Donna O’Daniels

President and CEO, St. Tammany Parish Tourist and Convention Commission

DONNA O’DANIELS is always looking for ways to help others succeed. Her love of travel and passion for seeing small businesses thrive are what motivate her as Chief Executive Officer of the St. Tammany Parish Tourist and Convention Commission.

After graduating from North Carolina State University with a degree in journalism, Donna moved to a coastal city in North Carolina to work in tourism at a historic attraction. In 1995, her husband accepted a position in New Orleans, and the two moved down South. The following year, Donna was hired as the communications director for the Tourism Commission; she was promoted to CEO in 2005. Over the past 16 years, she has led the Commission through Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill and now, the Covid19 pandemic. Along with her team, she is responsible for developing and implementing strategic marketing campaigns that attract visitors to the area and has been instrumental in transforming the Northshore into a popular destination place for travelers.

The St. Tammany Parish Tourist and Convention Commission is a political subdivision in the State of Louisiana. Its annual budget comes from a 3 percent hotel occupancy tax that is collected from hotels in the area and is re-invested into marketing and promoting the Northshore to attract visitors to the area. The result of their effort is a tourism industry that brought in 2.63 million visitors and 771 million dollars in 2019 alone, with state and local taxes collected from visitors in St. Tammany saving residents close to $1,000 a year in taxes. “Everything starts with a visit,” says Donna. “Before someone decides to move here, they visit. Before someone decides to open a business here, they visit. To see so many businesses moving here and thriving motivates us to keep going. We know that the part we are playing by keeping the visitor economy flourishing is helping small businesses succeed, while also growing St. Tammany as an economic engine for the region.”

Being raised out of state has given Donna a unique perspective on what makes the Northshore a special place to live and visit. “What has remained constant are the reasons people visit St. Tammany, which are the same reasons we choose to live here,” she explains. “The beautiful outdoor attractions and vibrant culinary and art scenes are at the core of what we try to focus on, regardless of a specific situation we are facing or recovering from. Our goal is to remain focused on that message and make sure we are communicating it as effectively as we can.”

In 2018, the St. Tammany Parish Tourist and Convention Commission was awarded accreditation by Destinations International, joining the ranks of a select group of 200 organizations worldwide. Destinations International is an organization that promotes the professional development of destination marketing groups around the world. The accomplishment was a collaborative team effort, proving to the local organization that they were operating at or above industry best practices in 94 areas.

Zondra White Jones, Tanya Leader, Donna O’Daniels, Anna Strider, and Christina Cooper.

Donna and her team are constantly working to identify new ways to help promote the Northshore. Several years ago, they introduced the “Taste of Summer” event in August to help local restaurants and hotels make it through what is typically a slow month, according to industry standards. The first year of Taste of Summer created a 35 percent increase in revenue per available room from the previous year and has expanded to include additional attractions that allow people an opportunity to experience the different variety of restaurants the Northshore has to offer.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit last year and it became clear that everything was going to shut down, the Commission was quick to redirect their resources to help the local community survive. Their new focus was on the immediate community, launching the “We ♥ Louisiana Northshore” campaign to reach Northshore residents and connect them with local businesses who were ready to open their doors for curbside pickup orders. “The most gratifying thing about this was the number of businesses who have come to us over the past year to thank us for helping them. There are a lot of organizations in St. Tammany that have been focused on helping our businesses succeed during this challenging time. The St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce, St. Tammany Corporation and the Northshore Community Foundation have been working tirelessly and pulling extra weight to make sure our locals and business community come out of this intact.”

Going forward, Donna and her team are putting the final touches on a strategic master plan for the future of St. Tammany Parish tourism. The master plan will detail what is needed on the Northshore to increase visibility and awareness so tourists have more reasons to visit. “When the visitor economy goes away, you can see how much businesses rely on visitors coming in and spending money. Our job at the Tourist Commission is to make sure we remain competitive in the market, because everyone is trying to get visitors back as quickly as possible. We have to make sure we are targeting the right people with the right message so that they come back and start spending money again and having fun.”

Donna and her husband live in Mandeville with their two daughters and have no plans to ever leave. She is a graduate of Leadership St. Tammany and Leadership Louisiana. Donna serves in leadership roles for several local, regional and national organizations that promote tourism, including the Louisiana Travel Association and the Society of American Travel Writers.