The Missouri Division of Tourism is beginning to put together the 2021 Official Missouri Travel Guide and that means it's time for area businesses to update their free listings.

Please access (or create) your account at industry.visitmo.com and update your listing by June 12. Keep in mind that you may have multiple listings that will require your attention. All of your destinations and attractions are listed at the bottom of your account’s main page.

Remember that the only listings that are Travel Guide eligible are wineries, breweries, distilleries, hotels/places to stay, things to do and specialty/unique retailers. Other businesses, such as restaurants and other retailers, can be listed on the state's website.

Even if there are no changes on your listing(s), you must access and submit them. This action is very important because listings not updated since June 2019 may be excluded from the 2021 Travel Guide.

You will notice on your account that new fields have been added for a marketing contact (name, title, phone number and email address). MDT staff occasionally need to contact destinations and attractions for content purposes (articles, social media, features for the Travel Guide, trip ideas, etc.), as well as inviting them to events, such as the Governor’s Conference on Tourism and other conferences and educational opportunities. Contact information will not be shared and you will receive fewer than six emails per year.

Last but not least, about 100 Springfield-area businesses have listings that in the past have been updated by the Convention & Visitors Bureau. Due to concerns about accuracy, we will be contacting those businesses and asking them to take over and update their own listings.

If you see your business is listed in the travel guide or on the state's website but you do not have an account, contact travel guide editor Barb Brueggeman at barbara.brueggeman@ded.mo.gov or web editor Alex Wilkshire at alexandra.wilkshire@ded.mo.govto have those listings transferred to you.