About DESTINATION TEMECULA
JUST OVER THE HILLS, YET A MILLION MILES AWAY…
About DESTINATION TEMECULA
Dave Wilson moved to Temecula in 1991 to serve as the opening Director of Sales and Marketing for a brand-new area hotel. At that time the entire Temecula Valley consisted of ~27,000 residents (compared to over 600,000 today), ONE stoplight and seven wineries. That same year, partnering with the then Executive Director of the Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce, they created the valley’s first tourism committee, Dave chairing the initial two years. This committee ultimately segued to today’s non-profit “Visit Temecula Valley”.
Two factors crystalized his awareness of the opportunities to come and were key in Dave’s decision to take the plunge and step away from the corporate world to follow his dream to be an entrepreneur.
A tourism project he spearheaded as committee chair reinforced his awareness of the amazing mix (even at that very early stage) and breadth of area attributes attractive to visitors such as the valley’s distinct scenery and topography, weather, historical significance and area activities including golf, wine tasting and outdoor recreation. Working with a graphic artist, he conceptualized, composed all descriptive text, then sold the advertising to fund Temecula’s first two visitor’s guides.
Also critical to his thought process; Temecula’s physical location, less than 90 minutes from all major Southern California population centers. This seemed an obvious destination to explore for regional residents, national and international visitors and convention attendees seeking undisturbed open space, natural beauty, a breath of clean air and a taste of wine. They just needed to find out about it.
A once prominent bumper sticker proclaimed “Where the hell is Temecula?”, a sentiment often heard at that time, even from prospective regional customers in Southern California. Well, it is no longer relevant as people have found out about Temecula.
Today, years later, DESTINATION TEMECULA Wine Tours and Experiences has earned an impeccable reputation for excellent, concise communication in the planning process, and passionate guest service and attention to detail in the delivery of the experiences we orchestrate. Our goal is to always exceed the expectations of every one of our cherished clients.
