Business Class by Learn Tourism | Episode with Dave Herrell, President and CEO of Visit Quad Cities
A young couple walks into the Quad Cities destination center. They're in their mid-20s, multi-generational farmers from rural Australia, and they're on their honeymoon. They skipped San Diego, Miami, and New York. They came to the heartland because they wanted to stand in the global home of John Deere.
Dave Herrell heard the Aussie accents from his office and came out to meet them. His team jumped in to build them an experience on the spot. But what Dave remembers most is the connection. "No, we're not Miami, we're not LA, we're not New York," he told me. For two young people who grew up around agriculture, being at the epicenter of it "was such a really unique experience for them."
Dave has led Visit Quad Cities for eight years. He was raised in St. Louis, cut his teeth in sports tourism in Nashville, and spent time in Phoenix and Jacksonville before landing in a bi-state region of about 470,000 people along the Mississippi River in Eastern Iowa and Northwest Illinois. Here are the ideas from our conversation that stayed with me.
When I asked Dave what he loves most about his work, he talked about legacy. "At the end of the day, it's about what are we leaving behind, and are we making this place a better place to visit and live and experience?"
He calls himself a "begin with the end in mind kind of guy." For Dave, the purpose of a DMO isn't only marketing. It's how he and his team show up every day "to hopefully make the Quad Cities a stronger region."
Reflect: If your organization disappeared tomorrow, what would your community miss? Is that the legacy you'd choose?
Dave's personal philosophy comes down to one word: people. "I don't think there's anything more powerful than human connection." People is also one of Visit Quad Cities' organizational values, and he says they put real intention behind it.
He lights up when first-time visitors arrive, whether they're travel writers from Germany or that couple from Australia. "I kinda geek off that," he admitted. When travelers connect with the people in a place, he believes something shifts. "It just makes you a better human being, and you're able to learn different perspectives."
That reminded me of a crawfish farmer I met in Louisiana who runs a B&B with a few RV hookups out front. When I asked where he'd like to travel, he told me he learns so much from every guest that he doesn't feel the need to go anywhere. We often forget that tourism is a two-way exchange. We can learn as much from our visitors as they learn from us.
Dave agreed, and added gratitude to the equation. We need to "express the gratitude of having people that are in your backyard."
Try this: At your next team meeting, ask everyone to share one thing a visitor taught them recently. A phrase, a custom, a question that made them see your destination differently. Collect the answers. They're a window into what makes your place interesting to outsiders.
Resident pride is a stated priority for Visit Quad Cities, and Dave describes it with a great comparison: the region is "like the boroughs of New York in the Midwest." Multiple communities, each with its own personality, all rolled into one destination.
"Everybody is a Quad Citizen," he said, but there's also "healthy competition." A little chest-puffing about where you're from is part of the fun.
Dave named a few sources of that pride:
What strikes me is that Dave doesn't try to smooth over the differences between communities. He makes room for them. Regional identity and local pride can live side by side.
Reflect: Ask a few residents what they'd brag about to an out-of-town friend. Do their answers show up anywhere in your marketing?
When we talked about innovation, Dave said something you don't often hear from a DMO leader: "Sometimes we talk about how we're a tech company." His team uses emerging technology to power self-guided experiences like the public art trail, the QC Ale Trail, the Rock Island Arsenal Trail, and the John Deere Trail, which they developed in partnership with the company.
The mindset behind it is just as important. "We really treat the Quad Cities as a product," Dave said, and product innovation is central to their success.
He also calls the Quad Cities "a community of firsts." He shared a few he's proud of: chiropractic care got its start there, and Palmer College is based there. The first NFL game was played in Rock Island, Illinois. And according to Dave, the early sketch for the modern computer was drawn on a cocktail napkin in the area before an Iowa State professor took it from there.
Why does innovation matter to a DMO? Dave tied it straight back to residents. The industry evolves every day, and if the organization doesn't evolve with it, "we're not gonna be serving our residents."
Try this: Make a list of your destination's "firsts," "onlys," and quirky facts. Then ask your frontline team which ones they know and which ones they share with visitors. The gap between those two lists is a training opportunity.
This was the part of the conversation I most wanted DMO leaders to hear. Advocacy is one of Visit Quad Cities' four pillars, alongside destination marketing, tourism development, and visitor experience. And in a bi-state region, it's a big job.
Dave's team serves 58 communities and works with 72 elected leaders locally. Then there are two states to work with, including the Illinois Office of Tourism, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the Iowa Economic Development Authority, and Travel Iowa. Dave says he crosses the Mississippi eight to ten times a day. (You can get anywhere in the Quad Cities in about 17 minutes.)
Colleagues often tell him it sounds exhausting. He doesn't deny it's challenging, but he sees it as an advantage. Working with two states means the region can bring resources and investment from both into one community.
It only works with real preparation. The two states can operate very differently, so "you really have to know your homework. You have to fortify those relationships. You gotta know the legislation." That work extends to Washington, too, where Dave's message is simple: tourism "is not just a vacation." It's an economic development force and a driver of quality of life and quality of place.
Reflect: If a new elected official in your area asked, "Why does tourism matter here?" could every person on your team answer in under a minute? What would they say?
Dave's advice for people starting their careers was full of optimism. First, the range of paths is huge: marketing, sales, destination development, advocacy, finance, community engagement, sports tourism. And it's an industry where you can keep learning your whole career.
Second, no two days look the same, and he sees that variety as healthy for your brain.
Third, the human side of this work isn't going away. AI and new technology are changing how we work, but "at the end of the day, humans still wanna connect with one another." Destinations will always need "the people on the ground that are the storytellers."
He's lived that range himself, moving from sports commissions and a major bowl game into DMO leadership. What keeps him going is the same idea he started with: knowing the work makes his community better.
When I asked what I hadn't asked, Dave posed a challenge to himself and his region: what will make the Quad Cities an internationally known destination?
His answer points to the river. The region has more than 200 miles of trails, and Dave says it's the only place in the U.S. where the American Discovery Trail, the Great River Trail, and the Mississippi River Trail meet. Viking River Cruises and American Cruise Lines already bring international guests. The opportunity is riverfront development and a stronger Mississippi River storyline.
"It's not being on a beach," Dave said. "We have this asset." The question is how to leverage it.
I love that he closed with a question rather than an answer. It's the mark of a leader who's still learning.
Dave turned the tables and asked me what experiences I've fallen in love with on my travels. My answer started in an airport. I was traveling about 130 nights a year for work, looked around the terminal, and realized I didn't love that part of travel. And yet I could still honestly say I love to travel.
So I asked myself why. The answer: every place I visit, everything I eat, every bit of music, architecture, and nature I encounter teaches me something. Everything is a learning opportunity if you want it to be.
Dave's whole approach comes back to the question he asks every day: what are we leaving behind? A welcoming experience for a couple from rural Australia. Residents who brag about being Quad Citizens. Elected leaders in two states who understand that tourism is more than a vacation.
So here's my question for you: If you began with the end in mind, what's the one thing you'd want your community to say your work left behind?
Listen to the full conversation with Dave Herrell on Business Class by Learn Tourism: [EPISODE LINK]. Plan your visit at visitquadcities.com.
Business Class is a podcast by Learn Tourism, featuring conversations with destination and tourism leaders from around the industry. Learn more at learntourism.org.