Positively Cleveland is now Destination Cleveland

Positively Cleveland, the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) announced today that it's immediately changing its name to Destination Cleveland.

The organization's board of trustees settled on "Destination Cleveland" after issues with the Positively Cleveland name surfaced during the two years of research conducted by the Kansas City tourism marketing firm MMGY Global. That research, of course, yielded the This is Cle campaign, which launched earlier this year. 

"In everything we've been doing, all of our planning and refining of the organization, it was very clear to us, the board felt very strongly that we represent the travel and tourism industry and we should have a name reflective of that industry." Destination Cleveland President and CEO David Gilbert told Scene in a phone interview. "The name Positively Cleveland just didn't reflect that."

Gilbert went on to say that despite the name change, the organization's activities won't be changed.

"We didn't want to make this a big deal," he said. "We didn't hold a press conference, we didn't make it the focus of anything big because this doesn't change in any way shape or form the work we do every day. We're very excited about the direction of the organization and where the community is as it relates to the direction of the travel and tourism industry."  

According to the Destination Cleveland press release, the name change "also reflects the evolution of the organization's business model,"  which now works in close partnership with the community to increase the economic impact of travel and tourism.

"We're proud of what we've done," Gilbert says in the release, "but our best work is still ahead of us and we will continue to offer world-class service and a world-class experience to our visitors, whether they're here on vacation or for business."

In slightly related news, Gilbert told Scene that the recent Ebola scare really hasn't affected the travel or tourism industry at all. 

"Eighty-four percent of visitors to Cleveland drive," said Gilbert, "and we're not a major international destination and we're definitely not a gateway destination."