John Urdi set to lead Visit Huntington Beach marketing organization
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John Urdi has been saying that he’s trading snow and ski for sand and surf.
Urdi is leaving his job as president and chief executive of Mammoth Lakes Tourism for the same positions at the Visit Huntington Beach marketing organization.
His first day in Surf City is Jan. 1. Urdi is succeeding Kelly Miller, who announced earlier this year that he was retiring after 12 years at the helm of Visit Huntington Beach.
Huntington Beach already holds a personal connection for Urdi, who met his wife Erin at a conference in the city. They were married at Tower 11 on Huntington State Beach last year.
“I just absolutely love the destination,” Urdi said in an interview with the Daily Pilot. “I love what Kelly’s done in the last 12 years, and really feel that there’s an opportunity to grow on that and expand on it. It’s a fantastic, iconic destination, very similar to Mammoth in the sense that it’s a destination that really lives on visitors and enjoys the benefits from that.”
Urdi was the founding chief executive of Mammoth Lakes Tourism. A Tourism Business Improvement District was put in place there in 2013, after the town of Mammoth lost a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition for breach of a development agreement.
Urdi said the transient occupancy tax, which had averaged $10 million in the 10 years prior to the establishment of the improvement district, grew to $15.7 million in the first year of its existence. The occupancy tax currently sits just shy of $30 million, he added.
“[It was] just really working on trying to fill in the shoulder seasons, bring people here when we need them,” he said. “[We wanted to] not necessarily pile up more people during the holidays or during the peak summertime, but trying to fill in the fall colors and the midweek winters and all of those different pieces.”
Urdi, 55, is well connected in the tourism industry, as he has served in governance roles for Visit California, the California Travel Assn., U.S. Travel Assn. and Destinations International.
His priorities in his new role include leveraging large-scale events headed to Southern California, safeguarding and optimizing Visit Huntington Beach’s funding structure and refreshing and positioning the Surf City USA brand.
“Urdi is a proven leader with the vision, experience, and community-focused approach needed to take Visit Huntington Beach to the next level,” Justin Simpson, chair of the Board of Directors, said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing him build on our award-winning organization’s success and further strengthen the positive impact of tourism across our community.”
Urdi said he’s also happy to take the reins from Miller, whom he called a good friend and the first person he met in the tourism industry. The two met at a conference in Savannah, Ga., soon after Urdi launched Mammoth Lakes Tourism following his time in the ski industry.
He said he liked the way Miller thought outside the box, recalling the time Huntington Beach set the Guinness World Record for largest surfboard in 2015 after 66 people rode a 42-foot custom built board.
“We really mentored each other, I’d say, and played well off each other,” Urdi said. “When Huntington Beach did the surfboard, he called me and said, ‘Hey, how do we convert this thing into a snowboard and bring it to Mammoth?’
“I do think there is a great opportunity to continue on what Kelly has set in place, and then really expand it from there. You’ve got the World Cup coming in June, you’ve got the Super Bowl in L.A. in ‘27, you’ve got the Olympics in ’28. Next year is America 250. There’s so many big events for California and the U.S. in general, and Huntington Beach can definitely play a star role in that.”
