Growing Destinations
Your go-to source for insightful discussions on destination development. The Growing Destinations podcast delves into the strategies, challenges, and successes that drive community growth. Each episode features in-depth conversations with local and national experts, uncovering universal themes and innovative practices that can be applied to any city or region.
Growing Destinations
Discovering Place: Stories from a Life in Travel and Tourism with John DeLeva
John DeLeva, Global Marketing Executive with Miles Partnership, has built a career that has taken him around the world. In this episode, he shares how building strong relationships and diving deep into the culture, food, and spirit of each place has shaped his approach to tourism marketing.
He also recounts his extraordinary travel journey, completing visits to every single county in the United States, and how that adventure continues to influence his work to this day.
Plus, hear how his passion for place extends to his own restaurant and cottages in the scenic resort town of Union, Washington.
The Growing Destinations podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Learn more about Minnesota's third largest city, which is home to Mayo Clinic and features wonderful recreational and entertainment opportunities, by visiting experiencerochestermncom.
Speaker 2:Always when traveling in a bar and a restaurant, if you want to, there's somebody else traveling too, and often you kind of catch each other's eyes and you might share an experience or the next place that you want to go. And I don't know anything more local you can get when traveling than the fish that was caught in the lake that you're looking at or the beer was brewed from the guy that's 30 feet away. Right, it's, it's, it's, it's. Every element, every element of local I think that we seek.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast, where we take a deep dive into destination development and focus on a wide range of topics, from tourism and entertainment to economic development and entrepreneurism and much more. I'm your host, bill Von Bank. Today we sit down with John DeLiva, global Marketing Executive with Miles Partnership, whose career has taken him around the world. John shares how building strong relationships and diving deep into the culture, food and spirit of each place has shaped his approach to tourism marketing. Of each place has shaped his approach to tourism marketing. We'll also explore his extraordinary travel journey, completing visits to every single county in the United States, and how that adventure continues to influence his work today, plus hear how his passion for place extends to his own restaurant and cottages in the scenic resort town of Union, washington.
Speaker 1:John DeLiva, welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast. Hey, bill, good to see you. Well, I'm here in Union visiting and we took part in a fundraiser while I was here which we can talk about, but you've been involved in the travel and tourism industry for quite some time, so I want to start there. Can you share with us your career journey and your current work with Miles Partnership?
Speaker 2:I had to answer this question recently when I was talking to a lunch and they said when did you start in tourism? And my answer was 1969, when I was seven years old, when my parents knew I loved maps and puzzles, and they asked me to plan a cross-country trip as we were moving from Long Island, new York, to Southern California and I told them all the things I wanted to see from here to there and they actually went to all those places and it kind of planted a seed, I don't know, maybe to be a travel agent someday or at least just to keep going places. So that's really when it started.
Speaker 1:So you and I met. Geez, I think it's over a decade ago now, and at the time you were representing Miles Partnership. So tell us about the work you do for Miles, and maybe even before that, because your relationship with Miles extends because of the work you did in advertising.
Speaker 2:Sure, we might jump back and forth a little here, but let's start in 2011. I had a business partner and she and I were publishing the Discover America USA Travel Guide. It was a magazine that covered all 50 states, five territories and DC. It was printed in six languages. We printed a million issues a year. Printed a million issues a year.
Speaker 2:And we were a very small business trying to do what a former US travel office used to do. That was at the end of the financial crisis and we fought just to stay in live while other little publishers were not making it and we really needed help. And I looked around and knew a couple people from Miles. We talked. It made a lot of sense that they help us, we help them. Brand USA had just begun. They didn't have any plans for a magazine. We had ideas what to do and it all kind of came together. We sold our little business to Miles. I became part of that team and since now, for 13 years, I'm part of the Miles Brand USA team. We focus on bringing more visitors to the US.
Speaker 1:Tell us a little bit more about Brand USA, because you've been involved with that, not necessarily as an employee of Brand USA, but as a partner. Give us a short synopsis of Brand USA.
Speaker 2:The Travel Promotion Act in 2010 started to have an entity that would encourage visitors from around the world to make the US their destination. So their sole focus is to look at target markets around the world and show travel prospects. Why we're the best country in the world to visit, and because I had taken 10 years to go to every county in every state. I felt uniquely positioned to be part of that team because I had a true passion for a lot of places. You know, people always say what's your favorite place and I can honestly almost always say, wherever I am, we have so much around this country.
Speaker 1:How do you tailor marketing for international travelers compared to domestic audiences, and are there any strategies that consistently resonate worldwide?
Speaker 2:definitely look at every market a little differently. You can make some general comments like Germans prefer to spend more time in the great outdoors, on the trails, go deeper. Asians again generalizing prefer to do other things. They're more museums and shopping and going to the lookout points Super generalization there. But clearly every market Brand USA does a lot of research, find out what the people are looking for and then we get that imagery and build that content around that.
Speaker 1:What trends or shifts in global travel marketing have had the biggest impact on how you do your job today?
