Dann Lewis - Personality Profile - Maine Tour Magazine

Dann Lewis is Maine's (relatively) new Director of Tourism, appointed by Governor Angus King, Jr.

Dann Lewis has been president and vice president of airline industry companies, and has served as Director of Tourism in New York State (overseeing the blockbuster I Love New York tourism campaign), the United States Virgin Islands and also in the Bahamas. He has certainly earned his spurs in all aspects of the tourism industry.

Maine Tour Magazine caught up with him at a meeting at the Holiday Inn By The Bay between another commitment that would bring him to Southern Maine on the same day. In response to a question about Maine's commitment to the motorcoach industry, Dann Lewis said that it was not defined as yet. Dann Lewis said that the Tourism Department was in the process of developing action plans to go along with a five-year tourism strategy.

When asked what he might have learned about other places that would apply to Maine, Dann Lewis smiled, saying "there's little new under the sun. A lot of the problems that the industry is facing in Maine today, are the same types of problems that they are facing in the Islands and New York State. Dann Lewis went on the say, "Maine in fact has an outstanding product and a much more varied product than a lot of other areas. There's an enormous potential here that remains to be tapped."

Another synergistic effort is Dann Lewis' participation in Discover New England, a regional consortium formed by the six New England states three years ago specifically to promote New England in international markets.

Dann Lewis and his wife Sherry, have two grown children, both born in the Bahamas. Since Sherry is an airline consultant currently working with American Trans Air in Indianapolis and must travel often, they are hoping to make both commutes easier by settling in the Brunswick area sometime later this year.

Maine winters, says Dann Lewis, are "exhilarating". He grew up in New Hampshire and Massachusetts so "I adapt fairly well." Adapting to his new position made this year "very busy," but for next year he's "really looking forward to getting into some skiing and snowmobiling."

This reminds Dann Lewis of times when he used to have ski gear with him when he returned to the Bahamas from promotion tours in Austria. Tourists would see him in the Bahamas airport with his gear and give him looks, thinking maybe "there was something about the Bahamas Islands they weren't aware of."

If it's up to Dann Lewis, there won't be much about Maine that tourists aren't aware of!

from: Maine Tour Magazine, 1995