Elgin Area Tourism Bureau announces new board chair and board member
The Elgin Area Tourism Bureau held its annual elections for the board of directors and Marilou Pilman, acting director of marketing for the Grand Victoria Casino, has been elected the new board chair.
Marilou Pilman has been with the Grand Victoria Casino for over 23 years. She has been active on the Elgin Area Tourism Bureau's Board for over two years and also serves on the board of directors for Food for Greater Elgin. Her enthusiastic support of tourism here in the Elgin area and her years of marketing experience will assist the bureau in pushing the Explore Elgin Area brand to visitors and residents.
"We value our partnership with the Elgin Area Tourism Bureau. As a marketing partner and as the only organization that markets and promotes Elgin to out-of-town guests, the Elgin Area Tourism Bureau has effectively assisted Grand Victoria Casino in bringing customers through our doors and has been instrumental in establishing important relationships that help us further our marketing objectives," said Pilman. "Over the past several years, the tourism bureau has served as an extension of the casino's marketing team - promoting our concerts, special events, restaurants, and banquet services, as well as inviting travel writers and bloggers to further raise the awareness of what the City of Elgin and the casino have to offer. Kimberly Bless and her staff have always been quick to proactively offer their support and assistance, before we even ask."
Janice Andal, director of sales at the Quality Inn Elgin, was also elected to the Elgin Area Tourism Bureau's board. She also holds a bachelor's degree in travel and tourism management. Janice has always been passionate about the travel and tourism industry and has a total of 11 years of experience in the hotel business. Since 2016, she is also an active member of the Elgin Area Referral Network with the Elgin Chamber of Commerce, Visit McHenry County and Crystal Lake Chamber Business to Business Networking Group's Event Chair. This experience gave her a deep appreciation of the importance of supporting your own local business community and how it helps to attract and retain jobs.
"Tourism plays an important role in Elgin Illinois, said Andal. "It generates revenue for the City of Elgin by helping people being employed and to reduce the unemployment rate. As a hotelier, I can help the Elgin Area Tourism Bureau by increasing the level of support by means of attracting more visitors to their destination whether it's for business or leisure and helping them to promote our local shops, restaurant, and local events."
"We are very excited and honored to have both Marilou and Janice join the Elgin Area Tourism board of directors. Their enthusiasm and support of the Tourism Bureau and our efforts in bringing out of town visitors to the Elgin Area makes them fantastic additions to our Board Team", stated Kimberly Bless, president/CEO for the Elgin Area Tourism Bureau.
The Elgin Area Tourism Bureau serves nine communities including Elgin, Bartlett, Carpentersville, East Dundee, Gilberts, Hampshire, Sleepy Hollow, South Elgin and West Dundee. Its mission is to enhance the economic and environmental well-being of the 9 communities in the Fox River Valley through marketing the area and bringing visitors in for events.
For information, call (847) 695-7540 or visit www.ExploreElginArea.com.