LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau (LRCVB), along with hospitality-industry consultant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), has unveiled its 2023 Tourism Master Plan.
The plan lays out strategic directions for the development of Arkansas’s capital city’s tourism landscape over the next 10 years. More than 200 local and state tourism industry partners and community leaders attended the launch held at the Statehouse Convention Center. This is the LRCVB’s first-ever citywide tourism master plan.
The plan is the culmination of a year-long research and planning process led by the LRCVB, tourism industry partners, and community leaders, and facilitated by JLL. The plan’s approach involved participation and collaboration with more than 500 industry partners and community leaders including:
- Nine focus groups held with more than 120 participants
- More than 200 stakeholder survey responses
- Fifteen industry and community leader advisory committees; and
- Sixty individual meetings.
LRCVB officials state the result is a strategy with both procedural and infrastructure recommendations focusing on nine key areas for tourism growth in Little Rock: product development, tourism infrastructure investment, placemaking, an evolving targeted marketing approach, enhancing the visitor experience, optimizing the use of the Statehouse Convention Center and Robinson Center, community engagement, destination perception, and breaking down barriers.
Next steps/implementation
The LRCVB’s 2023 Business Plan serves as a the guide to the first year of the implementation phase of the Tourism Master Plan, outlining the organization’s first steps on the pathway to achieving the goals of the longer-term plan. The business plan has seven identified goals each with comprehensive, detailed steps for execution.
According to a media release, the business plan incorporates the nine core values identified by Destinations International (DI), the industry association for organizations like the LRCVB across the globe, as integral to a destination marketing organization (DMO) becoming a “true community-shared value.” Those values are passion, awareness, transparency, inclusiveness, engagement, collaboration, innovation, stewardship, and relevance.
A vision into the future
LRCVB president and CEO Gina Gemberling says they are well positioned to continue forward with the recommendations detailed within the plan, but cooperation from key stakeholders, partners, and the community at large will be required to maximize the potential of the local tourism business.
“The Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau cannot tackle this plan alone,” says Gemberling. “Only by working together can we unlock the true, transformative power of the tourism industry in our community.”
The recommendations of the Tourism Master Plan will be implemented in collaboration with the leadership of the LRCVB and partners throughout Little Rock.