Speaker 2:Well, it's the markets themselves, Certain markets, like, I say, india right now. It's crazy how they've soared from not even top 10 to number two. One thing the middle class there has grown to such a significant amount, so more people are able to travel. One of the benefits of marketing to India is they almost all speak English, so without having to deal with translations, that's clearly the market that's made the big difference and a lot of again. Brand USA does a lot of research out there in the field, really asking what do you want to do when you come here? So, marketing around big events upcoming FIFA World Cup, la Olympics, two years after that 100-year anniversary of Route 66, those are big draws. So clearly the events are one aspect. And then we look at different areas, like culinary experiences, like sporting events, like musical events, live event tourism?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You briefly mentioned this earlier about visiting every single county in the United States. That's a remarkable feat. Walk us through why.
Speaker 2:Well and when? Okay, so clearly it was a challenge between me and four good friends who are all in our early 20s and we knew life was going to take us apart. There were going to be wives and babies and grad school, law school, who knows? So we wanted to find some kind of competition that would keep us connected. We all loved road tripping. We had always gone to national parks, to baseball parks, and we just were always looking for mountains to climb and places to sail, you name it.
Speaker 2:And so one of the guys goes well, why don't we say first of 50 states? And three of us kind of laughed out loud and said we've already done that. So one of them said well, I saw this map. This is in Seattle at the time and a place called Metzger's, and it's a map of every county in the United States. A little conversation, a little research, we saw there were 3,086 counties. That includes all the boroughs of New York City, boroughs of Alaska, parishes, louisiana, and within a minute or two of throwing this out, we all agreed let's go, buy five maps, we'll each put them on our walls, let's go. And it just gave us excuses to road trip together some more, to be competitive and to just go, go, go.
Speaker 1:And you all did this on your own. I mean, at times maybe you hooked up and met, but in general this was was there a like we want to finish this in a decade or we want to finish this in blank?
Speaker 2:We put a 10 year cap on it. Okay, so you're right on there. And we said whoever gets the most wins. We didn't think anybody was going to get them all and we decided that a prize would be the winner gets all expenses paid to heaven, and that would be Heavenly Valley, california, and the losers they all go to hell. And that's a little town in Livingston County, michigan, not that far out of Ann Arbor, and we stuck with that. I'll tell you when we get to the end there. But after five years three of us were halfway there and it kind of got to. I think we're going to have to make a run to the finish line and get them all.
Speaker 2:But then one of the guys had his first child and that clearly changed his life and his ability to go. And another one got a severance pay when the mill. He was chemical engineer at a mill in Bellingham, washington. They closed and they gave him a really nice severance check and he said, ah, these counties are pretty good, but I'm going to go see more countries. And he spent the next three years pretty much biking around the world and that left just me and I kind of felt an obligation. I can't just get the most. I got to get them all. When did you complete it? 30 years ago, this week, which is pretty crazy, and about 100 miles from here, san Juan County, washington. I kind of saved I always put save the best for last. I had actually never been to the San Juan Islands, despite going to University of Washington and always hearing what an amazing place it was.
Speaker 1:It is, and so it was August 25th it is, and so it was August 25th of 1995. What did you learn from exploring?
Speaker 2:both major cities and the most rural parts of the country. Number one how many damn good people there are. I mean, I met so many characters, kind people to help us when we needed information or sometime when we actually needed help. And I say we because I often at the time traveled. I did a lot of this solo but my girlfriend was in the car with me a lot of the miles, my brother was in, a lot of friends here and there, and we just learned, the more we go, the more we want to go, and I learned, I guess, just how much I like waking up to a completely different day every day. Different place, different scenery, different people, different food.
Speaker 1:This is a big country. Did you ever think, oh my gosh, I'm never going to get there? No, no.
Speaker 2:Once I set, like, here's the deadline, the 10 years I am going to finish this, if anything. Financially, it was a little tough. I had a job that allowed me to travel and often put me in places that made it easier, but there was there was no doubt. When my mind was set, I was going to get them all. It was just a matter of when and how am I going to afford to pay for those bush pilots in Alaska and those other stops in Hawaii? Yeah, so it was. It was more a money concern than a time concern.
Speaker 1:Do you think the way people explore America today, especially with the digital tools and social media, changes the essence of discovery compared to your journey?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no doubt it's too planned. Today there's not enough room for serendipity. I mean, given that the apps have made it easier to book things and sometimes, because of the ease, a lot of towns might have no hotels available or no camping spots left. That's kind of fed on each other there. But I would say there's not enough spontaneity in travel today. Too many people, even good friends that I used to almost live this way with, they talk about they got a trip, boom, boom, boom, boom, and every day is filled and they know where they're going to be every night. So, yes, it has. The tradeoff is the ease. The tradeoff might be people are going a little more, but the downside of that is it's too structured.
Speaker 1:You and your wife recently opened a restaurant and cottages in Union Washington. How does being a local business owner influence your perspectives on tourism marketing?
