WILLIAMSBURG — Visit Williamsburg’s new president and chief executive officer says he’s excited to see the Historic Triangle into its next wave of tourism, catalyzed by the nation’s 250th anniversary commemorations and amplified by the incoming sports complex.
“We have some very exciting things on the horizon,” said Edward Harris, who joined Visit Williamsburg, the official destination marketing organization for Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, in June.
A self-described sneakerhead, Harris, 45, has worked with big brands in the past and was part of the rebranding of Converse in the early 2000s that led to the shoe brand’s regained cultural prominence.
Sitting down about a month into his tenure, Harris called the upcoming Virginia 250 commemorations, which will recognize the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, “once in a generation type of (commemorations) that I believe can help springboard Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown’s tourism into another big run of tourism in the future as the spotlight is put on our important American history.”
Harris, who most recently served as president and CEO of Discover Lancaster in Pennsylvania, already expresses pride in the Williamsburg area. He said collaboration is the best way to maximize the impacts that Visit Williamsburg, which promotes tourism in the Historic Triangle, can have on the local economy.
“In a marketing-driven company like we’re in, where we’ve got to connect with people and give them reasons to buy something or travel somewhere, you need a lot of creativity,” he said. “But creativity, it’s not like a microwave where you push a couple buttons and you have some great idea. In my experience, it really requires a lot of collaboration with other people, bouncing ideas off of each other, having an idea that other people can build on.
“That’s what I love about these types of jobs,” he continued, “being able to work with lots of different interesting, creative people and just coming up with new ideas for advertising or other new things.”
The nation’s semiquincentennial anniversary in 2026 will be a good opportunity to bring the Williamsburg area into the limelight, Harris believes, and the incoming attention can be capitalized on for years to come by the incoming regional sports complex near Colonial Williamsburg.
“This is one of those few places where democracy was shaped and really the story of America originated, so we need to acknowledge that and remind people that Williamsburg is an amazing place to visit and relearn the roots of America,” he said.
He said the sports complex, which is scheduled to open in 2026, will boost tourism dollars coming into the area. “It’s a game changer; more people, more visitors, more dollars are going to come into the community, which will be great.”
Harris also said he fully supports the idea of bringing a live performance venue to the area, which is an issue that has been championed by local groups.
“Arts and culture is also very important in the tourism world,” he said. “If we can have a year-round venue, like a live performance venue, that’s only going to add to the many reasons to visit this area.”
Harris’s enthusiasm for the area is something that set him apart from other applicants in the search process for a new CEO, according to Williamsburg Mayor Doug Pons, who also serves as treasurer of the Visit Williamsburg Board of Directors, which led the search effort.
“He obviously had the skillset to do the job well, but he brings a level of enthusiasm about Williamsburg that I just didn’t see with the others,” Pons told The Virginia Gazette. He said he was excited about Harris’s capabilities when it comes to sports tourism.
“I think he’s going to be able to package sports in a way that we just haven’t had done for us in the past.”
Sports tourism is an area Harris has come into honestly.
“I was always into basketball, so I was a big hip-hop fan in the ’90s, but then I also loved all the alternative rock that was coming out,” Harris said. He got his professional start as the brand And1 Basketball’s first marketing intern before working for the company as it gained prominence.
Harris having worked with dynamic brands in the past is something that gave Ruth Larson, chair of the Visit Williamsburg Board of Directors and James City County Board of Supervisors, confidence in him. Prior to Discover Lancaster, Harris was was the chief marketing officer for the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board, with more than 20 years of marketing and tourism experience in all.
“We are at such an exciting time, I think, in tourism,” Larson said, “and I am really excited that Ed is here and is going to lead us in those endeavors.”
Sam Schaffer, samuel.schaffer@virginiamedia.com
