The Chamber’s Convention and Visitor Bureau is working hard to draw both leisure and business travelers to Montgomery, and their efforts are getting noticed. So what does the warm welcome it provides visitors mean to you and your business? Read on and find out.
The city has been garnering more and more positive press and accolades in the last few years, earning titles like “best value destination” and “most historic city” and getting noticed by USA Today and other regional and national media. And it’s not just headlines and hoopla; the proof is in the steadily rising numbers.
MONTGOMERY’S 2016 LODGING TAX REVENUE HIT $9.4 MILLION, UP $400,000 FROM THE YEAR BEFORE.
But for the average resident or business owner in Montgomery, what do these tourism stats really add up to? A lot. Dawn Hathcock, vice president of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce’s Convention and Visitors Bureau explained. “There’s a quote I love: ‘If it’s a good place to live, it’s a good place to visit.’ The opposite is equally true,” she said. “The things we want as residents for quality of life, our everyday enhancements here, those are the things that people are looking for when they visit, and more visitors often leads to more entertainment and dining options, more shops and other businesses opening here.”
While one major tourism draw—our history—is a unique experience that no CVB can create, our present is just as important to continue bringing in visitors. “We focus on our Civil War, Civil Rights and air power heritage, but we also keep looking ahead,” Hathcock said. Montgomery was recently ranked the No. 1 value destination featuring African-American history and ranked the No. 2 overall best value destination by popular trip-planning website, trivago.com. “That shows how much history plays a role in our appeal, but it is not all we are,” she said.
BENEFITTING BUSINESS
Owner of Dreamland BBQ downtown, Bob Parker knows firsthand how increasing tourism can translate into increasing profits. “When folks travel, the expectation is that they will eat out, so we have seen a direct benefit from that,” he said, “but for the entire business community in Montgomery, more visitors here is a positive.”
By increasing tax revenues with lodging taxes and sales taxes (on gas, food and other entertainment), visitors to our city add to the coffers, giving city leaders more money to provide more services without taking more from citizens through higher taxes. “That is a big deal for everyone, business owners and every resident,” Parker said.
Many of the exciting things downtown, like the Biscuits and The Alley and soon, the new Lower Dexter District, are here because of the convention business downtown and our efforts to be a true destination for meetings and events. “You can look at the infrastructure we put in place for Cramton Bowl, and how that scored us the Camellia Bowl,” Hathcock said. “That event brings national exposure, which brings more tourism, and residents love it too. It becomes a cycle.”
And there’s more fun coming, more that residents will enjoy as much as – and certainly more often – than visitors. “The new virtual experience that will be downtown is going to be great for young people here,” Hathcock said.
But tourism brings us more than cool bars or expanded entertainment options. It brings money, funds that trickle down through the economy and affect every business here. “Visitors eat out here; they shop here; they buy gas here,” Hath-cock said. “But even if they don’t spend money at your business, you still reap rewards from them being here, and it affects non-business owners too. It’s good for every resident. We have numbers showing that state tourism saves each household in Alabama $405 tax dollars each year. We see similar savings on a local level thanks to Montgomery tourism.”
KEEP THE GOOD GOING
Dawn Hathcock shared her vision for future tourism efforts.
“To keep tourism growing, over the next five years, I think we need to see more of what has worked so far. When you look at downtown, it gives visitors a walkable area with so much to eat, drink, see and do. And there’s so much more than downtown, The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Zoo, shopping in east Montgomery. With Uber here, that is all so easily accessible now. We need to continue to capitalize on all these things and add to them.”
EXPLORE CIVIL HERITAGE
The capital city’s rich history is one of its biggest assets and not just for visitors. Montgomery residents should take the time to remind themselves of and possibly learn something new about our city’s storied past. Take the Civil Heritage Trail guided tour (find details at The Montgomery Area Visitor Center), or pick up a copy of the new “Montgomery’s Civil Heritage Trail” book (complete with a lovely watercolor map) to explore significant sites and spots on your own.
