As the Northern Kentucky tourism industry continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the destination marketing organization for the three NKY counties, meetNKY, has added two new staff members in anticipation of a strong return to travel in the region in 2022.
Amanda Johannemann
Joining the organization as the new Director, Destination Marketing and Communications is Amanda Johannemann. Most recently the Director, Talent Strategies for the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Johannemann will add strengths to the organization in project management and strong community relationships.
“We are looking ahead to Destination 2030 as we add Amanda to our team,” said meetNKY President & CEO, Julie Kirkpatrick. “With her strong marketing and communication skills and her community-focused mindset, we know she will be vital to restoring and growing demand for Northern Kentucky as part of our active Cincy region collaborations.”
The organization is also adding a new Regional Director, Leisure Sales to return a focus to driving demand from group travel both from the domestic and international market.
Gina Christ-Kohler will join the organization on January 31 and as a partnership with the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau, focus on the entire Cincy region as a destination of choice.
Gina Christ-Kohler
“One of our strategic priorities for 2022 and beyond is restoring and growing demand from the leisure travel market particularly the escorted tour market domestically and the individual market internationally,” said Kirkpatrick. “We are excited for Gina to take on this role with her career-long track record of consistently exceeding goals and her love for this region.”
The organization continues to be focused with its growth partners in the region, the Northern Kentucky Chamber and Tri-Ed on initiatives to accelerate the destination as a premier place to live, work and play. meetNKY is in the middle of a strategic planning process to develop a tourism master plan for Northern Kentucky.
Tourism is a signature industry in Northern Kentucky representing close to $2 billion of spending and close to 14,000 jobs in the three-county metro area. It is also a prime part of the Cincy Region. The economic impact numbers are reflective of 2019 spending and the organization is focused on returning the destination to those records and eclipsing the records by 2023.
