The CVB is currently looking to hire both a Convention Sales and Tourism Sales Manager.

The Convention Sales Manager will work with meeting planners, government officials and corporate planners to maintain current and book new meetings and conventions into Las Cruces meeting facilities.

The Tourism Sales Manager will be working with tour operators and group leaders in an effort to raise Las Cruces' profile within the group travel industry and increase the number of tours visiting Las Cruces. They will also be charged with developing travel programs and packages for leisure travelers and auto clubs.

This winner of this year's National Tourism Week grand prize was Ellen Franke of Buffalo, New York. She received a Las Cruces CVB backpack, travel coffee mug, travel water bottle, Las Cruces history book, Las Cruces cookbook and a portable Tom Tom GPS Navigation System.

Every year the Las Cruces CVB celebrates National Tourism Week to say thank you to visitors and to the community for their support of tourism in Las Cruces.

The CVB would like to thank the following for their support of National Tourism Week: Branigan Cultural Center, City of Las Cruces, Town of Mesilla, Branigan Library, Hotel Encanto, Southern New Mexico Wine Festival, Hampton Inn, Cracker Barrel, Aqua Reef, Farmers & Crafts Market, School of Hotel, Restaurant, Tourism Management, Mountain Dreams Publishing, Roper's Lubri-Cator and La Posta.

The newly designed and updated 2008 Group Travel Planner is now available. It contains information designed to assist tour planners providing detailed information about area attractions, restaurants, hotels, history, mileage chart, shops and special events. The guide will be distributed to group travel planners who are interested in bringing tours to Las Cruces.

The Media Department hosted its first ever golf travel writers press trip this past May 18-23, 2008. We hosted four regional writers from Arizona, Nevada and Texas. The golfers played golf at Sonoma Ranch Golf Course, New Mexico State University Golf Course and the Las Cruces Country Club (LCCC). In addition, they toured the new Las Cruces Country Club course set to open next spring. After playing and visiting Las Cruces, the group headed off to Ruidoso where they played two courses. The group finished off the trip with a round of golf at the new Butterfield Trail Golf Course in El Paso before flying out. The trip was very successful and all the participants enjoyed their time in Las Cruces - they were already talking about coming back next year to play the new LCCC course when it opens!

The CVB staff and advisory board participated in retreat this past June 13-15, 2008. The purpose of the retreat was to formulate plans to carry the Bureau forward for the 2008-09 fiscal year including ways to get board members more involved in bureau activities and planning for the coming of the new Las Cruces Center. In attendance were Board Chairman Joe Martinez, Vice Chairman John Rickey and members Mark Santiago and Belia Alvarez. Also in attendance were Las Cruces City Councilor Dolores Connor, City Manager Terrence Moore and Public Services Director Lori Grumet.

The CVB 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 CVB Sports Sales Manager, Edward Carnathan at 575-541-2216 or logon to www.las crucescvb.org/volunteer.

CVB Sports Sales Manager Edward Carnathan recently received his Certified Sports Event Executive certification from the National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC). According to NASC, "The Certified Sports Event Executive (CSEE) Program, open only to NASC members, is a "continuing education" style program where participants are provided with cutting edge knowledge from topics relevant to the sports event industry." Training sessions, held twice a year, cover a variety of topics that increases member's efficiency and effectiveness in the sports event industry. There are currently 256 program participants with 58 of those being graduates of the program.

The CVB Tourism and Media Departments recently attended the 40th annual International Pow Wow hosted by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) and held in Las Vegas, NV, June 1-4, 2008. During the four-day trade show, the CVB was able to network with buyers from countries around the world including Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, and South Africa, just to name a few. In addition, the Media Department participated in Media Marketplace, a one-day event designed to bring destination media representatives together with domestic and international travel journalists to increase worldwide awareness of domestic destinations.