Dann Lewis Honored by Top Industry Group

Dann H. Lewis, director of the office of tourism, has been selected as one of the most extraordinary sales and marketing minds in hospitality, travel and tourism by senior executives in those industries from around the world.

Dann Lewis, who has served as tourism director in Maine since 1995, was named in January to the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International "Hot List of Top 25 for 2005." Lewis and the 24 others were selected because of their ability to develop marketing strategies that are truly innovative and clever and that get results. In asking for their picks, senior executives from around the globe were told to submit nominees who best exemplified the set criteria: Whose marketing strategies are truly innovative and clever? Whose companies represent a sales-focused organization? Who gets results? Whose work do you wish were your own?

Submitted nominations were reviewed and scored the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association Internationals executive committee, resulting in the third annual "Top 25" list.

Dann Lewis has been tourism director for such notable destinations as the Bahamas, the U. S. Virgin Islands, New York (where he originated the famous "I Love New York" marketing campaign) and most recently, the State of Maine.

Congratulations to Dann Lewis!

From: Hospitality Net Industy News - January 2006

Dann Lewis - Tourism Goes For More

Riding on the momentum of their highly successful 1997 season, the Department of Community and Economic Development's Commissioner, Tom McBrierty and State Tourism Director Dann Lewis cruised into the legislature on December 7. Testifying before the Joint Committee on Business and Economic Development, they requested a special $3 million appropriation to market Vacationland to the rest of the world. This special request is $1.2 million more than last years appropriation, and would bring Tourism's war chest in 1998 to $5.4 million, up from $4.2 million in 1997.

This move can be seen as a logical follow-up to their victorious press conference on November 6th at which they announce the 11:1 return on investment for their media dollar. After turning a $612,000 investment in advertising into $6.98 million in increased sales and lodging tax revenues, Tom McBrierty and Dann Lewis appear to be keeping up the pressure to grow this sector of the state's economy.

This preliminary hearing in early December was also a rehearsal for the public hearings of the appropriations process beginning on January 6th. This requested increase in the annual budget to $5.4 million is another incremental step in Dann Lewis's five-year plan to get Maine up there with its New England neighbors. With New Hampshire allocating $6 million, Vermont $8 million and Massachusetts investing $17 million, Dann Lewis's aim is to get Vacationland up into the $8 million range from its $2 million starting line, by the end of his Great March.

The bulk of this special appropriations will go for advertising. As the marketing season for summer approaches, Dann Lewis and his team are huddled with their consultants. Longwoods International will continue to be retained to measure the effectiveness of media spending and to assist with a range of market research. The Toronto based firm will continue to analyze factors such as visitor profiles, destinations, visitor preferences and Maine's image to outsiders.

Dann Lewis's approach to tourism marketing has always been research driven.

from: Maine Biz, by Alan Long

Following a Frozen Trail

Paul Rickert, operations manager of Northern Outdoors, and me, Roberta Scruggs, staff writer for the Portland Press Herald, were part of an intrepid band that embarked on an 83-mile snowmobile excursion from the Forks to Sugarloaf on January 23. Also along for the ride were Governor Angus King; Dann Lewis, director of the state tourism office; Scott Ramsey, head of the conservation department's snowmobile division; several members of the Maine Snowmobile Association; and other folks from Northern Outdoors, an adventure resort at the forks.

The trek was born during a year of daydreaming by Bob Meyers, executive director of the snowmobile association. The Governor came along to boost and important - $226 million annually - industry. We all stayed the night at Northern Outdoors wo we could set out at around 8:30 a.m. Outside it was 17 below zero - not with the wind chill, just plain 17 below zero. The metal door handle burned our fingers. The snow crunched under our feet like potato chips. The inside of every nose was icy, and the air was so cold that any deep breath ended in a cough.

Although most of our group was experienced, Dann Lewis had never been on a snowmobile before. Lowell Smith Jr., the state police detective along to protect the governor had not ridden since he was 12 --- 30 years ago. King hasn't ridden much, but his experience with motorcycles was a plus.

Some of our problems were unique, but many were common to beginning snowmobilers, and were the result of the frigid weather. Dann Lewis, Lowell Smith and I all found it hard to see through our helmets. "The first two hours I was tinkering around, trying to get the right balance to keep from freezing my eyeballs off and trying to get rid of the fog", Dann Lewis said.

Like him I was peering through three layers of frost - my glasses, my helmet's visor and the snowmobile's windscreen. I fiddled with the visor all day, sometimes peering through the frost, sometimes enduring the cold blast of air to clear it.

