Tourism agency fulfills important mission

Thanks to former Annapolis Mayor Mike Pantelides for providing the opportunity to not only address our attendance at the Mayor Gavin Buckley’s recent inauguration, but to remind readers of our critical and enduring mission.

Our contribution to the inaugural events sponsored local resident participation and provided our leaders and partners access to key community members and officials. There is so much we need to do not only to promote tourism, but to invest in our community and its future. Attendance at the inaugural events provided the visibility we need as we form strategic priorities as we emerge from a pandemic. Attendance also provided the opportunity to take part in critical conversations around projects, including the transformation at City Dock.

We were disappointed the former mayor didn’t commend us for hosting a pop-up vaccination site in our Visitor Center for hospitality workers, or for the multiple job fairs we held in support of our industry, or for our sponsorship of events and programs in the community. We know local residents and government officials are our ultimate stakeholders, and sometimes that means attending events to further our work. We are proud to be a part of this community and are committed to our mission.

We’d like to wrap up with a reminder of our mission: to make our destination — Annapolis and Anne Arundel County — great for visitors and residents alike.

And we look forward to working with the community as well as our government officials — current and former — to do just that.