About Peggy

Peggy Bendel, President of Bendel Communications International, is a globally-recognized expert in travel and tourism marketing, branding, public relations and crisis communications.

A principal in the seminal I Love New York campaign, Peggy has worked with more than 50 US and international destinations, from Australia to the U.S. Virgin Islands, South Africa to Sweden, and more than a dozen hospitality industry clients, including hotels and resorts, tour operators and associations.

Peggy received The Winthrop Grice Lifetime Achievement in Public Relations award from the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), and her work has received many Gold, Silver and Bronze awards from HSMAI over the years.

She sits on the Boards of the Association of Travel Marketing Executives, Ecology Project International and the Public Relations Society of America’s Travel & Tourism section, and is a former Board member of The International Ecotourism Society. She is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers.

A frequent speaker at conferences around the U.S. and internationally on branding, crisis communications, marketing and public relations, Peggy is also a media and presentation coach.

Peggy contributes to a variety of industry publications, including Travel Marketing Decisions, PR Tactics and O’Dwyer’s PR Report, as well as authoring a chapter in City Branding, edited by Dr. Keith Dinnie.

A graduate of Georgian Court College (now University), Peggy was named to their Centennial “Court of Honor” (top 100 graduates) in 2008, and studied at NYU’s Graduate School of Public Administration.

She and her husband live in Tucson, Arizona and New York.