Bundled up as we were though, it seemed almost too warm at times. I had four layers on from the waist down and six - long underwear, flannel shirt, wool vest, sweater, winter coat and snowmobile suit on my upper body. One of the Northern Outdoors guides had to wrestle me into the snowmobile suit and put my big mittens on. I felt like an Apollo astronaut headed for the moon. Dann Lewis too, found himself groping to describe the sense of near paralysis. "I kept thinking, 'I feel like the Michelin man'," he said. "I was sort of walking around like a stiff scarecrow or the Tin Woodsman without any oil."

That stiffness contributed to another major problem - we weren't leaning. Shifting your weight really helps the snowmobile track better, but instead, we were just sitting there - as flexible as a tombstone - trying to steer it like a car. That doesn't work so well.

Did I mention that this trek was 83 miles? Once the trip was over, we could all laugh.......

from: Portland Press Herald January 1998, by Roberta Scruggs, Staff Writer

Dann Lewis "A Very Good Year"

Tourism spending rose in 2005, state reports

Overnight travelers spent $3.1 billion last year, ending a four-year slump.

"It means we're not only riding the wave, but we're being more successful than others." Charles Colgan Associate director, Maine's new Center for Tourism Research and Outreach

Maine's tourism industry broke out of a four year slump in 2005 and increased the total number of overnight trips to the state by 9 percent and the number of overnight vacationers by 12 percent, figures being released today show. Taken together, overnight travelers made 9.7 million trips and spent 15 percent more last year than in 2004, leaving behind $3.1 billion spent on meals, lodging, purchases and services.

The state tourism office credited better marketing and promotion, good summer weather and rising gasoline prices that kept motorists closer to home for the exceptionally strong showing. "2005 was a very good year," said Dann Lewis, the state's tourism director. "It reversed a trend that had been soft for four years in the aftermath of 9-11."

The data are part of an extensive report prepared annually for Maine's tourism office by Longwoods International, a Canadain travel research firm. Maine's tourism industry is the largest single contributor to Maine's economy. Tourism generated $13.6 billion in sales and provided 176,600 jobs in 2004, according to data gathered by Longwoods and the tourism office.

Despit that, Maine and New England in general have struggled to attract more visitors over the past four years. Competition from other destinations, the legacy of the 2001 terrorist attacks and othe factors have been blamed for the slump.

Maine responded by hiring a New York City advertising agency that revamped the tourism marketing campaign and redesigned the state's Web site. Both actions had come under fire by critics who questioned specific elements of these efforts, but the 2005 results suggest those changes are making a difference.

That's one conclusion that can be drawn for the 12 percent jump in overnight trips that Longwoods International defines as "marketable." These trips reflect discretionary vacation travel, not visits to friends and relatives. In the tourism industry, marketable trips are of special interest because they can be influenced by advertising and promotion.

"These are people who made a choice to come to Maine," said Charles Colgan, associate director of Maine's new Center for Tourism Research and Outreach at the University of Maine and the University of Southern Maine. By comparison, overnight vacation trips grew nationally by only 2 percent, Colgan noted.

At the same time, Maine's share of trips by Northeast residents grew by 14 percent. Massachusetts saw a 10 percent rise, and the other New England states had little or no growth. That's also an important indicator. Maine competes with the other New England states for visitors, and the largest share of Maine tourists come from Massachusetts, New York and other Northeast states.

"It means we're not only riding the wave," Colgan said, "but we're being more successful than the others."

Dann Lewis and Charles Colgan agree that the strong performance in 2005 raises expectations for 2006. "I wouldn't expect another 14 percent in market share," Dann Lewis said, "but we're hoping for a reasonable showing in 2006."

from: Portland Press Herald - August 17, 2006 by Tux Turkel

Dann Lewis - Maine's Top Tourist

The man who now runs the state's tourism office does not pull any punches - but he's getting results.

Nothing annoys Dann Lewis more than the phone calls he gets around Labor Day each year from television and newspaper reporters asking how the tourism season went. The Season, he delights in telling them, hasn't gone anywhere. "The assumption that it's over is crazy'" declares Lewis, director of the Maine Office of Tourism.

The Labor day deadline is a prime example of Old Tourism. Dann Lewis is New Tourism, and he is bound and determined to shake up traditional ideas and attitudes toward the industry that in 1997 had a $5.4-billion impact on Maine. The blunt-spoken Dann Lewis came to the Maine tourism shop in 1995 after a career that included building a resort in the Bahamas, running serveral regional airlines in the Caribbean, serving as chief of tourism in the U. S. Virgin Islands and directing the famous "I Love New York" campaign. In other words, he's a pro, and he doesn't hesitate to rain on the parade of tourist-trade optimism that has largely characterized the business in Maine for most of this century.

