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Joseph Marinelli

Joseph Marinelli

President, Visit Savannah, Visit Savannah

With more than 30 years of experience in the tourism and hospitality industry, Joseph Marinelli is currently the president of Visit Savannah, the destination marketing organization for Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia.

Before taking the helm of Visit Savannah in January 2007, Joe served as Senior Vice President at Experience Columbus, the convention bureau for the Columbus, Ohio region.  Prior to his ten years in Columbus, Joe served in various sales and marketing roles for Westin Hotels and Resorts in Detroit, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Washington DC, and at the famed Plaza Hotel in New York City.

Now in his role overseeing Savannah’s primary tourism marketing organization, Joe and his team focus on attracting both the leisure visitors and conventions/meetings to the Savannah area while driving business to the more than 2,000 members of the Savannah Chamber.

Joe Chair’s the public policy committee of the Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus and nationally serving as Immediate Past Chair of the Destination & Travel Foundation in Washington, D.C.  Joe is also on the Boards of the Savannah Convention Center and the Savannah Music Festival.

Joe is a professional member of the American Society of Association Executives, the Professional Convention Management Association, and Meeting Professionals International.

In his free time, Joe enjoys golfing, playing tennis and pickleball and has a passion for the professional sports teams of his hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. He and his wife Rene have a 19-year old son, who is currently a sophomore at the University of South Carolina, and live on Whitemarsh Island.

 

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