Official expects Chattanooga visitor spending to top $1 billion in 2014 (video)

photo Aerial shows downtown Chattanooga, the Aquarium, Market Street Bridge, Tennessee River and the Bluff View district.
photo Projected rise of visitor spending in Hamilton County.

More than two decades after the Tennessee Aquarium opened and changed the face of the city, Chattanoogans need to think about the next big thing, tourism officials said Tuesday.

"We need to dream big, think big and build big," said Bob Doak, the Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau's chief executive.

This year, for the first time, annual visitor spending in Hamilton County is expected to top $1 billion, he said. Tourism spending is up about 57 percent over the past decade alone, Doak said.

In 1998, visitor spending was less than $500 million, or half what's it's anticipated to be in the county by year's end, according to the CVB.

Attendance this summer at the city's attractions is some 10 percent higher than last year, and about 8 percent more of the city's 9,000 hotel rooms were filled during the period, the Visitors Bureau reported at its annual meeting.

Doak said the tourism industry has leveraged the city's "God-given beauty" and what its populace has done to enhance it.

He cited the Ironman competition this weekend that's expected to draw almost 15,000 people to downtown Chattanooga.

Doak said Chattanooga didn't offer the No. 1 bid for the triathlon, but its organizers came to the city anyway.

"We've learned how to roll out the red carpet," he said. "We know how to produce and stage events."

But, Doak said, it's key that Chattanooga "stays relevant" when it comes to tourism.

"We need to maintain the shine that we've worked so hard to create," he said.

Doak said Chattanoogans "must go out and find the next great attraction" for the city.

"We need additional ones to keep [visitors] coming back and attract an audience," he said.

Charles Arant, who heads the aquarium, said it's important to continue to make tourism improvements.

"You can't sit still and watch people go by," he said. "You have to look at what we can do to make this a wonderful place."

One potential new attraction already under study is a Volkswagen welcome center downtown.

"That could be a very good opportunity," Arant said, while helping the German automaker at the same time.

photo Bob Doak, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau, announces in June, 2014 that McKee Foods will be the title sponsor for the inaugural Little Debbie Chattanooga Ironman event.

When VW unveiled its plan for a $900 million Chattanooga plant expansion in July, its officials said they plan to work with the city and county to shift the welcome center from Enterprise South industrial park to downtown. About $12 million is already committed to the project.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said the aim is to create an experience that helps downtown's brand and increases the car company's customer base.

Plans call for such a center to be ready within two years, though a potential location in the central city is seen as a big question mark.

Arant said there are a lot of possibilities involving the welcome center to be considered, and he doesn't know what's best at this stage.

"It's refreshing that there are a lot of ideas that we could do this or that," he said.

To find the next big attraction, Doak proposed an inclusive collaboration of people within the city, which he termed "the Chattanooga way."

"We've got passionate, smart people," he said. "Get them together."

Arant said the aquarium's leadership has done a lot to upgrade the facility and keep it world class. In 2005, the Ocean Journey building was added, he said.

Also, the penguin and jellyfish exhibits were created, and a major change was made to better show off its river otters, Arant said.

"We've worked to keep it fresh, new and ever-changing," he said.

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger told the annual meeting that the billion-dollar tourism industry saves each household an estimated $500 in property taxes every year.

He said that millions of dollars of visitor spending ultimately goes to help finance public education.

Tourism is "vital to keeping Hamilton County's economy strong," Coppinger said, adding that the industry provides about 8,500 jobs.

Doak also said the city continues to advertise itself to reach visitors.

"We continue to bomb the beach with advertising," he said. "We're very aggressive. We get the message out," he said.

Even when the economy was down, the city kept pushing its tourism message, Doak said.

"We never gave up in the lean times," he said. "We kept the machine going. We knew that if we did, we'd gain market share on our competitors, and we have."

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.

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