Dann Lewis says thing out loud that most Vacationland booster wouldn't whisper in their sleep. Maine has actually been losing ground in the vacation sector for years and probably decades, Lewis says. The industry in Maine has been marked by complacency both public and private. Business owners have by and large been reluctant to reinvest in their businesses, to the point where Dann Lewis says there are motels in Maine's premier tourist towns that he wouldn't check his dog into. With candor like this, it's hard to believe that Lewis is a state government employee - and one who seems to be succeeding.

Not that Maine tourist businesses have gotten a lot of support from the state in the past. Dann Lewis saves some of his most stinging criticism for state government's past leadership, or lack of it, in promoting tourism. "It really was not done on a very consistent or professional basis up until just a few years ago," Lewis says. "There was no plan, no overall vision, and very little funding. Maine consistently ranked nearly dead-last for promotional activity."

It would be easy to dismiss Dann Lewis's comments as self-serving if they weren't so undeniable. The King administration first approached Lewis about comint to Maine shortly after the 1994 gubernatorial election. He turned down the offer only to accept it a few months later after learning that the Office of Tourism job would not be business as usual. With King's support, Dann Lewis says the legislature tripled his budget to $4.5 million - and generated four and five times that investment in new tax revenues from additional tourism. For the first time, the office has set up a professionally managed research-based marketing program with one of the major tourism research firms in North America, Longwoods International. Longwoods has made some surprising discoveries about Maine.

"People in Maine tend to think everyone knows about Maine, and that just is not the case," Dann Lewis says. "If you compare the perceptions of people who have been to Maine and those who have not, and the differences are night and day. Perceptions of those that have never visited are in some cases really bizarre. They think Maine is very cold, very remote, on the Arctic Circle, with nothing to do, and nothing of historical or cultural interest."

Dann Lewis has also learned -and can show- that tourism contributes more than $300 million in taxes to the state's coffers and support the equivalent of 101,000 full-time jobs.

But he also has figures that show "Maine has been steadily losing market share," Lewis disclosed. "If tourism goes up 10 percent in the Northeast and only 3 percent in Maine, we're losing ground." The research indicates that the state has failed to keep up with its neighbors since at least 1994, "although we figure the decline goes back decades," Lewis notes.

If Dann Lewis has done nothing else, he has shown that it pays to market Maine, with a return on investment renging up to eleven dollars back for every dollar spent on tourism promotion. "Before he arrived, there hadn't been a good professional report done by an experienced independent market research firm that difinitively showed those kinds of returns," notes Bob Smith, whose Northeast Hospitality, Inc. bought the old Sebasco Harbor Resort in Phippsburg two years ago. "Once people saw that first report, they were amazed."

With many of Maine's bedrock industries, such as forest products steadily losing ground, Dann Lewis seems to be positioning tourism to pick up some of the slack and move up to the top of Maine's economic ladder.

Given the new candor and new professionalism in Maine tourism, just how successful do Mainers want Dann Lewis to be? Is there such a thing as saturation, too many tourists? How does the state protect the Maine that vacationers come here to see?

Dann Lewis believes that the key to handling more tourists lies in expanding the season rather than expanding facilities. He also has a vision of luring more visitors into interior and northern Maine. "One of our goals is to steer tourism into areas that need economic development." he explaines. In recent years, tourism growth rates have actually increased in interior Maine, although not always without complaints from coastal communities. "In Bar Harbor where business is flat, the people there wanted me to burn in effigy for promoting inland Maine."

Dann Lewis appreciates the issues that rising visitor numbers bring, but he expresses confidence that Maine can handle them. "Frankly, we don't have the infrastructure to allow all those people to come to Maine," Lewis points out, referring to everything from limited highway capacity to limited arrivals by air.

"Dann has really done a wonderful job with bringing Maine up to speed in the tourism business," notes Sebasco Harbor Resort's Bob Smith. "We're making progress and that has helped." In the end, Lewis's willingness to tell the tough truth may be the best thing that has happened to Maine since Mr. Moody built his diner.

from: Down East Magazine - April 1999 by Jeff Clark

Dann Lewis - Aiming for the Top

Goal: To make tourism Maine's leading industry

Augusta - Maine's director of tourism, Dann H. Lewis has left a string of success stories in his wake over the years, but now he faces another challenge - making tourism the number-one industry in the state within five years.

Dann Lewis was appointed to head up the state's tourism office by Governor Angus King, who has made no secret of his desire to promote tourism in Maine.

