Tourism official discusses ‘ripple effect’ of businesses
Things are looking up for tourism in Arkansas, and a state official says that trend applies to the Hot Springs area, as well.
Kane Webb, director of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, elaborated on statewide and local trends for tourism Wednesday during Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club’s weekly meeting at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa.
Webb listed several factors that have contributed to the state’s ever-growing tourism industry, and explained that a city like Hot Springs has plenty of potential in tourism going into the future.
“There’s not a city more unique in Arkansas,” he said.
Webb said local businesses can have a “ripple effect” in creating travel destinations. Using Bentonville as an example, he said he enjoyed local entertainment entities within blocks of each other throughout the day when he visited. He said the city’s downtown area and Crystal Bridges have attracted businesses, which draw tourists, to the area.
Webb said Hot Springs has — and continues to have — businesses and aspects that create this effect.
“You’re starting to see it right now on Central Avenue,” he said. “We’ve seen The Waters, we’re seeing some movement where the old Majestic used to be.”
Webb said the Arlington, which recently changed ownership, is a massive potential contributor to the effect.
“If it gets redone, that won’t be a ripple effect. That’ll be a giant boulder in the lake,” he said.
Webb cited the state’s 2-percent tourism tax, which brings in revenue from tourism-related businesses, as beneficial to Hot Springs. He said the state is able to take that money and develop the state in a way that will draw more visitors, thus bringing in more revenue.
On a statewide level, Webb said a big draw for tourism is “quality of life.”
“Quality of life,” he said, is “why anyone would start a business in a particular location.” He said this includes how the people in a certain location live, but also the outside world’s perception of an area.
“That is part of economic development,” Webb said.
Webb said bringing culture such as arts and entertainment to an area is important for maintaining “quality of life,” noting the acquisition of Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium paid off with Saturday night’s Guns N’ Roses concert.
Webb said before his department’s acquisition, most of the people he spoke to about War Memorial remembered it most fondly as a concert venue. Saturday night’s concert drew a crowd of 24,000.
“It creates a sense of place,” he said of live music that could be held in the stadium in the future.
Statistically, Webb said tourism is currently “somewhere between” the state’s second- and fifth-largest industries, noting the state collected over $15.7 million from the tourism tax in the fiscal year of 2017.
“We use that money to market, advertise and develop,” he said.
Going forward, Webb said that the state will be looking to draw millennials, who are currently the largest generation of people in the United States and spend 15 percent more of their income on traveling than any other generation. He said that millennials like to spend their money on experiences as opposed to things.
Due to Arkansas’ nature and homegrown businesses, Webb said the state has a promising future in tourism, especially in light of their target demographic’s interests.
“We’re built for this type of stuff,” he said.