| Culinary Tourism Conference |
| Culinary Tourism Conference Michigan Culinary Tourism Alliance Conference "Creating Michigan Culinary Destinations" This one-day event brought together a diverse range of Michigan businesses in an effort to network and share ideas to promote, enhance and celebrate Michigan's' many culinary assets. "Michigan has an outstanding variety of food and dining experiences," said Linda Jones, co-chair of the event. This conference is about growing this industry and ultimately growing Michigan. "Its about time we start taking advantage of rising interest in this segment of tourism." This inaugural event featured speakers Ari Weinzweig, co-founding partner and CEO of Zingermans in Ann Arbor; Debbie Geiger, owner of Florida-based Geiger & Associates, a public relations firm specializing in media marketing for travel industry clients; and Melody Johnson, from the International Culinary Tourism Association. This was the first conference of the Michigan Culinary Tourism Alliance, the official chapter of the Michigan Chapter of the International Culinary Tourism Association. |