Las Cruces City Council. In accordance with the New Mexico state statute, the board must be comprised of two representatives of the hotel industry, two tourism industry representatives and one at-large representative. Members serve a three year term with the option to serve a second term. The board meets on the last Wednesday of each month from September through May.

The Las Cruces CVB received $20,000 from the New Mexico Department of Tourism as part of the state's annual Cooperative Marketing Program.

Overall, the state awarded over $1 million for advertising and promotions to many New Mexico nonprofit organizations.

The money can be used for a variety of advertising mediums such as: billboards, print, online, broadcast, brochures, website design and trade show participation.

The funds awarded to the Las Cruces CVB will be added to the bureau's existing marketing budget and will go to further support the "Crossroads" advertising campaign produced by the CVB's advertising agency Rick Johnson & Co.

The 2008-09 Winter Edition of the Official Las Cruces Visitors Guide is now available. The 54-page guide features a variety of information for anyone visiting Las Cruces including: hotels, restaurants, attractions, recreational and sports facilities, transportation information and a map. Traditionally the bureau has printed 150,000 copies every spring; but this year marks the first year the guide will be printed twice a year - 75,000 in the summer and 75,000 in the winter. The twice-annual format allows the CVB to keep up with changes in the Las Cruces hospitality industry to ensure a more accurate publication.

Connie Maifeld has been hired to fill the newly created position of Office Assistant for the CVB. Maifeld, who has worked as an office and administrative assistant for over 13 years, will be charged with assisting all departments of the bureau and working with visitors to the visitors' center. She began work on the 10th of November.

The bureau is seeking individuals interested in becoming a part of the Las Cruces CVB Sports Volunteer Program. Some of the areas we are looking for assistance in are: concessions, event operations, hospitality, promotions, registration and security. If you are interested, please contact the CVB Sports Sales Manager Edward Carnathan at 541-2216 or visit www.las crucescvb.org/volunteer.

A new bed and breakfast has opened in Mesilla. Casa de Rosie, locally owned by Rosie Martinez, is a small B&B located just steps away from the Mesilla Plaza. The property features three unique rooms for guests to choose from as well as providing large common areas and a beautiful courtyard for guests to relax in. For more information, call (575) 647-1832 or visit them online.

Las Cruces was the host city for the 2008 TANM Research Conference which was held at the Ramada Palms de Las Cruces Resort & Conference Center. In attendance were industry partners from destinations statewide as well as representatives from the New Mexico Tourism Department. The schedule featured speakers and presenters from the Travel Industry of America, Rick Johnson & Co. Advertising Agency, New Mexico State University, the New Mexico Tourism Department and Geiger & Associates PR firm.

Las Cruces remains a popular destination for meetings, group tours and sporting events and despite the economic climate of much of 2008; we saw success in all three areas. Tracking groups continues to be an area of great importance; however, repeated turnover in key sales positions has made this task even more challenging - but it will be a top priority for 2009. Even with the shortage of staff, we had nearly 80 groups with over 36,500 attendees for a direct economic impact of $8.5 million.

International Conference on Creative Tourism - September 28 - October 1, 2008
This was the first year the bureau attended the International Conference of Creative Tourism held this year in Santa Fe, NM, September 29 - October 1, 2008. The overall theme of the conference was how destinations and artists can work together to create an arts presence in the community no matter the size. The conference was an interesting mix of artists and destination representatives and offered many new and interesting ideas for arts promotion. A lot of the discussion was on how to get art more out in the open, making it more a part of the daily fabric of the community rather than something that shows up once or twice a year during select special events.

Western Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus (WACVB) - October 6-10, 2008
The CVB sales team and Executive Director, Ken Mompellier, took part in the WACVB Sales Academy and Annual Meeting in Tucson, Arizona, October 6-10. Training was designed to introduce advanced selling skills and accelerate the sales knowledge of sales personnel with several years of experience in the bureau industry or who have several years of experience in a leadership capacity. The program concentrated in areas of: time management, advanced closing techniques, prioritizing your day, identifying client resistance, selective selling, negotiating skills, researching potential clients and web resources.

Travel, Events and Management in Sports (TEAMS) - October 20-24, 2008
Sports Sales Manager, Ed Carnathan recently attended SportsTravel Magazine's TEAMS event in Pittsburgh, PA last October. The department met with event rights holders looking for destinations to host their events. Ed also teamed up with the New Mexico Sports Authority to host an informational booth focusing on Las Cruces and other sporting destinations around Ne