Kate Fox, Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism - Executive Director

Welcome to season three of Bed and Butter, the podcast where passion meets profession in the world of hospitality. In partnership with Southern Maine Community College, we're back with fresh energy and even bigger conversations. This season, we're talking with culinary innovators, a brewery entrepreneur, hotel and industry leaders, a TED Talk speaker and influencer with a purpose-driven message, as well as one of the top tourism execs in the country, all sharing insights that will inspire and elevate your journey.

So whether you're just starting out or aiming for the top, Bed and Butter is your go-to guide. Let's dive in. Welcome back to Bed and Butter, where hospitality meets heart. Today, we're joined by a true trailblazer in Massachusetts tourism, Kate Fox, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.

With over two decades of experience and a passion for showcasing the Bay State's beauty, from the Berkshires to Cape Cod and let's not leave out Salem, Kate is here to share how strategic storytelling, community partnerships, and bold leadership are driving billions in visitor spending. And revitalizing local communities. Let's expand our minds today to more than just hospitality. Let's talk tourism.

So sit back, relax, and get inspired. Hi, Kate. Thanks for joining us. Hi, Sean.

Thanks for having me. Well, you know, it was really kind of neat that I've known you for many years, and I thought it'd be great to have you, you know, through your career and, you know, get a little bit about your career. Yeah, but I mean, you are executive director of the Tourism Association in Massachusetts, which is an amazing thing to have you sit in on a podcast. So I feel honored to have you here, thank you.

Oh, it's my pleasure. I am honored to be invited and I'm always happy to talk tourism. Yeah, so I think what's neat about this discussion will be not directly related to hotels or restaurants like many of our podcasts, but tourism is such a diverse field and it's great. I mean, you kind of do all of the stuff.

You know, you're involved with hotels. And things like that. So this is going to be great. But I do know you basically through Salem.

That's how we met. And you were the executive director of the Destination Salem. And we probably met 10 years ago. And I know we had some fun together when we were building and thinking about building the hotel and all.

But your career really goes back further than that. So can you just talk a little bit about, you were in the Destination Salem once and then went to something else and came back. Talk a little bit about that. Yeah.

So I was the director of Destination Salem, which was the Office of Tourism and Cultural Affairs for Salem, Massachusetts. For about four years in the last century, the late 90s. And then I left and I went to the Essex National Heritage Commission to do cultural tourism development for the 34 communities of Essex County. And the heritage area is a partnership project with national parks.

So that was a really unique and exciting opportunity to work with organizations and communities that were developing their cultural and heritage tourism products. And then I had the opportunity to return to Salem and take the helm at Destination Salem again, and was there for 16 years before being invited to come up to the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism under the Healy Driscoll administration. And it's been a great privilege to have this position for two years now.

Time flies. Wow. Yeah. I, you know, before I forget, I'm, you talked about the heritage in the area and I, that's one of the things with Salem.

It's like, it's not just witches. I mean, in goblins and ghosts, there's a lot more to it. And I think what I noticed is something that just came out, I think, on your LinkedIn today, talking about MA250. And I know in the city of Salem, that's a lot of the discussion right now.

Can you just touch on that? That wasn't even one of the questions I had, but it just was where I was waiting for you to join. I'm happy to. So we are at the Office of Tourism taking the leadership role in the development of the Massachusetts 250 commemorations that we kicked off a year ago.

And it's when all is said and done, it will be almost three years of historical commemorations and celebrations of everything revolutionary about Massachusetts. And for Salem, this coincides with their quadricentennial. So in 2026, Salem will be marking 400 years of history, while Massachusetts and the nation are marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And we like to talk about Massachusetts and the semi-quincentennial as a state of firsts because the first shot of the revolution was here in Lexington and Concord.

And we have been a home to firsts and revolutionary thoughts and ideas ever since and before the revolution. So we've got a website, Massachusetts250.org. People can learn lots more about that campaign, the programs, and the things that we're doing around ME 250.

Well, I know I didn't prep you for that, but I knew you'd know a lot about it because that's a big deal. No, we live and breathe. And, you know, you can buy a T-shirt. We have a shop on the website.

And we even have a podcast for MA-250 called It's Revolutionary, and it features its mini pods. So there are six-minute podcasts that feature things that are revolutionary about Massachusetts today. And some of them connect historically, and some are just, you know, significant things that we do across the state here and now. Wow.

So with your career, you studied in college, you were a BA in English language and literature. How did that translate? I mean, I mean, obviously everybody knows going to college is you grow up. That's the thing.

But how did that might translate into the roles you've had, at least the last couple of roles you've had? Yeah, somebody asked me, an intern asked me recently that same question. And, you know, I chose a liberal arts path for college and went to William Smith College in upstate New York and studied English and religious studies was my minor. And I have often said my parents were wondering what on earth I was going to do with that.

And Salem was the most remarkable fit for my education in an unexpected way because I read Nathaniel Hawthorne quite extensively in high school and college. And to walk by the custom house where he worked and to provide stories and interpretation and invite visitors to the House of the Seven Gables and to go down Chestnut Street and see the home that he lived in with his wife, Sophia. Was a great synergy for my English major. and the religious studies.

You know, I studied Wicca and witchcraft pretty extensively when I was in college. And so I had that knowledge base when I came into Salem and had the opportunity to work with the witch community and the pagan traditions that are so embedded in the city of Salem. So it all worked out quite accidentally. Well, I'm from Maine and I don't think I'd really been to Salem before we started looking at it for a hotel development.

But it just, it's a remarkable city and it's got, it's so diverse. I mean, when you talk tourism, it's got, it's got the, you know, the witch and hocus pocus, but it's got the history, it's got waterfront. There's so many things within that. And there's a lot of businesses around.

So, I mean, it was a great thing. So talk to me a little about maybe the struggles when you first came to Salem and how things were, it's renowned and how maybe there's some things you had to figure out, whether it be your first round with destination or the second round and how you overcame some of those struggles. Yeah, the first round was very focused on the cultural tourism. The National Trust for Historic Preservation had recently, in the 1990s, come out with their strategic planning around development of cultural tourism and heritage tourism assets nationally.

And there was leadership in Salem that was really interested in how do we tell those stories? How do we lean into the maritime history that brought us the National Historic Site? Many people don't know that Salem, it's now a national park, but it was the first National Historic Site to be named in the country and to tell that story of maritime trade. And the architecture, Salem has the largest collection of federal style architecture in the country.

The literary with Nathaniel Hawthorne and the contemporary writers who also call Salem home. And Charlotte Fortin, a poet, and she was a student of the Salem Normal School. And so, so much of the history, and they really wanted to dive deeper into those stories and that authentic Salem story to connect with Taurus and sort of broaden the reach beyond what it was known for internationally as the home of the Salem Witch Trials, which is a very important and significant historic story.

But it's also a very sad and dark time in the American history. And so we wanted to tell all the other stories and share the wealth across the timeline of Salem. And so that was the big challenge when I first came on and engaging with the different sites, museums, the businesses to get on board with destination marketing across the city. And when I came back in 2003, three.

We had tremendously strong leadership in the mayor. Mayor Driscoll had been elected the year prior to my returning, and she really brought the Chamber of Commerce, the Office of Torres, the Salem Partnership, which is another business organization, and the community as a whole together to move the city forward on a path of economic development that would bring new business revitalization and positive economic benefit to the city and the residents throughout. I mean, Salem's historic downtown is one square mile, but the tourism industry and the tax benefits and the visitation and the sustainability tourism brings to the business community, that benefits all the residents, all 45,000.

And the mayor understood that and had us all working in the same direction. And one of the things, I think the next question I had was relative, how did you help the successes of Salem? That's exactly what you're talking about. I was bringing that together.

How about the balancing of that? You know, a lot of communities, the balancing of tourism and the balances of the locals, the people who live around. How did you find a way? And I saw you a number of times do it masterfully.

Just touch on that, would you? I think you have to acknowledge the impacts that tourism brings to a community, especially a historic community like Salem. And this is true across Massachusetts, that when you bring tourism in, it does bring in traffic. It does bring in additional visitation.

It does have the potential to put a crunch on the residents' travel patterns and things they want to do. And that is no more true than it is during October in Salem when I would constantly hear feedback from residents who couldn't get to their kids' soccer games on a Saturday morning because of the amount of tourism coming into the city to go to the museums, go to the hotels, and celebrate Salem haunted happenings. And so I think the first thing you do is acknowledge it and try to find ways to accommodate the resident needs and prioritize when you can throughout the calendar the needs of the residents and ask for their understanding as the businesses thrive during the peak season and make as much money as they can that will sustain them through the quiet season.

And provide the tax driven though. Yeah, and a lot of the businesses rely on tourism's peak season to sustain themselves through the quiet season. And it's not true as much as it once was, but October was Salem's Christmas season. So the retailers, they needed that October business in order to survive the winter.

And I think we did a really good job of extending the season. We've done a lot of work statewide in the last two years. And prior to when I joined Mott to do season extension work and highlight the shoulder and softer seasons and make sure people know there's more to do across Massachusetts throughout the year. So talk a little bit about opportunities for people.

A lot of our listeners are in Hilton or Marriott or they're in colleges or trade schools. But what's in tourism beyond hotel restaurants? And now you've mentioned cultural tourism. That's a huge thing that a lot of people might not.

In fact, the college that this podcast is produced at did a trip on cultural tourism and went to Salem two years ago. Oh, I love it. So it was neat. But so talk about what other things does tourism do?

I mean, what other careers can happen in tourism? Well, I think the best part about the tourism industry is that it's first jobs, last jobs, and everything in between. And you think about the careers. I know banquet servers who have had really successful careers and loved their work for decades.

And, you know, from college interns to, you know, my mom went into tourism as a retirement job. She was a tour guide at Mystic Seaport. So, you know, whether it's part-time or full-time, there are so many opportunities. And I love to remind students that we need marketing.

We need economists. We need bookkeepers. We need accountants. We need all of the aspects of business data analysis and communications, public relations.

So there are, through destination marketing opportunities, through different businesses, and you can find career paths through small business and through corporate paths in tourism. And it's all there waiting for the next crop of college graduates and so many opportunities. And there's, you know, you get into outdoor recreation, you get into the arts and culture and all of the small businesses that comprise the backbone of our tourism industry, because at the end of the day, we're bringing people into communities and main streets, and they are supporting the restaurants, the shops, the attractions, the museums.

So it's really, it's limitless because tourism touches every corner of our communities. I just noticed that your post on LinkedIn relative to the tourism, the volume, I mean, I think it was generating $2.3 billion in state and local revenues and supporting 155,000 jobs across Massachusetts. That's a big industry.

It is. It is. I have colleagues who say it is the third largest industry in Massachusetts. It's very difficult because tourism is not one.

When you look at industry codes on the federal level, tourism doesn't benefit from having one industry code. It's a combination of many different industries, including hospitality, tourism, retail, hotels. And so when we hire agencies, research agencies to do our economic impact studies they look at all of it and give us a comprehensive picture of and profile of the the benefits of the tourism industry and it is significant it generates spending it generates tax revenue and it supports jobs so let's we i don't want to take too much time to on salem because i know that's that's history so to speak um but as your role as executive director of mass office of tourism that is a big deal in my mind i I mean, that's a real good...

And again, it's an honor to have you here, but I'm thinking, I've got a friend that's like a big deal. So it feels good. But you're dealing with, you know, from the Berkshires to Cape Cod to Boston to Salem. I mean, those are all big national destinations.

Give us a rundown of the most exciting things you've done so far. You've been there two years, you said, and what do you feel really good about? So we have... I think what I feel really good about is we're bringing the tourism industry together and we're providing some unifying direction.

We've accomplished a lot of wins since I joined the Office of Travel and Tourism. We have built a really fantastic team and developed strategic plans around marketing and communications and research. We're giving away grants to support programming around MA-250, as well as destination development capital grants, which are those less than sexy grant projects to allow organizations and communities to improve their accessibility and their HVAC systems. And, you know, I did one tour at the Topsfield Fair.

They'd received a destination development capital grant and they put water tanks under the parking lot. And so we literally stood and looked at the asphalt. And but it's a game changer for the success of the fair and their ability to accommodate more people safely because they have better water treatment now. So I get irrationally excited about capital grants because it's something that really helps the organizations and communities improve the services they're able to offer their guests.

We have, across Massachusetts, 16 tourism regions, and I have gotten to almost all of them. I'm getting to the islands this fall. I'll be in Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, both of them this fall, and those will be my last two of the 16. but they are all very distinct and they offer really wonderful experiences year-round.

We've learned a lot about, I mean, I am not a skier, but we have 11 ski areas across Massachusetts. And we are a wonderful learn-to-ski state and a place where you can do day trips to go skiing and learn to ski, and that's a great benefit to tourists. And Wachusett is accessible from Boston via train, so it's a great benefit to international travelers coming in who want to learn to ski on a not-scary ski hill. Some of the history and the way it connects to what Massachusetts has today, I did not realize whale watching started in Massachusetts.

So we have the history of whaling in ports like Nantucket and New Bedford, and then we have modern whale watching and ecology and the blue economy out of Gloucester, Boston, and New Bedford and Provincetown. So lots of opportunities. And it's just, I could work every day and not see everything. And I think that's the joy of tourism is it never feels like a job.

Wow. That's great. So I think it's interesting that you've rejoined with, well, now Lieutenant Governor Chris, Kim Driscoll, and the governor. And how do you interchange with Lieutenant Governor and the governor?

So the Office of Travel and Tourism is part of the Massachusetts Marketing Partnership. And that is housed in the Executive Office of Economic Development. So within the state, I work with our Secretary of Economic Development and that is the cabinet level position that is interacting directly with the governor and lieutenant governor. The governor and lieutenant governor are committed to the tourism industry in Massachusetts and especially the Massachusetts 250 campaign and all that that brings to the table.

So I do get to interact with them at events and work with their teams to ensure the success of the programming that we're moving forward. And so I get to see Lieutenant Governor on a fairly regular basis through programs and events. But the office itself is removed, a couple of steps removed from the governor and lieutenant governor. Well, I love the fact that when I see history in Massachusetts, Salem, Boston, I don't remember it.

I mean, I don't remember being there. You know, if I go to Florida, it's like, I know that. You know, I know that history. But it's nice that we're talking some real history.

It's like you said, 400. I mean, that's huge. And 250 is huge. So how big a budget is there involved with the Office of Tourism?

There's a big number of them. Well, so the Massachusetts Marketing Partnership includes the Office of Tourism, the Office of International Trade, the film office, and used to include the Sports Commission as well. And we're bringing back our sports marketing. It was dormant for several years.

So we have, through the Massachusetts Tourism Trust, a $10 million budget for the Massachusetts Marketing Partnership and use that strategically to promote all things in Massachusetts. Great. And I know from dealing with the Maine Office of Tourism, there's a lot of documentation to say, okay, what kind of return do we get or what kind of impact did we make with that money? So obviously the money you're spending, you know it's working or not.

And if it's not, you just. That's good in business and it's good in governmental affairs. So thank you for doing that. And that's why we do the economic impact report.

And we also invest in tourism economics to provide live data tracking on who's coming, where they're coming from, and how they're spending their money and what they're doing when they get here. And we've added that dashboard to our capacity at Mott just so that we're able to demonstrate to the governor and lieutenant governor and also the residents of Massachusetts, our business partners and the regional tourism councils, the value of tourism and why we want to keep the engine moving.

Take your history hat off and put your future hat on. What's the tourism industry going to be like? What's tourism? What are the trends today, maybe?

And then what other trends, what do you see in the next 10 years? We have great timing because I've just returned from U.S. Travel's ESTO Conference, which is their annual conference for destination marketers.

And it's a lot of discussion about AI and how artificial intelligence is a game changer for tourism. And it's a game changer for how humans are getting information on the website, you know, or the internet. Everybody is saying that we will need to make sure our websites are designed for AI first in the next three to five years, that people aren't going to be using websites the way they have for the last 20 to 30 years. They're going to be going into their favorite search engine and typing in their question, and AI is going to pull that information and get the response.

So I think that's something we're all looking to work with and make sure that we're, I don't know that we're going to be ahead of it, but that we're in step to keep pace. Well, being ahead of it might not be the perfect place to be. You want to be somewhat tested before you jump in with both feet. So I think that's great.

And I think, you know, I always use this term that you don't have to be, you don't necessarily get old as long as you're relevant. And I think in our offices, in government and in business, and if we're not staying relevant, staying up to the challenge in technology, we're going to get lost somewhere in the shuffle. So I commend you for, A, going to the conference and hearing that and then coming back and saying, okay, how do we do this within our office? I've got maybe time for one more question here, but talk to yourself.

And give yourself some advice, let's say back when you were in your 20s, what would you tell yourself? You wish you'd done it. What would you say? You ought to try this.

You ought to do this. Oh boy. You know, I think I would tell myself to show up. That it's not, you're not going to get anywhere if you don't get out and go to the meeting, go to the event, build the network, and show up and be part of the community that you want to be in professionally and personally.

You don't move forward in a void. And I think in this digital and technological age, it's really easy to work from home. It's really easy, as I'm doing today, you know, it's really easy to be remote, but you have to balance that with being in person and being engaged. And there's no better industry to show that than tourism, or you can't have a tourism experience if you don't go to the place.

So continue exploring and continue to open your eyes to what's around you. I think that's the most important thing we can do. Well, I love that. And I commend you for being that kind of person.

You could be stuck in an office all day if you allowed yourself to be, because there's so much information that you're dealing with, but you're out, you're visiting, you've got 15 out of 16 zones covered and the other one's coming up this time. And I commend you. And I want to thank you very much. I think we've got a lot of listeners who maybe think of tourism because of me, maybe because I'm a hotel guy and restaurant guy, but now it's much more expanded.

And what you've given us today talks about the culture of tourism and all the other things, ski resorts and historic and all of that stuff. So thank you so much for being part of this. And we'll continue to watch the ads. And actually, there's a new campaign coming out like today or tomorrow or something as well for Massachusetts.

Is that right? Is that 250? 250. So we've got Massachusetts 250 and that our general tourism campaign is called Made Possible and it's everything made possible in Massachusetts.

And you can find more on that at visitma.com. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Thank you. And Kate, you've been wonderful. Thanks, Sean. I appreciate the opportunity.

It's great to see you. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Bed and Butter, the hospitality podcast produced in partnership with Southern Maine Community College. Subscribe to the podcast to ensure that you don't miss any episodes. And while you're at it, share it with someone who might benefit from these insights.

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