Visit Mesa Becomes the Country’s First Autism-Certified Destination Marketing Organization

The certification comes after the Visit Mesa staff and governing board of directors completed specialized training, which equipped them with the expertise to assist families and individuals with special needs. This includes helping them plan their vacations to Mesa and providing individualized support and access.

Now that the Visit Mesa organization has become autism-certified, the city itself is taking major strides to continue the trend. Guest-facing staff in Mesa businesses — like hotels, museums, and other family attractions — are actively completing autism sensitivity and awareness training. Each business will be individually certified through IBCCES.

Marc Garcia, CEO of Visit Mesa, told AzFamily, “It’s simply acknowledging and understanding what some of the symptoms of autism and sensory disorder are. We wanted to get out in front of it. We wanted to be first. We wanted to be able to tell the world we are more than autism-friendly; we’re autism-certified.”