The Greenville-Pitt County Convention & Visitors Bureau (Visit Greenville, NC) is pleased to announce that Sierra Jones, Director of Communications & Marketing has recently earned her Certified Diversity Travel Professional (CDTP) credential from Travel Unity.

The Certified Diversity Travel Professional (CDTP) program is a professional development course for those in leadership roles in visitor-facing organizations. It is based on Travel Unity’s DEI Standards for Travel & Tourism. In the program, attendees learn about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), alongside other committed travel industry leaders in limited sized cohorts to provide for deeper interaction with the facilitators and each other, and then create a comprehensive DEI Plan for their own organization.

Jones attended and participated in six weeks of DEI education sessions focused on: Intro to DEI, Integrating DEI into Travel Organizations, Educating and Learning from Stakeholders, Welcoming and Fulfilling Visitor Experiences, Sustainability and DEI, and Equity, Justice & Belonging. These sessions are centered around Travel Unity’s DEI Standards for Travel & Tourism, the pillars of which include, Management & Workforce, Visitorship, and Community Impact

Following these educational sessions, she led the development of a comprehensive DEI Plan for the Greenville-Pitt County Convention & Visitors Bureau (Visit Greenville, NC) and presented a high-level overview of the plan and then submitted it for approval to the Travel Unity facilitators.  

“I am thankful to have the opportunity to participate in and complete Travel Unity’s DEI education and certification program,” stated Sierra Jones, Director of Communications & Marketing for Visit Greenville, NC. “I look forward to working to implement our new comprehensive DEI plan within our organization, as well as continuing to apply DEI principles into our Greenville-Pitt County destination marketing and community building efforts.”

One of the actionable steps in Visit Greenville’s new DEI plan include the formation of a Greenville-Pitt County Destination DEI Advisory Committee to be made up of a cross-section of people in Greenville-Pitt County with a variety of: ages, racial/ethnic backgrounds, socio-economic status, citizenship/land of origin, language, gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, religion/faith/spiritual affiliation, marital status, ability/disability, neurodiversity and body size. The goal is for this group to meet quarterly, starting in Spring 2022, to serve as a resource and sounding board for feedback as we work to promote and strengthen Greenville-Pitt County as a diverse, inclusive, and equitable destination and community.

“DEI is one of the most important issues facing destinations today,” stated Andrew Schmidt, President & CEO of Visit Greenville, NC. “Having a comprehensive DEI plan for our destination recognizes the importance of a unified travel and tourism community where everyone is welcome, celebrated, and there is equitable access for all.”

Travel Unity is a 501(c)3 organization focused on increasing diversity in the world of travel through individual and community empowerment. For more information on Travel Unity, please visit: travelunity.org