More than 1,000 destination marketing professionals are expected to attend the Annual Convention for Destination Marketing Association International, taking place July 15-17 at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando.

The professional development conference connects a community of 600-plus official destination marketing organizations (DMOs) that collectively command more than $2 billion in annual budgets around the world, according to DMAI officials.

Industry experts and out-of-industry specialists will share "best practices" and "next practices" in executive leadership, destination marketing and management, travel marketing trends and the meetings market.

As the global trade association for official destination marketing organizations, DMAI's mission is to protect and advance the success of destination marketing by advocating for the professionalism, effectiveness, and significance of destination marketing organizations worldwide.

"Here at DMAI, we have long realized destination marketing as a serious engine to drive job creation and economic growth through travel and tourism," said Michael Gehrisch, president and CEO of DMAI.

He added, "We equally realize the challenging environment for destination marketing executives, and are committed to improving the effectiveness of these organizations and ensuring their success."

DMAI's 2012 convention in Seattle attracted record-breaking attendance of more than 1,300 attendees.

The theme of this year's convention is“Better Together: Integrating Our Strengths”. A program of more than 40 educations sessions will deliver content on forming integrated teams, building collaborative partnerships within the community, creating integrated marketing and sales, and positioning and strengthening the DMO industry as a channel.

Opening the general session will be futurist & social Innovator Rachel Botsman. Named by Monocle as one of the top 20 speakers in the world, Botsman addresses high-profile events, including The Clinton Global Initiative, TED, HP, Google and No. 10 Downing Street.

She is a global thought leader on the power of collaboration and sharing through network technologies to transform the way we live, work, consume and travel. She has inspired a new consumer economy with her influential book “What's Mine is Yours: How Collaborative Consumption Is Changing The Way We Live”.

Closing the 2013 Annual Convention will be marketing and leadership strategist, David Meerman Scott. Scott is a marketing strategist, bestselling author, advisor to emerging companies, like Hubspot, and an internationalist. He will share a real-time perspective on marketing and promotion - sharing break-out B2B and B2C ideas that DMO teams can apply in their own practices.

Registration and more information is available at http://annual.destinationmarketing.org.