MAASA Receives Tourism Partnership Award at Maryland’s Tourism & Travel Summit

Photo from L to R:  Acting Assistant Secretary of the Maryland Department of Tourism, Film and the Arts Bill Pencek, Wicomico County Tourism Manager Steve Miller, Maryland Tourism Development Board Chair Greg Shockley, Worcester County Tourism Director Lisa Challenger, Town of Ocean City Tourism and Marketing Director Donna Abbott, Secretary of Commerce Mike Gill, Maryland Office of Tourism Director Liz Fitzsimmons

Salisbury, MD – The Mid-Atlantic Amateur Sports Alliance (MAASA) received a 2015 Maryland Tourism Award during Maryland’s 35th Annual Tourism & Travel Summit, held in Ellicott City, Md. The awards were presented during a luncheon at the conference by Commerce Secretary Mike Gill and the Maryland Tourism Development Board Chair Greg Schockley.

The Tourism Awards recognize excellence and major contributions in cultural heritage tourism, sports travel, economic impact and elevating Maryland’s image as a tourism destination. MAASA received the Tourism Partnership Award. This award recognizes innovative partnerships that advance regional product development, marketing initiatives, programming or events and result in significant contributions to Maryland’s tourism industry.

MAASA was formed by the Town of Ocean City, Wicomico and Worcester Counties in 2014. The formal sports-marketing partnership is the first of its kind in the nation. It leverages the combined assets of each jurisdiction in order to attract, retain and build sports marketing events. Since its inception, the region has successfully hosted two national girls' softball tournaments and the ISSA Eastern Shore senior softball championship. These three MAASA events combined for a total of more than 25,000 hotel room nights booked and $40 million in estimated economic impact.

For a complete list of 2015 Tourism Award Recipients, please visit: http://emarketingmd.org/Tourism/PR/2015-Tourism-Award-Recipients.html. For additional information on MAASA, visit www.PlayMAASA.org.