A key initiative, Hoosier Hospitality Promise, involved creating safety guidelines and public commitments. “We put out a website and worked with restaurants, hotels, retail businesses to say that they were willing to make the promise to keep things sanitized, keep people socially distant, all these things that the business was going to do,” Bedel explains. “They would take the promise and say, ‘yes, we’ve done all these things.’” This program extended to visitors as well, with individuals pledging to follow safety measures when patronizing Indiana businesses. Financial support became crucial for organizations that typically relied on tourism revenue.“We received $10 million from the federal money that came into the state, and we did grants to arts and culture organizations as well as to destination marketing organizations,” says Bedel. “Unfortunately, the destination marketing organizations receive funding from the innkeepers’ tax for stays in hotels. When someone stays in a hotel, they pay a little bit which funds their local destination marketing organization. Well, no one was staying in hotels, so they weren’t getting funded.”The grants provided vital operating funds not only to tourism entities but also to cultural institutions like museums, theatres, and arts groups to keep the doors open and survive through the pandemic. The IDDC used this period to encourage outdoor recreation, creating innovative programs to maintain interest. “We did what we call the State Nature Passport,” Bedel says.“If you as an individual downloaded this and you went to visit one of our state parks, recreation areas or forests, you could check in and then you would get points toward prizes.“ This strategy proved effective, as Bedel notes,“Residents enjoyed the outdoor experience and it has carried over. Today, the state parks get booked up right away when they open up for camping reservations.” THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TOURISM The IDDC’s efforts to boost tourism have yielded impressive financial returns, demonstrating tourism’s significant economic impact. “The numbers show that we are trending in the right way,” Bedel says, though she acknowledges the organization faced initial funding limitations.“We inherited the budget from the Indiana Office of Tourism Development, which was four and a half million dollars. That was to run an organization and promote Indiana to the world. And that’s not enough.” A crucial opportunity arose through pandemic recovery funds, enabling the IDDC to launch targeted marketing initiatives. “Because of the pandemic, the federal Economic Development Agency gave funding to each of the states to help the leisure and hospitality industry recover. We took the $5.6 million that we received, and we were able to use it for marketing,” Bedel explains. This funding supported campaigns in three strategic markets: “We did a campaign in just three markets, Chicago, St. Louis and Louisville.They spent about $ 2.1 million doing that and measured the return.” 118 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 03
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