RICHMOND, Va. — Hundreds of travel content creators and tourism professionals from around the world are gathering in Richmond this week for TBEX North America 2026.
The four-day conference runs Tuesday through Friday at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, bringing together 400 attendees from 25 countries for what is considered the world's largest conference and networking event for travel content creators.
CEO Rick Calvert said the conference traces its roots to 2009, when content creators who mostly wrote blogs about their journeys met in Chicago to talk about the industry.
"TBEX stands for Travel Blog exchange, and a lot of our attendees don't have a blog anymore. You hardly hear about that now. You hear about podcasting, or you hear about TikTok, and the social media platforms. You know, the people who invent these social platforms, they're always changing the rules," Calvert said.
Attendees will hear from influential storytellers and tourism decision-makers while learning about the influence of AI and ever-changing social media.
The conference will also leave the convention center and visit restaurants, attractions, historical sites, and different communities across the Richmond region.
Richmond Region Tourism invited TBEX to host the event during the America 250 commemorations.
"We need a place that has good stories to tell. Richmond has that. They've got all that history stuff, you know. You had us at hello with that, but then what we didn't expect was the vibrant culture of Richmond today," Calvert said.
Katherine O'Donnell, President & CEO of Richmond Region Tourism, said the organization spent several years cultivating the relationship that ultimately brought TBEX to the destination.
"Hosting TBEX gives us an opportunity to put the Richmond Region in front of some of the most influential voices in travel," O'Donnell said. "The stories, images and videos created here will help inspire future visitors and elevate awareness of the destination well beyond the conference itself."
The conference is expected to generate thousands of social media posts, videos, photographs, and articles showcasing the Richmond region to audiences around the world, creating long-term destination awareness and inspiring future visitation, according to a press release.
Hosting events such as TBEX is made possible in part through investments from the Richmond Region Tourism Improvement District, a partnership among participating lodging properties that helps fund destination sales and marketing efforts designed to attract meetings, conventions, sporting events, and other visitor-generating opportunities.
Calvert said the average stay for a TBEX attendee is seven to 10 days.
"Our mission in life is to help creators succeed, so they want to grow their audience, they want to reach more people, they want to make more money. We call it monetization, and they want to learn how to be better creators. They want to make better content, so that's our goal," Calvert said.
The conference was previously held in Quebec City, Canada; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Tickets and registration details are available at www.tbexcon.com.
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