"It's a major element in the economic strategy for the state, " Dann Lewis said in a recent interview. "When I arrived the governor asked me to to prepare a five-year strategy for tourism. One of the major problems, I think, with tourism promotion and development in the past here in Maine is that there's been no consistent effort. There's never been a blueprint around which the industry could rally."

It's hoped the five-year strategy will remedy that. Dann Lewis said "The bottom line is to see tourism grow geographically, on a year-round basis" - and through tax revenue and job creation, "generally increase it's contribution to the ecomony."

Dann Lewis grew up in Massachusetts and in New Hampshire, where he attended Dartmouth College and majored in English literature and mechanical engineering. "After school I went down to the Bahamas and built and operated a small resort, and later wound up as director of marketing for the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism," Lewis said.

From the Bahamas, Dann Lewis went to the U. S. Virgin Islands where he became director of tourism and oversaw double-digit increases in visitor arrivals. Tha job led him to director of tourism for New York state. After leaving New York, Dann Lewis worked as president of several regional airlines from the West Coast to the Northeast. Though he's not a commercial pilot, he piloted seaplanes in the Caribbean islands.

The husband of a respected airline consultant and father of two, now resides in South China, Maine.

Dann Lewis said some areas of Maine, particularly the coastline already enjoy status as successful tourist markets. The new challenge is to market the Eastern and inland areas to visitors, and to stretch the season beyond just the summer months.

Similar efforts have paid off in other states, most notably in New York in the late 1970's when Lewis oversaw the creation of the heart-stopping "I Love New York" campaign. Before the campaign was implemented and promoted on the world stage, there were many areas of upstate New York that did not enjoy a flourishing tourism base and were very much like inland areas of Maine today. Dann Lewis went on to say" I Love New York changed all that, and the prospects here are just as good."

The most recent economic impact studies done in Maine show tourism account for more than 75,000 jobs and roughly $2.75 billion in expenditures, so its importance to the state cannot be understated, Lewis said.

"I would hazard a guess that at the end of the five-year strategy, you'll probably see tourism as the number-one industry in the state," Dann Lewis said.

by: Jonathan Humphrey

How To Keep 'Em Coming - The Dann Lewis Plan

Dann Lewis didn't ease into his new job as director of the Maine Office of Tourism. On his first day, Governor Angus King asked him to figure out how to maximize the value of tourism for Maine. King wanted a written long-term strategy, something the state tourism office had never had before. And he wanted it in three months.

Dann Lewis met his mid-October deadline. He marshalled the advice of business people statewide and crafted a five-year strategy that is likely to drive future discussions of tourism in Maine for years to come.

Dann Lewis's goal in the plan is to boost tourism expenditures in Maine, last officially estimated at $2.75 billion, by 15 percent by the year 2000. Among other things, the strategy calls for making tourism a year-round industry in Maine.

"It's an ambitious major program" said Dann Lewis, most recently an executive at several airline companies. But, Lewis said, "you've got to have a plan to know where you're going."

Dann Lewis admitted that the buggest hurdle over the long-term is likely to be securing adequate funding to further promote and develop tourism. The strategy repeats familiar refrains from past tourism studies, like enticing more tourists to venture inland and into northern Maine and extending the tourism season into traditionally slow months like November and December.

The Dann Lewis strategy has some new twists - ideas that could help Maine market itself without having to dig deeply into state coffers:

• The strategy puts more emphasis on the emerging trend of regional promotion in tourism. The state would continue to project an overall image of Maine. Beneath that marketing umbrella, different regions would market specific activities and packages, and develop a tourism infrastructure in their specific areas.



• The strategy also suggests the state team more often with private businesses, like airlines, car rental companies and tour operators, for more bang for the cooperative dollar. "Virtually everybody in the business should be looking for cooperative dollars to augment their marketing efforts," Dann Lewis said.
  

This is familiar turf for Dann Lewis. He worked on the early stages of the blockbuster "I Love New York" campaign earlier in his career. That, he said, was highly leveraged with private funds from domestic and international airlines, companies like Coca Cola and the Broadway theatre owners guild.

Dann Lewis acknowledges that Maine "won't get that type of scale as New York State, but there are similar opportunities on a smaller scale."

The point is, Lewis said, "we now have a long term plan, and with tourism a proven economic development engine, it doesn't make a lot of sense to ignore it.

"From: The Portland Press Herald, November 1995

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

Dann Lewis Brings Development, Travel Experience

Dann Lewis has done similar work for New York and the Virgin Islands, as well as tourism consulting.

A Texan with a background in the tourism and airline industries was named Tuesday to head Maine's state tourism office.

