In eight years with the Hamilton County
Convention and Visitors Bureau, Executive Director Brenda Myers has
morphed her organization
into a developer, grant giver and
landlord. The strategy appears to be working.
The number of visitors traveling to
Hamilton County has grown from 1.7 million in 2005 to 2.1 million in
2011, according
to a study commissioned by HCCVB. About
2.2 million visitors are projected for this year.
Visitor spending in Hamilton County has
grown from $244 million in 2007 to $292 million in 2011, with
expectations of exceeding
$300 million this year.
The annual budget for HCCVB—which has 17
full-time and 18 part-time employees—has grown from $880,000 in 2007
to $2.9 million this year. That’s been
more than offset by the rise in taxes flowing into the county from
visitor spending,
Myers said, up from $79.7 million in 2007
to $94 million in 2011.
“I think one of the most impressive
things is that this growth has occurred during a very serious economic
recession,”
said Gary Miller, vice president of
operations for Indiana Motel Developers Inc., which owns Staybridge
Suites in Fishers.
Many in Hamilton County credit the growth
largely to the work of Myers and HCCVB Deputy Director Karen Radcliff.
“They’re the dynamic duo,” said Allen
Patterson, director of Hamilton County Parks and Recreation. “Their
energy, tireless work and out-of-the-box
thinking has fueled a lot of growth in this county.”
Myers came to Indiana University to study
journalism and political science. She later earned a master’s in
history
from Butler University. She returned to
her native Tennessee to work as a journalist until moving back to
Indiana in 1983
and landing at Conner Prairie, working in
public affairs from 1984 to 1997. She later worked stints at the state’s
tourism
department and Indiana Historical Society
before becoming HCCVB director.
Radcliff, an Eastern Kentucky University
graduate, began her career teaching junior high English and coaching
basketball
and volleyball for two years. She then
took a job in public relations for Akron University, and later did PR
work for the
Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and
Western Art, when it opened in 1989. In 1995, she joined HCCVB.
“Karen and I share the same vision and
values. … We both have big antennas … always picking up on trends
and information, and connecting it to what
we do,” Myers said. “But Karen is a much more thoughtful, careful,
strategic person while I am willing to
take more risks, push things and test.
“Sometimes she pulls me back, makes me
think … and sometimes I push her a little, make her take a leap before
she’s ready,” Myers added.
Radcliff arrived at HCCVB just five years
after it was launched in 1990. Over the years, she saw mostly steady,
but slow
growth in the county’s tourism and travel
sector.
When
Myers showed up, all that changed. Since Hamilton County doesn’t
have a convention center, Myers sought a
way to drive tourism and travel business to places like Westfield,
Fishers, Noblesville
and Carmel.
She spearheaded an effort to make travel
youth sports a major thrust, working with area parks departments and
private organizations
to make sure they had the knowhow and
facilities to bid for regional and national contests.
“We found if certain facilities were made
just a little bit bigger or with just a few more amenities, we could
draw
these big youth sports events,” Radcliff
said.
Myers also helped county hoteliers sell
themselves to the sporting families who started coming in from around
Indiana, Ohio,
Illinois, Michigan and Missouri.
HCCVB also put its money to work. In
2011, it worked with the Hamilton County Council and Hamilton County
Tourism Commission
to let a $3.4 million bond to support
facilities development. The total cash outlay by HCCVB over the past
eight years has
been almost $7 million for everything from
parks and sports facilities to an artist’s colony.
After meeting with area hoteliers and
hearing they needed weekend business, Myers started focusing on drawing
not only youth
sports, but also social gatherings.
Since that meeting eight years ago,
Hamilton County hoteliers said their weekend occupancy has gone from
just above 50 percent
to nearly 90 percent during summer
weekends.
Not only did Myers and her staff promote
landmark destinations like Conner Prairie, the Indiana Transportation
Museum and
Klipsch Music Center, but they also put
together a directory of smaller establishments appealing to people
looking for destinations
for events like weddings and family
reunions.
Some of what Myers and Radcliff did was counterintuitive.
“People didn’t think we could attract
weddings here, but when we’re able to show people what Hamilton County
has to offer—prices and amenities—we
really opened some eyes,” Radcliff said.
Not many CVBs are landowners. But in
2008, HCCVB began an arts initiative to mimic its youth sports movement
that culminated
in buying two houses in downtown
Noblesville in 2011 to house Nickel Place Arts, a place for artists to
meet, work, hold classes
and perform.•