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Tourism Industry & BACVA News

For Immediate Release: September 25, 2007

Media Contacts Only:
Sara Hisamoto
Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association
410-659-7071
shisamoto@baltimore.org

Melissa Garcia-Smith Joins the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association as Regional Sales Manager

(BALTIMORE, MD) - The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA) announced the addition of Melissa Garcia-Smith as a regional sales manager to the agency's convention sales team.

Garcia-Smith brings 10 years of tourism and hospitality experience to BACVA. As regional sales manager, she is responsible for booking groups with 1,000 rooms and greater in the Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia region.

"Melissa will be a great asset to the Baltimore sales team," said Tom Noonan, BACVA president and CEO. "She brings both bureau and hotel sales experience and has solid customer contacts in the Washington, D.C., region, where there is the largest concentration of associations."

Before joining BACVA, Garcia-Smith was most recently the director of Washington, D.C., regional sales for the Chicago CVB. Her prior experience also includes convention sales/client services sales manager for the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau and national sales manager for Wyndham International. She was also an advertising/sponsorship account manager for the National Association of Broadcasters.

She is a graduate of Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, where she earned degrees in both communications and kinesiology.

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The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA), a membership-based organization, is the official destination development and marketing leader for Greater Baltimore, responsible for generating incremental economic benefits to the community through the attraction of convention and leisure visits.