Tourism and trade efforts valuable to Central Ohio

Try to imagine what would happen to our community if the state of Ohio suddenly went out of business and laid off its 27,775 employees who work in Central Ohio.Or if Ohio State University closed its doors, leaving its 17,597 employees without work.

How would our community cope if Honda of America closed its factory, leaving 13,200 people looking for jobs?

I'm sure we all agree the effects on our community, our economy and our quality of life would be disastrous.

Now, imagine what would happen if visitors suddenly stopped frequenting our city. No more trade show or convention delegates, no more leisure travelers, no more people coming to visit friends and relatives.

Believe it or not, the impact would be worse than the cumulative effect of all of the above imaginary scenarios.

Consider this: The visitor industry in 1999 generated more than 37.4 million overnight and day trips to Columbus. What did these visitors contribute to Columbus and its economy?

• $4.9 billion in spending in our restaurants, shops, transportation companies, attractions and hotels.
• $407 million in state taxes and $341 million in local taxes.
• Full-time employment for more than 178,000 people, with a combined payroll of $3.4 billion per year. (This means that approximately one in five people employed in Central Ohio work in the visitor industry.)

Visitors to Columbus -- whether they are convention or trade show attendees for a specific event, leisure travelers in town for a getaway weekend, or people visiting their friends and relatives -- are big business for our community. And collectively they spend a lot of money that ends up in the pockets of those who live and work here.

That is why we at the Greater Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau are charged with the mission of growing and nurturing the visitor industry in Columbus and increasing the revenue it generates for our community's economic good. And make no mistake, it does generate revenue.

In 1999, the GCCVB undertook an extensive research project with the Ohio Division of Travel & Tourism and Longwoods International of Toronto to learn how significant the contribution of the visitor industry has been to Columbus. We knew it was substantial, but we lacked the research to confirm our intuition. The results were delivered earlier this year. What we discovered surprised even us.
The 37.4 million trips represent a tremendous number of people visiting Columbus in one year -- for trade shows, conventions and meetings, leisure, corporate business and a segment of the travel industry known as "visiting friends and relatives." The Longwoods research estimated these individuals spent nearly $5 billion in our community, with most of that money going to restaurants ($1.6 billion) and retail outlets ($1.4 billion).

I would guess that nearly all of us know someone who works in the visitor industry -- at a restaurant, hotel or retail store; at an attraction, such as COSI or the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium; or at a meeting place, such as the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Ohio Expo Center or Veterans Memorial.

And, even if you are not employed in the hospitality industry, you should recognize that everybody in our community has an indirect financial gain from the visitor industry.

In 2000, the combined city and county bed tax generated more than $24 million. About half the money was collected by Franklin County and was used to pay for the convention center and its recent expansion.

The rest of the money was divided among the GCCVB, which uses the money to market the city to visitors; the Greater Columbus Arts Council, which develops the arts scene for residents and visitors; and the city's general fund for such projects as paving streets, picking up trash and staffing police and fire departments.

But all of this good news is tempered by the realization that we need to do more -- much more -- to market the greater Columbus community.

As the visitor industry grows each year, so does the competition -- regionally, nationally and worldwide. Other cities everywhere clearly see the revenue potential of this industry and are vying intensely for the same visitors and dollars that we are trying to attract.

As you can see, it makes good sense (and cents) when our community leaders support our competitive marketing efforts that allow the GCCVB to maximize visitor revenue to the greater Columbus community.

And with the right efforts, visitors will come.

PAUL ASTLEFORD is chief executive officer of the Greater Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau.