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.

Dann Lewis begins a job Monday as the director of the Maine Office of Tourism, the top government position in one of the state's largest industries.

Dann Lewis will oversee an office with an annual budget of $1.8 million. His primary mission will be to market Maine as a tourism destination.

In a telephone interview, Dann Lewis said one of his primary goals will be to get the governemtn and private sector to work together.

Dann Lewis has worked in many other areas during his 36 year career. He has headed the tourism efforts for many big-name destinations: the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, and New York state where he was in on the early development of the "I Love New York" campaign.

Bern Rotman of the New York Department of Economic Development said "Dann Lewis had a pivotal role to play in generating industry support for the "I Love NY" campaign.

Dann Lewis has spent nearly his entire adult life in the travel industry, and says the job of tourism director has a nice fit with his personal and professional interests.

Chosen because of his broad experience, Dann Lewis has much to learn about Maine and its tourism industry. Dann knows he'll have to squeeze as much as he can out of a tourism budget which is small by comparison, and hasn't increased in years.

source: Maine Sunday Telegram, Vol. 107 Num. 52, 1995, by Kim Strosnider

Dann Lewis 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 H Lewis to Airlift "I Love NY" to Japan

A joint advertising program to encourage more Japanese travel to New York has been developed with Japan Airlines and the New York Division of Tourism, says Dann Lewis, Director of Tourism.

JAL print advertising in Japan will carry the "I Love New York" logo, and special tv commercials are being filmed in New York. In addition, radio commercials will feature the "I Love NY" theme music, already well known around the world.

Dann Lewis and Robert McKeon finalized the agreement while in Tokyo. A special "I Love New York" travel desk has been placed in the main ticket office of JAL.

from 1980

I Love NY Notes - Dann Lewis

by Dann Lewis, Director of Tourism

The state of New York is off and running again for fall with its internationally famous "I Love NY" tourism campaign.

Resorts on Long Island are now operating at 97% capacity, and in the Thousand Islands, 93%.

Special briefings for travel agents are to be held around the country in connection with the "I Love New York" campaign. This special campaign has been developed in collaboration with Delta, Eastern, Braniff, and United airlines.

The Summer People

Well neighbor, truth be told, the state thinks the onslaught of visitors is a good thing, because most of them come with a wallet full of disposable cash which they’re going to spend on ice cream, boat rides, t shirts, and rocks with "Bar Harbor" painted on them. There’s just no way we can get these folks to just mail their cash to us because we’re special. They’re going to have to physically come and see how special we are. And the state Department of Tourism has this guy, Executive Director Dann Lewis, who’s whole job is to get those people from their homes in Pennsylvania and New York, to your main street in their RV.

Lewis, appearing on Time Warner Cable’s "Maine Matters" show says, "There’s not a family in Maine in truth that doesn’t benefit. If you consider that over 101 thousand jobs are generated or supported by tourism in the state. There’s approximately 7.7 billion dollars of economic impact per year. It generates over 312 million dollars for the general fund. If that money weren’t coming in from visitors, everybody’s taxes would go up a great deal."

from "The Summer People" by Chad Gilley, July 20, 1999

More Than Lobsters and Moose

By TUX TURKEL, Portland Press Herald, Mar 9, 2004

"It must be Maine," targets Northeast residents who have never been to Maine and might be surprised at the diversity of outdoor experiences they can have here.

This image campaign appears to be boosting the state's recognition, according to Dann Lewis, Maine's tourism director. Surveys done last year in southern New England and New York - where the ads are seen on television and in print - suggest that residents who previously thought first of Massachusetts or Vermont are now remembering advertisements for Maine. They also said Maine would be their top choice for vacationing in New England over the next two years.

"It's an early indication that the ad campaign is working," Dann Lewis said.

The campaign being highlighted today by Dann Lewis is noteworthy because out-of-state visitors are responsible for the bulk of travel spending in Maine. Nearly 30 percent of these guests drive here from Massachusetts. Visitors from New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Pennsylvania also come in large numbers.

Tourism Spending Up in 2005

from "Tourism spending rose in 2005, state reports" by Tux Terkel, Portland Press-Herald, August 18, 2006

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.

"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."

Overall, Maine hosted 9.7 million overnight trips in 2005, a 9 percent increase. Overnight trips are a key barometer in the tourism industry because those visitors spend the most money for food, lodging and services.