COMMENTARY: VISIT EVANSVILLE, INDIANA

The Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau seven-member board and select community leaders hired me as their new CEO at the beginning of 2020. During the hiring process the board outlined several vital initiatives they wanted to be evaluated and pursued.  The first initiative was to rebrand the Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau. Over the past ten plus years, there has been a surge in cities across America that have rebranded their Convention and Visitors Bureau name.  This initiative leads to our new name, Visit Evansville. Along with the new name we have created a logo style guide to promote Evansville in the meetings and convention market, the group tour market, the sports, and the film industry. Our new name, Visit Evansville is a call to action, it is destination-specific, and it better represents how we as an industry communicate to our target audience.

As the tourism industry navigates through unprecedented losses from the global pandemic, it is imperative that Visit Evansville, through the leadership of its staff and board of directors, becomes the regional pacesetter to ensure that the Evansville Vanderburgh County hospitality industry thrives in the future. As part of our recovery plan, the Visit Evansville team has taken the necessary steps to revise its 2020-2021 sales and marketing plan. This plan includes new tactics and strategies that will facilitate growth and development in the meetings and convention market, the leisure segment, and special events in the coming years. Our recovery plan shall remain fluid as we respond to the constant challenge COVID-19 has brought to our day-to-day lives and the businesses we serve. Visit Evansville will be focusing on both short-term and long-term strategic initiatives that can impact the hospitality industry as we turn over every stone in our pursuit to grow our tourism economy.

In a recent travel industry report, Visit Evansville’s annual sales and marketing budget was ranked 10^th in the state despite being the third-largest city in Indiana. However, we believe there is still a vast opportunity to continue expanding the tourism market. We are working hard to uncover those opportunities and strategically concentrate our sales effort to grow the tourism industry post-COVID-19. Visit Evansville has contracted with Conventions, Sports & Leisure International, LLC (CSL) to create a dynamic 10-year tourism and destination management master plan for Evansville Vanderburgh County. We will engage a cross-section of community stakeholders to ensure the plan will help Evansville be a better place to work, live, play, and visit. Visit Evansville will be releasing this plan by the second quarter of 2021.

Visit Evansville manages Goebel Soccer Complex for the City of Evansville and runs and operates Deaconess Sports Park. Amateur sports have been one of the shining segments in our industry this year. We are currently evaluating what enhancements need to be made at Deaconess Sports Park so that we remain the best softball/baseball facility in the Midwest.  Another one of Visit Evansville’s objectives is to grow the number of events and tournaments that take place at Goebel Soccer Complex and Deaconess Sports Park. Our team is working to identify additional sporting event planners and sign more clients to multiyear agreements, especially those hosting regional and national tournaments that will significantly impact our local businesses.

The Goebel Soccer Complex and Deaconess Sports Park are just part of what makes up amateur and youth sports in our community. Visit Evansville partners closely with the Evansville Sports Corporation who has done a fantastic job bringing events to various Evansville venues including the Ford Center, Angel Mounds, and very soon the brand-new Deaconess Aquatics Center. We look forward to building on that relationship while growing the amateur sports market and enhancing previously established success.

Another objective of Visit Evansville is to increase the number of meetings, grow the number of conventions utilizing Old National Events Plaza, and increase sporting and special events. Visit Evansville’s 2021 sales and marketing plan has identified and prioritized the 30+ convention market segments our sales team will target for future meetings and convention business. These will in turn increase hotel occupancy, grow jobs, and will grow our economy. Once companies begin to hold meetings, we will target corporate businesses as a short-term opportunity. This is because the state and regional-based associations’ impact can be felt in 18-36 months, while the national association business usually books a destination outside of three years. Like the meetings and convention business, the meetings industry trade shows have gone virtual for now.  We are holding discussions with clients via Zoom meetings, and we are responding to request for proposals as they come in. The meetings business may have taken a hiatus due to COVID-19, but we are aggressively selling and booking meetings and conventions for a better tomorrow.

Visit Evansville is primarily funded by the hotel bed tax, which is paid by out of town guests. Our 2020 and 2021 marketing and advertising budgets have taken a severe hit during the downturn in our economy.  Visit Evansville has pivoted as we now rely heavily on the various social media outlets as advertising tools. At this time, we cannot advertise in the traditional sense (magazines, newspapers, radio, television), so database marketing and social media communications have taken a front seat in our marketing and communication tactics and strategies.

Another initiative we are working on is establishing the Evansville Film Commission. The primary objective is to position Evansville Vanderburgh County as a desirable destination for future movies, television programming, and commercials. The film industry could have a significant impact on our economy so we want to be well-positioned as a sought-after film destination (think A League of Their Own) should the State of Indiana pass film tax credits soon.

After 25 years of calling the Pagoda home, Visit Evansville has outgrown the facility and needs additional office space. Our board is working with both City and County leadership to identify a suitable new office location that can fulfill our needs and obligations moving forward and leave the Pagoda in good hands and in excellent condition. Our goal is to relocate our offices to Downtown Evansville.

Despite the severe setback 2020 has brought us all, the Evansville Vanderburgh County hospitality industry has remained a hotel occupancy leader within our competitive set of 10 cities through September. Since reopening in mid-June, we can attribute the higher hotel occupancy to the impact of Deaconess Sports Park and Goebel Soccer Complex, as well as the contract workers who stay in our hotels and the reemergence of leisure travel mid-summer. Because meetings and conventions book long term, we anticipate our recovery will begin sometime in 2021 with the recovery continuing through 2022 and hoping that it will be business as usual by early 2023.