Dann H. Lewis is a former director of tourism development for New York state and the U. S. Virgin Islands, and has worked as a marketing consultant for several major clients, the King administration said. He is currently executive vice president of Cirrusair, an air-ground courier service, where he oversaw a corporate restructuring after the company had been sold in a bankruptcy proceeding.

Lewis was one of 13 candidates interviewed and one of only two from outside of Maine, state economic development Commissioner Thomas McBrierty said at a State House news conference. Tourism is Maine's largest industry.

"He's been here as a visitor. What he brings is tremendous experience in the tourism industy," McBrierty said. Governor Angus King, who joined McBrierty in making the announcement, said he wants Lewis to concentrate on coordinating the state's tourism promotion efforts with private groups that share its goals such as the Maine Publicity Bureau. "

I would like to see the industry speak with one voice" King said. "I want to change the idea that there is only one 'tourist season'," the governor said, referring to ongoing campaigns to lure more visitors to Maine during the traditional off-seasons, to ski in the winter, or take in fall foliage.

Maine spends roughly $2 million a year on tourism promotion. McBrierty said he does not know how that compares with neighboring states but added, "my sense it that it's relatively low."

Dann Lewis, who did not attend the news conference, holds a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

From: Associated Press, June 1995

Dann Lewis - From Tourist to Tourism Director

Dann H. Lewis has seen Maine through a tourist's eyes. He has flown into the Portland Jetport, dined on Maine lobster, visited friends along the coast and canoed through Western Maine on the Ossipee River.

Now, the Dallas airline executive will travel to Augusta. But this time, he's staying. Dann Lewis begins a job on Monday as the director of the Maine Office of Tourism, the top government position in one of the state's largest industries.

Lewis will oversee an office with an annual budget of $1.8 million and a four-person staff. His primary mission will be to market Maine as a tourism destination. Industry observers say Dann Lewis' most challenging tasks will be to promote the state despite tight budget constraints and to unite diverse interests within the tourism industry behind those efforts.

Lewis said in a telephone interview that one of his primary goals will be to "get the government side and the private-sector side to work more harmoniously. That's that I've found is very necessary and very beneficial in the other regions I've worked in."

Dann Lewis has worked in many other regions during the 36-year course of his career. He's headed tourism efforts for some big-name destination spots: the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands and New York State where he was in on the early stages of the "I Love New York" campaign.

Bern Rotman, director of communications for the New York State Department of Economic Development, said Lewis "had a pivotal role to play" in generating tourism industry support for the "I Love New York" campaign.

"Dann's role was extremely important at a time when we started the advertising in a very big way," Rotman said.

Lewis will have a lot less money to work with in Maine, where the tourism budget is only one-sixth the size of New York's. But Lewis has shown himself to be creative in using scarce resources, Rotman said. One way he has done that, Rotman said, is by seeking public-private partnerships - a common theme of Governor Angus King's administration.

Dann Lewis has spent nearly all his adult life in the travel industry. Immediately after graduating from Dartmouth College he went to the Bahamas and built a resort. "I did everything from drawing the plans to laying the blocks to doing the electrical wiring," he said.

Lewis subsequently ran his own tourism related development company, worked for years in the public sector for tourism offices and did consulting for clients such as Six Flags Corporation, a big amusement park operator. He's spent the last decade working for small airline companies, two of which he helped restructure following bankruptcy proceedings.

Job's a nice fit

Lewis says the job of tourism director in Maine dovetails with both his personal and professional interests. For one thing, he said, he and his wife have been wanting to return to New England for the past three years. They own a summer home in Freedom, N. H. on the Maine-New Hampshire border. They have friends in Maine. And Lewis grew up in Massachusetts.

Professionally too, the job seemed to be a good fit. Lewis said he decided to apply while visiting friends in York earlier this year. While there, he read a newspaper article describing King's belief in the importance of tourism to the Maine economy. It struck a chord.

Lewis became one of 13 applicants - and one of only two out-of-staters - interested in the tourism job. His appointment was announced in late June.

Lewis was chosen because of his broad experience and the administration's sense that he would "be good at teamwork," said Tom McBrierty, commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development and Lewis's boss.

The announcement has been greeted with relief, and curiosity, by Maine's tourism industry. The relief comes from the fact that the post has finally been filled after a vacancy of three months. The curiosity stems from the fact that few in Maine's tourism industry know Lewis or have even met him.

One exception is Karen Peterson, president of a York based marketing research firm, Davidson-Peterson Associates. She and Lewis have been friends for over 20 years. Also, his resume includes a five year stint as senior marketing consultant and West Coast director of her firm.

