NEWS

At last week’s Governor’s Tourism Conference on Jekyll Island, Visit Savannah President Joseph Marinelli spoke on a panel about emergency preparedness and crisis communications. Joining him on the panel were Mark Adams, president & CEO of the Gatlinburg, Tennesee CVB; an emergency manager from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency; and Gary Wheat, president & CEO of Visit Macon, formerly president of Visit Aurora, Colorado. Topics of discussion included advanced preparation of a detailed crisis plan, and working with governmental leadership to organize and control the flow of information to the public. Visit Savannah was lauded for its use of Facebook Live video to show the actual state of the city following the hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Irma in 2017.