Plano Hosted the 2026 Destinations Texas Annual Conference
Visit Plano served as host and Presenting Sponsor of the 2026 Destinations Texas Annual Conference. The event ran from Wednesday, 2 September 2026 at 1:00 p.m. CDT to Friday, 4 September 2026 at 12:00 p.m. CDT at the Marriott Legacy Town Center, 1721 Bishop Road, Plano, Texas 75024.
Destinations Texas is the state association for destination management professionals, and its conference page states that the event attracts close to 400 participants state-wide. Visit Plano put the figure at nearly 400 in its own post, and Plano Magazine reported 400.
Visit Plano runs destination management and marketing for the City of Plano, and Plano Magazine reports the organisation is funded by the Hotel Occupancy Tax.
Three Placements at the 2026 Destination Excellence Awards
The Destination Excellence Awards ceremony took place at the Annual Conference in Plano on Wednesday, 2 September 2026 as part of the 2026 Texas Tourism Awards Program. Visit Plano received second place in Sports Promotion, second place in Digital Innovation and third place in Leisure Tourism Promotion.
Two naming points belong in the record. The official program name is the Destination Excellence Awards. Visit Plano's own post describes its placements as Texas Destination Awards and renders Sports Promotion as Sports Tourism Promotion.
The published 2026 category list reads Digital Innovation, Leisure Tourism Promotion, Meeting & Convention Promotion, Sports Promotion and DMO of the Year. Meeting & Convention Promotion requires that the promotion be geared toward bringing a meeting or convention into town.
An impartial panel of industry experts sourced nationally judged the 2026 entries, with no people's choice vote and no open voting period. Nominations closed at 5:00 p.m. CT on Friday, 10 July 2026. Every member DMO received one free submission with the code TEXASDE26, and each further nomination cost $60.
What a Group Business Desk Takes From It
The conference put close to 400 destination professionals into one hotel for three days. The Marriott Legacy Town Center carried the room block, the general session space and the partner hall for the run, and the association emailed the hotel reservation link to attendees after registration.
Registration ran $845 for members and $1,045 for non-members, with a cancellation date of Friday, 31 July 2026. The Partner Hall load-in opened Wednesday, 2 September at 8:00 a.m. The Women's Leadership Conference ran 1 to 2 September just before Annual at $195, with a $100 saving when attached to an Annual Conference registration. The pre-conference Destination Tour ran Tuesday, 1 September from 5:15 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at $65 through Dark Hour Haunted House.
Visit Plano splits its sales team by market segment. Alysha Carse is Director of Sales for the sports market. Christine Ford is National Sales Manager for the association market. Kaley Mancuso is National Sales Manager for the corporate, social and education markets. Marisa Obando is National Sales Manager for medical, pharma and life science, insurance and finance.
Millerann Moya, Assistant Director of Visit Plano, gave the statement on the awards. "Having the opportunity to be Presenting Sponsor while also earning three Texas Destination Awards is an incredible honor for our entire team," Moya said. "Bringing DMOs together from across Texas was a true highlight, and these recognitions reflect the creativity and hard work our staff put into promoting Plano every day."
What Attendees Saw in Plano
Visit Plano built the pre-conference destination tour around Dark Hour Haunted House, which the association describes as one of the most acclaimed haunted attractions in Texas, with cinematic sets, professional actors and special effects. Legacy Hall, an artisanal food hall, held the opening reception, and Haywire, a Texas farm-to-fork restaurant, held the young professionals reception.
The Public Record and Its Dates
Visit Plano's post appeared on 17 September 2026, about two weeks after the ceremony. Plano Magazine published first, on 14 September 2026, in a piece by Alyssa High, with the same three placements and the same venue.
Visit Plano's accolades page names two conference awards and a Texas Tourism Trailblazer Award for Marisa Obando, and the page carries an update stamp of 30 July 2026, which places those entries before the 2 September 2026 ceremony.
Destinations Texas runs a weekly membership newsletter open to the public, and the 2026 Annual Conference schedule remains posted on the association's events page.