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TOURISM - August 2004
In May, the Kentucky Department of Travel (now the Kentucky Department of Tourism) released figures indicating tourism and travel to be the third-largest revenue-producing industry in the state, to the tune of $9.3 billion last year. Direct expenditures, or dollars spent on hotel rooms, in restaurants and at attractions, increased two percent over 2002, from $5.56 billion to $5.67 billion. In addition, visitor spending supported jobs for more than 162,000 Kentuckians, maintaining tourism’s standing as the Commonwealth’s second-largest private employer. Statistics indicate a rebound in tourism from a downswing after the horrific events of 2001. “A lot happened after 9/11,” said Randy Fiveash, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Tourism. “There’s been a change in the attitude of travelers in wanting to explore their roots, to get out and experience what made this country, and in our case Kentucky, great.” Two major tourism regions – the Bluegrass (including Lexington) and Louisville/ Lincoln – accounted for more than half the 2003 income. In those areas the big tourism drivers, said Fiveash, were the horse and bourbon industries and meetings and conventions. At a statewide level, add arts and crafts, music trails, history and culture, and state parks. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Frazier Historical Arms Museum and the Muhammad Ali Museum (due to open late summer 2004) cracking the Top 20 list next year,” said Jim Wood, president and CEO of the Great Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, “and Fourth Street Live (a new downtown entertainment complex) as well, if they consider it an attraction. Our goal is to cover the whole list!” Direct tourism expenditures increased in five of the state’s nine tourism regions. In the Bluegrass region, expenditures climbed 6.5 percent in 2003, with visitors pumping more than $1.1 billion into the 15-county area. Leading the pack was Fayette County, with nearly $670 million, an increase of almost $44 million over 2002. “We’d love to say it was all great marketing,” said David Lord, president of the Greater Lexington CVB, “but actually the increase was due to hotel rooms filled by a February ice storm and to a blockbuster exhibit, ‘All the Queen’s Horses,’ at the Kentucky Horse Park.” Current tourism heavy-hitters in the Bluegrass include the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, downtown Lexington development with the convention center as hub, Equus Run Winery, downtown attractions in Midway and Versailles, and “Take Pride in the Bluegrass,” a program introduced in May to encourage folks to experience the best of the region, i.e. its bourbon and equine industries, wineries and historic homes. New area projects include a 10-mile Town Branch (of Elkhorn Creek) Trail for walkers and bicyclers, the Bluegrass as a movie location, and at the Horse Park, a proposed hotel and a climate-controlled indoor arena. “As soon as that arena is built, there are businesses ready to come,” noted Lord. “As the horse capital of the world, we like to compete in the equine area, because we already have a leg up.” Attractions likely to help boost the year’s tourism impact, he added, are a new river otter exhibit at the Newport Aquarium, new restaurants and clubs in Newport on the Levee, and two Cincinnati museums: the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (opening August 23) and Reds’ Museum at the Great American Ballpark (September). On the state level, new tourism initiatives, both on the drawing board and in work, include:
The current administration, added Fiveash, is committed to integrating these initiatives to stimulate tourism and position Kentucky “as on of the top tourist destinations in the nation.”  Vacation in the Bluegrass?
In July, the airport spent nearly $28,000 to fly travel and convention promoters from across the Bluegrass to Washington, D.C., for a night. Included in the trip was an evening-long dinner cruise on the Potomac River with one purpose – schmoozing D.C.-area travel writers, tourism officials and convention planners. The message: Lexington has non-stop service to Washington. Put us on your map. “There’s a reason we keep being listed in the top five, top 10, top 20 most beautiful places to live, most beautiful places to visit,” Gobb said. With Lexington’s long-awaited direct flight to the nation’s capitol, Gobb wants to use the airport as a hub to lure weekend warriors away from the big-city bustle to the relative calm of Kentucky’s horse region. That way, if he can fill airplanes going east, tourists and convention travelers will fill the planes coming back. To do that, Gobb and his staff corralled representatives from convention and visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce and the Kentucky Department of Tourism. After a whirlwind day of meetings around Washington – and, truth be told, a bit of purely recreational sightseeing – the delegation met with 180 guests on the dinner cruise to persuade them Kentucky is the quiet escape next door they haven’t discovered yet. “Traveling professionals are looking for those three- or four-day getaways, someplace people can take a short break from the business, the hustle and bustle,” Gobb said. “And they don’t have to fly all day.” Though the Lexington Fayette-Urban County Government did not sponsor the trip, Lexington Vice Mayor Mike Scanlon also accompanied the group. He said Blue Grass Airport would be a welcome respite for Washingtonians used to larger international airports. He thinks ingenuity and convenience, in fact, have made the airport competitive with larger ones in the area. “Look at how easy that airport is to work with,” Scanlon said. “My car’s parked 150 yards away” from the terminal. Tom Tyra, Blue Grass Airport’s director of public relations, said the airport plans to make a similar trip to New York or Dallas this fall. And if all goes well, they may become part of a routine promotion campaign in nearly every major city to which the airport has nonstop service. Whether East Coast business travelers will be convinced that Central Kentucky is the vacation mecca they’ve been longing for remains to be seen. But Tyra said attendance on flights both to and from Washington has picked up some in recent weeks, after the morning flight time changed from 6:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
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Copyright 1996-2004, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2004, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
Is tourism good for Kentucky’s economy? Thanks to 19.6 million destination visitors to the Commonwealth in 2003, the answer is a resounding “You betcha!”
State and local tax revenues also showed gains, with 2003 figures of more than $807 million in state taxes and nearly $144 million in local taxes, for a combined tax impact of $951 million.
Enjoying a brand new partnership with the Kentucky Department of Tourism, state parks occupy five spots on the current Top 20 Kentucky Attractions list. Louisville claims seven, including Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Churchill Downs Race Track and the Louisville Zoo. Lexington hit the list with the Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington Legends Baseball and Keeneland Race Track.
Northern Kentucky also chalked up an increase in tourist dollars and is on track to repeat this year. “As of May 31, we’re ahead of our 2004 goal of 185,000 projected leisure travelers by 13.5 percent,” said Tom Caradonio, president and CEO of the Northern Kentucky CVB. “We picked up a lot of winter business due to a large exhibit in Cincinnati, ‘St. Peter and the Vatican,’ when we cross-marketed with hotel packages.”
Blue Grass Airport Executive Director Mike Gobb believes the state’s growing tourism industry is good for his airport. He’s so confident, in fact, that he’s become one of Central Kentucky’s biggest tourism promoters.