 There's no denying that BGS lifetime members are very talented people. Just earning invitation into the Society places members within a select group. Beyond their commonality as the "Best in Business" though, lifetime members are extremely diverse with a wide array of talents, backgrounds and expertise.
All the news lines are buzzing about the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, kicking off tomorrow in London. I’m pumped to watch it all, considering I’m an accomplished athlete myself (I won’t bother explaining what my events are…they’re a little different in owl world).
When I flew over to Beijing for the Olympics in 2008, I rubbed shoulders with David DiGregorio, who was serving on the U.S. Olympic Committee media team. Pretty cool job for a BGS member, huh? I caught up with him recently to hear about his experience in Beijing and much more about his main job with South African Tourism.
BGS Member Profiles
David DiGregorio
Manager, Marketing and Communications, South African Tourism
As part of the Society's Centennial,
Beta Gamma Sigma has been emphasizing the fact that "BGS
is Everywhere." With members in more than 160 countries,
there are few corners of the world where BGS members cannot
be found. Similarly, there are increasingly fewer countries
that one BGS member has had the chance to visit.
This year, David DiGregorio set
foot in his 63rd country.
 His
travels have provided DiGregorio with a variety of professional
experiences, which—in turn—have provided additional
opportunities to see even more of the world.
He’s done graduate work
with a vineyard in southern France, coordinated marketing
for the World Cup, served as a volunteer with the United States
Olympic Committee (USOC), and coordinated itineraries for
television production crews.
While his experiences have ran
the gamut, one thing has remained consistent: For DiGregorio,
travel is not just part of the job, but a true passion.
DiGregorio studied entrepreneurial
business at Boston University and began his career in advertising
in 2004. Three years later, he was accepted into the University
of Sydney, Australia, where he obtained his Masters in International
Business.
While coming to or from Sydney,
DiGregorio took full advantage of stops he could make in various
countries.
A visit to China in 2006 birthed
DiGregorio’s desire to get involved with the Beijing
Olympics. The USOC media team brought him on as a volunteer
to help with communications and press relations during the
Olympics.
Bookended by attending both
the opening and closing ceremonies, DiGregorio said the month
in Beijing was busy, but one he would readily do again.
“In 2006 I saw Beijing;
in 2008 I saw the Olympics. It was a completely different
city,” DiGregorio remarked. “It was definitely
the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of. Everything
was happening right in front of me. (Michael) Phelps would
win a medal and I’d see him two minutes later for a
press conference. It was amazing.”
After his time in Sydney and
Beijing, DiGregorio combined his business background with
his interest in world travel and embarked upon a career in
the tourism industry.
With that transition, traveling became not only his pastime,
but his profession.
“I never had any real
plan to get into the travel industry,” DiGregorio admitted.
“I can’t believe how lucky I am sometimes.”
DiGregorio joined South African
Tourism in 2009 as the head of Marketing and Communications.
Based out of New York and Los Angeles, the U.S. office boasts
a small team. DiGregorio works primarily state-side but he
also travels to South Africa about four times a year.
“Before I started, I’d
say the place I explored the least was actually Africa,”
DiGregorio confessed. “I’d never been to South
Africa or anywhere in southern Africa. This was sort of a
hole in my travel knowledge, which made it interesting to
take a role like this.”
“For the first six months
I was here, I had no firsthand knowledge of South Africa and
I represented the destination” he added. “It was
definitely a challenge.”
He took the challenge in full
stride, however. Marketing kicked into high gear surrounding
the 2010 FIFA World Cup which was hosted in South Africa.
DiGregorio implemented FIFA's global marketing strategy in
the U.S. and Canada to promote ticket sales using sweepstakes,
a special ‘Diski dance,’ and involvement of major
league soccer teams. He also worked to establish partnerships
with U.S. companies like Coca-Cola.
In the end, his team’s
work paid off tremendously.
“The U.S. led ticket sales
outside of southern Africa for the World Cup, which is unbelievable,”
DiGregorio reported. “That has never happened—that
more people came from the U.S. than anywhere in Europe is
shocking. We’re very proud of that.”
DiGregorio takes great pride
in his work. He enjoys the opportunities that come with marketing
a destination, not a product, and he considers his job a chance
for mutually impactful exchanges between tourist and country.
“Marketing a destination
is a chance to educate Americans on the benefits of travel
to a specific place, which is the most rewarding thing I could
imagine,” he explained. “Promoting tourism to
a place that people aren’t going is my real passion.”
In the tourism world, this passion
translates into remarkable impact.
 “Everything
we do here is having a positive impact on South Africa, which
I never thought of before I had this job,” DiGregorio
said. “Now that I’m in South Africa so much, I
see that impact. I see that every 12 American tourists that
we send to South Africa create a job in South Africa. It’s
a giant boost to the economy and it’s great to see that
positive impact in what you do.”
South African Tourism currently
markets to two demographics: the young, adventurous “wander-luster”
(like himself) or the close-to-retired, older “empty
nester.” For many visitors, the main attraction in South
Africa is the safari experience, which “has this sort
of once in a lifetime feel about it,” DiGregorio mentioned.
One avenue that has helped promote
South Africa to the general public has been television programming.
“We’ll bring influencers,
or journalists, TV crews and film crews down to South Africa
to get exposure in that way,” DeGregorio explained.
Recently, he helped coordinate the itineraries and shooting
locations for a massive crew of 60 from ABC’s "The
Bachelor".
“(People) see that stuff
on TV but they don’t always know that behind the scenes,
that’s not completely driven by the show,” DiGregorio
said. “That’s something a lot of different organizations
are working to put together.”
While inclusion in television
programs like "The Bachelor" may open the eyes of
potential visitors, one issue that DiGregorio still has to
face is that of traveler’s bias. He finds that misconceptions
about a country's history and culture can negatively color
many traveler's perceptions—including his own.
He finds that word of mouth
is one of the most powerful advertising tools available to
him.
“Once you know someone
who’s been to a place—no matter what you’ve
heard of that place—if they have something positive
to say, you consider going,” he said. “I don’t
believe in learning about places on the news; I’d rather
go there and see it for myself.”
This is what brought him to
visit a friend in Egypt in December 2011 amidst rioting and
tear gas mayhem.
“[I got to] see the country
in sort of the midst of rebirth,” DiGregorio said. “I
did not feel unsafe at all; people were getting out of their
cars when they’d see me cross the street and yell ‘Welcome
to Egypt.’ There were no tourists around at all; they
were being devastated from lack of tourism. It’s a shame.
You see all these destinations that just get wiped out tourism-wise
by things going on politically.”
Most don’t think of the
detrimental effects political and social violence have on
entire countries, but it is something DiGregorio thinks about
often. He wants it to change.
“I’d like to develop
the skills I’m learning here to be more applicable to
other destinations, especially destinations nowhere near South
Africa on the scale of tourism development,” DiGregorio
shared. Outside his job, he’s able to utilize his current
skills—and gain new ones—by serving on the Executive
Board of the Association for the Promotion of Tourism to Africa.
“How can you develop tourism
for a place without any tourism infrastructure, or for a place
that Americans couldn’t find on a map?” DiGregorio
said. “I find it interesting to consider how long it
takes destinations to recover from political or other issues
that inhibit tourism.”
Not even DiGregorio knows whether
doing so will keep him in Africa or take him to his 64th country.
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