Upcoming Trainings

The State of International Travel

Virtual Meeting – Wednesday, January 14, 2026
9AM EST

Hear updates from our partners at Brand USA, TTM (UK), Woodstock Communications (Ireland), & Get it Across (Germany). Gain valuable insights into trends and opportunities shaping 2026.

This year’s presenters:
Chelsea Sullivan Kaiser is the Senior Manager of Partner Engagement at Brand USA. In this role, she develops and maintains relationships with the organization’s state, city, and corporate partners, advising them on international marketing strategy and overseeing the planning and execution of initiatives across global markets.
Prior to joining Brand USA, Chelsea managed corporate and strategic partnerships for Destination DC, the destination marketing organization for the nation’s capital.
Chelsea graduated from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Jonas Onkelinx is the Director of Research and Insights at Brand USA, the nation’s destination marketing organization dedicated to promoting international visitation to the United States. In his role, Jonas provides data and research insights to empower the team to make data-informed decisions, ultimately driving the organization’s strategic initiatives forward.
With 20 years of research experience spanning macroeconomics, pharmaceuticals, and insurance, Jonas brings a wealth of expertise to his role. Before joining Brand USA, Jonas worked for Experience Kissimmee, Florida.

Michele Cota is the Executive Director of Discover New England.

Andreas Niehoerster is the Trade Representative with Get It Across and has been the Account Director of Discover New England in Germany since 2018. His primary role is to establish and foster relationships with the travel trade in German-speaking Europe in order to drive visitation to New England. To achieve this, he works on product development with key decision-makers, trains reservation and sales staff on the destination and manages joint cooperative initiatives to promote the region across multiple marketing channels based on the current market situation and trends. In addition, he serves as the main contact and consultant for New England-based suppliers, facilitating the distribution of travel products within all relevant international source markets and their country-specific market structure.

Christiane Bender is the Senior PR Manager at Get It Across and has been serving as the main contact for the German speaking media on behalf of Discover New England since 2020. Having been the Trade Account Executive and having served the German-speaking travel trade on behalf of Discover New England (DNE) from 2011-2018, she brings extensive destination knowledge, which is essential for attracting renowned journalists to visit New England and generate coverage in relevant media with high exposure. Christiane oversees the German media landscape and maintains valuable relationships with journalists, travel writers, bloggers, and influencers to create a most favorable and distinctive destination image of New England across different channels – print and online.

Tony Lane, Woodstock Communications represents Discover New England in Ireland for trade and media engagement. His work with local travel agencies and tour operators is designed to educate, assist, and inspire, with the goal of driving Irish visitation to New England. On the PR front, Tony works with the national and trade media to secure quality coverage for the region. Tony has over 15 years’ experience working in the aviation and travel sectors in Ireland and is a keen industry commentator. Tony also represents Meet Boston in the Irish market and has been Executive Director with the Visit USA Committee Ireland since 2017.

Caroline Donaldson-Sinclair is the PR Account Director and began her career in travel trade representation over 20 years ago. Caroline’s passion for the opportunities PR creates; opening up new reasons to travel and discovering new destination stories, is always informed by her background of what the suppliers on the ground and travel industry needs. Caroline has worked in PR consultancy for destinations, luxury hotels, attractions and FMCG brands across the map and has genuine and close relationships with media on three continents. She is passionate about developments in sustainable travel and highlighting the opportunities for change through more mindful and educated travel choices.
Loves: Travelling (obvs!), interior design, dogs and horses, family time, reading, being on the water, being outside and snow.
Motto best describing Caroline’s approach to life, “Vision without action is daydreaming.”

Duncan McCubbin is the Senior Trade Account Manager and started his career in travel after completing his education, over 40 years ago. Within his career he ran a USA specialist tour operation and worked in senior positions for two international airlines. Duncan then brought his expertise and market knowledge to representation, a sector he has been working in for the last decade.
Loves: Motorsport, being out on the water both canoeing and boating, travelling, his home in Scotland and spending time with his Granddaughter.
Motto best describing Duncan’s approach to life, “Every day is a school day, work hard, be kind, be loyal and love always.”

Don’t get left in the dust – Learn how digital transformation leads to short-term savings and long term success
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
9AM EST

Join us for an engaging session with Wheresight, a leading partner for destination and tourism organizations focused on helping operators strengthen their digital presence. Learn how Wheresight’s Digital Maturity Accelerator benchmarks performance, identifies growth opportunities, and provides customized mentorship to boost bookings and enhance visitor experiences. This webinar will also feature NEW 2026 data insights offering an exclusive look at the digital maturity of North American East Coast tourism industry. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable, actionable strategies to elevate your digital impact.

NEW for 2026: Karl and Laughlin will unveil fresh data insights on the digital maturity of North American East Coast—helping you see how peer communities are preforming and tackling digital challenges and opportunities.

Karl: Karl Llewellyn is the International Commercial Director at Wheresight, where he leads global expansion, shapes commercial strategy, and builds strategic partnerships that position the company for long-term success. With over 25 years of experience in business growth and international operations, Karl brings a deep understanding of how to scale organisations and unlock new markets. In 2025, Karl joined Wheresight, to bring his commercial acumen and entrepreneurial mindset to the global tourism technology space. At Wheresight, he works closely with DMOs, tourism boards, and partners across Europe, North America, and the Middle East to help destinations measure, benchmark, and improve digital maturity across their operator networks. His work continues to drive Wheresight’s mission, helping destinations use data and strategy to turn digital potential into measurable destination growth.

Laughlin: Laughlin Rigby is the Director of AI & Digital Transformation at Wheresight, where he leads product and delivery of the Digital Maturity Accelerator for destinations. With two decades across tourism, media and technology, he helps DMOs and operator networks become digital-ready—using data, structured content and practical roadmaps to lift conversions, quality and measurement. In 2025 he joined Wheresight to lead its Digital Maturity Accelerator (DMA): the benchmarking, dashboards and enablement framework that helps destinations measure, compare and improve the digital performance of their member operators. At Wheresight, Laughlin partners with DMOs, tourism boards and government programmes across Europe, North America and the Middle East to roll out the DMA programme end-to-end—audits and benchmarking, clear roadmaps, and hands-on enablement. His focus is on destination performance fundamentals: structured content and accurate listings, accessible and high-performing websites and booking platforms, consistent brand/application standards, and robust data foundations that support better AI transformation and better decisions.

Click here to view recordings of past trainings.