Peterson calls Lewis a "very gentle and quietly intelligent person, with a commanding knowledge of what makes tourism the world's largest industry". "What we need most in this industry in Maine is consensus-building" said Peterson. "He doesn't bring any baggage. He's not on one side or the other."

From: Portland Press Herals/Maine Sunday Telegram - July 1995 by Kim Strosnider

Dann Lewis Lands Top Job at Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle

St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands: Dann H. Lewis has been named Senior Vice President and General Manager for Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle with services between its maintenance headquarters in St. Croix, with services to San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. John, and the British Virgin Islands. According to Lewis, the airline has been in recent discussions with TWA for a code-share designation between all its routes and TWA's Caribbean hub located in San Juan. Dann Lewis most recently had been president and chief operating officer of Resort Commuter Airlines, a Trans World Express designated carrier operating from multiple locations within California. Prior to that, Dann Lewis had been first Board Chairman of Bahamasair, the national flag carrier of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Director of Tourism for the United States Virgin Islands, and Director of Tourism for the State of New York, having launched the world acclaimed "I Love New York" campaign.

From: St. Croix Avis, March 1988

TWA Links with Airline at John Wayne Airport

TWA has won a presence at lucrative, flight-restricted John Wayne Airport by contracting with a regional airline to bring passengers from Orange County's airport to Los Angeles International

President of the airline, Dann Lewis, stated that as part of the agreement, Orange County based Resort Commuter Airlines has changes its name and livery to Trans World Express. Lewis said that TWA has similar agreements with other commuter and regional airlines around the country, all operating under the name of Trans World Express. "It's an extension of the trunk airlines route schedule," he said.

Other major airlines also have such arrangements: American Airlines has American Eagle, United has United Express, Delta has Delta Connection, to name a few.

Resort Commuter continues to offer tickets to non-TWA affiliated passengers at $49 each way and joint fares with other airlines on connections to long distance flights out of LAX, said Lewis. TWA however, will offer the connections for free out of Orange County on many of its discount fares as well as on more expensive seats in its inventory, he said.

For example, as part of the promotion of the new Orange County service, TWA is offering a round-trip fare to New York for $198 from John Wayne, while the lowest fare available out of LAX alone is $258, Dann Lewis said.

From: Orange County Register, October 30, 1987

Dann Lewis Receives "Outstanding New Yorker" Award

New York - Dann H. Lewis, New York State deputy commissioner and director of tourism development, recently received the "Outstanding New Yorker" award from the New York City Junior Chamber of Commerce for his important contributions in the marketing and promotion of both New York City and State.

The occasion was celebrated at the Junior Chamber's third annual Big Apple Banquet, which was held at the elegant Park Lane Hotel.

Praise and honors are no strangers to Dann Lewis, who came to his demanding deputy commissioner's position in the New York State Department of Commerce from the directorship of the U. S. Virgin Islands department of tourism, and the marketing director's post with the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. In his latter capacity he helped establish Bahamasair, the national airline of the Bahamas, of which he subsequently became the first chairman. With this impressive background Dann Lewis was eminently qualified for the difficult task of bringing to the attention of business travelers and tourists the facilities, sights and cultural treasures of New York City and New York State. His expertise was translated into the remarkable success of the state's "I Love New York" promotion campaign on one hand - which he coordinated - and the vastly increased awareness throughout New York of the importance of meetings, conventions and incentive groups to the Empire State's economy, and morale on the other - an awareness which Dann Lewis fostered.

For all these reasons, Meeting and Conventions congratulates Dann Lewis.

From: Meetings and Conventions Magazine - May, 1980 - by Mel Hosanski

Thousands of Visitors Love New York

The "I Love New York" campaign has brought many thousands of new visitors, which means more tax revenues to New York State -- but individual municipalities and attractions will have to do their own work to draw those tourists through the turnstiles, Dann H. Lewis said yesterday.

Dann Lewis is justifiably proud of the campaign's record because he originated it as deputy commissioner of New York State's Division of Tourism. He spoke yesterday at the Rochester County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Lewis went on to say, "I would warn you that the success of the program does not mean that individual resorts and attractions should automatically expect to see more business coming in with little effort on their part. Individual attractions must continue to advertise."

But the potential is there if they do, Dann Lewis believes. His speech cited figure after figure to show the research the division did before starting the "I Love New York" campaign and the results it has had. Among the figures Lewis cited:

* The travel industry employs 200,000 full-time in New York state and brings $6 billion per year in sales. It's the No. 2 industry in New York. But before 1977 there had been a steady decline in the tourism budget and in New York's market share in the Northeast.