Speaker 2:It's right down to the ground, I get to see everything. I mean, I always knew how hard hoteliers worked and restaurateurs worked, but now, here with just two cottages but a wine shop, retail store, bar and a pizza restaurant man, it has definitely altered our lifestyle a little, but it's allowed me to have so many incredible one-on-one conversations with friends and neighbors, as well as meet a lot of travelers. I think I more than anything, it's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. It's a totally rewarding but completely exhausting thing that we've done. And five days a week, jolica and I say oh man, we have created an amazing gathering place for our friends, for our community. We love the food we're putting on the table, we love the live music that's here all the time, but twice a week we shake our heads and say what the heck did we do?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, I saw it firsthand and I think you've done something special. Food and drink to me just seem like it's the best part of how travelers connect. Do you agree? A hundred percent?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Always, when traveling in a bar, in a restaurant, if you want to, there's somebody else traveling too, and often you kind of catch each other's eyes and you might share an experience or the next place that you want to go, and I you kind of catch each other's eyes and you might share an experience or the next place that you want to go, and I don't know anything more local you can get when traveling than the fish that was caught in the lake that you're looking at or the beer was brewed from the guy that's 30 feet away. Right, it's every element of local. I think that we seek.
Speaker 1:I mentioned at the start that I'm here doing this podcast interview on location. Here in Union, we're staring at your restaurant. I was here for a fundraiser for pizza and pie and you had a full house and it was so great to see the interaction, the crowd and the support that you are providing for the community, specifically for hunger relief. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah well, bill, again, thank you so much for being here. It was about a year and a half ago when I ran into Bill the Pie Guy, which I am on the side.
Speaker 2:That's right, and I've become John the Pizza Pie Guy on the side and we thought you make dessert pies, I make pizza pies. We eat well. We provide food for a lot of people, but there are a lot of people that don't have access to food. We know wherever we go, that's the case. Have access to food. We know wherever we go, that's the case.
Speaker 2:Um, we agreed to do what we did last night to put some of your pies out for auction to help two local food banks in our community. We got a very generous little town here, um, with you coming in, I thought it was appropriate I slip in a spam pizza on the menu last night, which was my favorite Spam a lot. It had a maple bacon caramelized syrup with oh man, the mango chutney. Joel can make a great one there. That one spam pizza sold for $600 and eight of the pies that you made $3,800. In about a period of an hour on stage, maybe a little less $4,400 to local food banks. That's awesome, thank you, and I'm just so dang lucky to have this community that steps up for everything it was fun Looking ahead.
Speaker 1:what destinations are you most excited to represent? For Miles, the work you do there, and then for you personally? What destinations do you want to explore more deeply?
Speaker 2:seven of us that represent Brand USA and we each have states Six. The other six people all have a contiguous territory. I have one that stretches from Guam and the Mariana Islands, hops through Alaska, oregon, washington, utah, includes Minnesota, michigan, wisconsin. It's that way because years ago, when I sold the magazine to Miles, I did get to pick and choose favorites, and so those are the states and territories I represent and will continue to. And what I hope happens is, as Brand USA looks out there, of what markets are becoming important for international travelers. I mean, this year we've added new programs in Argentina and Chile and we're looking at doing more in some Asian markets and we do a lot with Australia, new Zealand and bringing Italy back in the mix. So I love the fact that the Brand USA is always looking out there. Who should we target next? Usa is always looking out there. Who should we target next? And working with those states to bring those people on a personal basis.
Speaker 2:After getting done with the 3,086 counties, I decided I am not going to race to do anything else. I mean, that wasn't that fast. A lot of those trips were long, slow camping trips, some were sailing, some were biking, but it all was too much, too fast. So instead of trying to go to all 195 countries, I said I will only do it if I live for 195 years. That's fair. I'm 63 now and I've been to 63 countries, so I'm just that alone is impressive, keeping the pace of one a year.
Speaker 2:But there's a couple big holes in my travel map. I have never been to India, sri Lanka, bhutan, tibet, nepal. That whole area is really calling. And I've only looked at Africa, an entire continent, like from Gibraltar I could see Morocco, and from Sicily I could see Tunisia. I think I think that's true, I think I could really see it. It was out there, but there's, there's a whole continent. I'd love to go on a safari. I'd love to be in Kenya and Tanzania. I'd love to go across the top of Northern Africa, the Mediterranean side, from Tunisia to Morocco and all the way across to Egypt. So those are calling.
Speaker 1:Well, I have no doubt you will do all of that. John DeLiva, it's been great to have you on the podcast. Learn more about your work in tourism. Learn more about your work in building better community. Thank you for being our guest on the Growing Destinations podcast.
Speaker 2:You are very welcome, bill, and thank you for coming to Union Washington and for all you do.
Speaker 1:Cheers. Thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations podcast and don't forget to subscribe. This podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. Find out more about Rochester, Minnesota, and its growing arts and culture scene, its international culinary flavors and award-winning craft beer by visiting experiencerochestermncom.