* Research showed that outside New York City the "promotable" attractions were clearly outdoors - the lakes and mountains and unequalled scenic beauty of the state.

* New York ranked low - at 8 percent - a few years ago for "top of mind" awareness of the state. That figure has more than tripled and is growing monthly. "Even better," Dann Lewis added, "all of this can be traced to their awareness of our advertising. Without the ads, there would have been no change at all."

* In 1977, the first year the ads concentrated on upstate, the number of overall trips by tourists to the Northeastern states remained about the same as the previous year -- stagnant -- but trips to New York state increased by 24 percent. The big loser was the New England states.

Lewis figured there were over 1,850,000 individual trips to New York, conservatively estimating that the trips brought in $200 million in income and $14 million in taxes.

Dann Lewis said during the first 18 months of the campaign $10.9 million was spent for advertising and other forms of marketing. "That's about a 6 to 1 ratio of tax dollars generated to advertising expense, a ratio I'm sure we can all live with."

Apart from its dollar effect the campaign brought in 11 major awards, including a special Tony award. "We started out with an effective idea and it just snowballed all over the world," Lewis said. "New Yorkers all over the state have a renewed sense of pride -- we see people wearing the I Love New York buttons and putting bumper stickers on their cars. Even New York City Taxi Drivers are saying "come visit again soon" as they drop people off at the state's metropolitan airports.

From: Rochester News, by Anne Tanner, Financial Editor

Dann H. Lewis - "Broadway Loves New York"

It was raining. But this was a big night for the New York Division of Tourism and an even bigger night for Broadway. You had major big stars shooting for union scale wages. You had chorus lines waiving residuals. You had Peter Pan's Sandy Duncan being hoisted into the darkening night-lit sky. You also had Captain Hook, Nana-the-dog, Wendy Dear and the Darling Boys. Last but hardly least, you had the folks from Wells, Rich, Greene Advertising and Dann Lewis, the tweed-jacketed Director of the Division of Tourism (who was paying for this shebang).

There was a lot riding on this thing. The League of New York Theatres and Producers calculate that the "I Love New York" commercials have sold a cool 1.8 million theatre tickets, and the Department of Commerce figures a booming 126 million in revenue has been brought into this state since the campaign began. New York needs that revenue after the huge slump of '75.

So the rain was being ignored.

Sandy Duncan Loves New York.

And Lucie Arnaz Loves New York

And Angela Landsbury Loves New York

And Oh Yes, Beverly Sills, who will kick off this Broadway-packed, 60 second commercial when it hits the air on November 17th, Loves New York.

On this campaign alone, five shows are being covered: Sweeney Todd was shot was shot down by South Street Seaport, Dancin was shot on the steps of the Plaza Fountain, They're Playing Our Song was filmed on a flatbed truck in the middle of Times Square, Evita was shot on the steps of the New York Public Library and of course Peter Pan. Everyone belting out "I Love New York" at the top of their lungs.

Suddenly Steve Horn (the best cameraman-director in the business) says "God, the Twin Towers are getting covered with fog." The Twin Towers are lit up. So, for that matter, is the entire east side of lower Manhattan. A woman from the Division of Tourism saw to that. She called the Building Owners and Maintenance Association and asked if they'd leave the lights on in their east side offices to form the background for the new "I Love New York" commercial. They said "sure".

In a funny litttle gesture of excitement Sandy Duncan crosses her arms in front of her chest, flings them wide again and as she is hoisted high above the Brooklyn Bridge says "There's something in the air!" She throws back her head and laughs the enchanted laugh of a little boy who will never grow up, and we are all, for a split second, young again.

It's a wrap and Dann Lewis is beaming.

From: Playbill - September 1979

Dann Lewis Calls Co-Op Tour "Exciting"

"It was one of the most exciting travel promotions I have ever directed," said Deputy Commissioner Dann Lewis, at the closing night celebration of the transcontinental kick-off tour for the 1979-80 I LOVE NEW YORK winter co-operative advertising campaign.

Now, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta and San Francisco can also learn why so many other areas of the nation Love New York.

Dann Lewis continued, "thanks to the combined efforts of Braniff, Delta, Eastern and United Airlines, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York Visitors and Conventions Bureau, the League of New York Theatres & Producers, Radio City Music Hall, and the casts of Grease, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the Division of Tourism was able to spread the I LOVE NEW YORK message into major new markets across the county." Dann Lewis said "we would have been financially unable to reach these markets otherwise."

The promotion culminated in a spectacular three-city tour by 39 members of the Radio City Music Hall troupe, featuring the world-famous "Rockettes" who staged a thirty minute production for the people of San Francisco in a mobbed Union Square.

Dann Lewis said "it was an overwhelming expression of good will on behalf of New York City and New York State - one that I am sure will leave these communities with a positive and lasting impression of our great city and state."

from: I Love New York Tourism Memo - September 1979

Bahamasair: First Aim is to Stabilise Island Links

The first priorities of the newly launched Bahamasair (TTG, June 22) is to provide stable services domestically within the Bahamas, and internationally to Miami and other U. S. gateways.

Mr. Dann H. Lewis, chairman of the new Bahamas flag carrier, said in London last week that Bahamasair would try to maintain the best possible services in the islands and also through the Miami gateway. The next step would be to set up U. S. interline links from Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Tampa. A study of longer haul routes will be made in 1974.

Mr. Dann Lewis, who announced last week that the carrier has launched scheduled services almost two weeks ahead of schedule, said reliable services were of vital importance in the Bahamas Out Islands.

Mr. Lewis said the carrier would have exclusive rights for all domestic flights, and first option on international routes. Lewis confirmed that negotiation are being finalised for Bahamasair to operate a route to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Bahamian government was assisted in the formation of the new carier by an airline negotiating committee under the direction of Mr. Clement Maynard, minister of tourism. Dann Lewis, who was chairman of the negotiating committee and now chairman of the new airline itself, said: "The formation of Bahamasair is the culmination of two years of effort."

"Slow progress was made in the first 22 months of negotiations, with rapid developments taking place in the last two months." The setting up of a national flag carrier in any part of the world is a complex business, and it is far from unusual for new carriers to bypass their launch date. Yet, Bahamasair launched its services two weeks ahead of its July 1 target.

Bahamasair's total staff is now about 300 which includes flight attendants, reservations agents and airport personnel. Dann Lewis said additional staff would be required as the airline receives more equipment and expands its services.

Concerning Bahamasair offices abroad, Lewis said an office in Miami would initially be the first. He added that the airline would be relying heavily on Bahamas Tourism offices in the U. K., Europe and North America to provide support. Billboards and advertisements will also be used employing the slogan that "Nobody knows the Bahamas like Bahamasair".

Dann Lewis went on to say that negotiations were already underway for international joint fares and interline agreements with many of the worlds major flag carriers to facilitate "through" passenger itineraries and ticketing from international points to Nassau, Freeport, and all of the Bahamas Out Islands.

from - TTG, June 1973

Lewis Named for Bahamas Fledgling Airline

TOP MAN in the Bahamasair organization, the new Government backed airline which starts flying on July 1 is Dann Lewis, assistant director of tourism, carrier relations at the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.

He has been appointed Chairman of Bahamian Air Carrier Holdings, Ltd., parent company for the fledgling airline. His title will be Chairman of the Board for BahamasAir.

Also named is a board comprising Ellison Thompson (permanent secretay to the minister of tourism); William Allen (director of research, Bahamas Monetary Authority); Walter Johnson, Jr. (an aviation marketing consultant); and G. Jack Miller (of R. Dixon Speas Associates, the US based consultants).

from: Travel News, London, England, May 1973

Building Current, Eleuthera, Bahamas

Good progress on a big new development at the Current, Eleuthera, was reported Friday by a young American Businessman, Dann H. Lewis, of Hanover, New Hampshire.

Dann Lewis, who at 22 must be one of the youngest overseas investors ever to come to the Bahamas, is President of the Current Development Ltd., a family owned company. The firm will be spending the next two years on the construction of some 20 duplex-type beach homes on the south side of Current Island. A Club, to be known as the Current Club will also be built on the south side together with a marina with a fueling dock, and water and power facilities for visiting yachtsman. Dann Lewis said Friday that already two private homes and one duplex had been completed at the Current, and five more buildings are under construction. The main clubhouse is scheduled for completion by mid-December, in time for the winter season.

Current Development Ltd. has bought 25 acres of land with magnificent beach frontages on the north and south sides of the island. There are good anchorages for yachts and swimming conditions that are ideal.

When the main club house is completed, Lewis said boats will be available for water skiing and fishing. The development is near the Current villages and near to the airstrip and main road.

Dann Lewis first came to the Bahamas during his vacations from Dartmouth College. He and his family were so impressed with the beauty of the islands that they formed the Current Development Ltd. to invest here. Lewis, as chief shareholder and President, came down on the eve of his graduation from Dartmouth to start operations in March of this year. He is enrolled as an electrical engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but has taken leave of absence in order to undertake the project. Local Bahamians will both build and staff the new resort property.

from: Nassau Guardian, August, 1960