| Name | Allison |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Wolfe |
| Home Address | 1600 Mitchell Avenue Chattanooga, TN 37408 United States |
| Organization Name | Chattanooga Tourism Co. |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | Brand Experience Director |
| Organization Address | 736 Market St 18th Floor Chattanooga, TN Tennessee 37402 United States |
| Website | https://www.visitchattanooga.com |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423-653-5736 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 423-424-4439 |
| Email Address | allison@chattanoogatourism.com |
| Alternate Email Address | allison.reedy@gmail.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | Chattanooga’s Travel, Tourism & Hospitality industry was one of the most negatively impacted industries during the Covid-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, 15.6 million travelers visited Chattanooga, spending $1.54B in area businesses including $474M at local restaurants in 2019 alone according to a US Travel study. Concerns about public health, cancellations of meetings, conventions, and leisure travel caused our hospitality industry to shut down, practically overnight. Decreased travel negatively affected thousands of local hospitality businesses, including but not limited to restaurants, accommodations, attractions, shops, event vendors, and musicians. In an industry where remote work is not often a possibility, this resulted in many local workers losing their jobs. More than 10,000 people were out of work within a month, dropping employment in hospitality from a peak of 31,300 in July 2019 to a low of 20,000 in April 2020 according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. As of December 2021, employment in hospitality in Chattanooga is still about 12% below seasonally adjusted pre-pandemic levels. This underemployment is continuing to hit Chattanooga communities of color harder as hospitality employs a more diverse workforce than the general workforce in Chattanooga according to Chamber of Commerce data. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed some large vulnerabilities in one of our area’s largest industries. In order to lessen the impact on our local hospitality workers and business owners, these vulnerabilities will need to be strengthened to withstand future disruptions. During the pandemic, our community had to quickly find new ways to survive. The local travel, tourism & hospitality industry honed in on our city’s competitive advantages and pivoted their businesses to find new ways to reach visitors. We have seen growth in some areas, with an increased focus on outdoor recreation and our natural assets. We benefited economically from an increased number of sports tourism opportunities when other communities could not accommodate these types of events. While business has returned to some of these tourism sectors, it is important to note that the recovery has not been equitable. Visitors are returning to the area, but their needs and wants have changed from what they were before Covid-19. Smaller businesses are still hurting. Staffing needs are still unmet. The restaurant industry is seeing increased costs of supplies and an erratic customer base. Meetings, conventions, and business travel are far from returning to our pre-pandemic numbers. Our community’s quick response to the pandemic showcased that there are many opportunities for growth, as long as we position ourselves to take advantage of our area’s assets. But as we are seeing tourism return to our area, it is abundantly clear that we must work to ensure that our most vulnerable and affected populations are included in that recovery. However, it is not enough to just recover from Covid-19. Every city across the country has felt the decline in travel, and the competition for visitors will be larger than ever before. We’ll be entering an even more crowded market, where our competitors are strongly targeting visitors and increasing their investments. In order to compete regionally and nationally, we will need to come out of the pandemic stronger than ever before, with exciting new visitor opportunities and renewed collaboration amongst partners across the city. In addition to the needs to strengthen our vulnerabilities, outperform our competitors, and take advantage of potential opportunities, we’re seeing hundreds of millions of dollars of public and private investment coming in the next few years. Developments such as The Bend, new parks and recreation areas, and improvements to local attractions are in the works. In order for our entire industry to benefit from these investments, we need to intentionally plan for that growth. As we are recovering, we’ll need ensure that our existing businesses, current & future workers, and future investments are protected from future disruptions and poised for equitable growth. With the goal of rebuilding a more resilient and equitable industry, we propose developing a Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Recovery Plan. The Recovery Plan will help us strategize, prioritize, and implement ways to improve upon and strengthen our Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Industry. The Recovery Plan will be developed using a facilitated, public, and collaborative process. It is important that all residents feel welcome and encouraged to participate in the process, so we’ll create a diverse Recovery Plan Task Force to advise and lead the Recovery Plan process. Task Force members will represent various tourism sectors, areas of interest, racial and age demographics, and focus areas. One of their first steps will be to create a request for proposals for the plan facilitation and solicit proposals from qualified entities. Once a proposal is selected, the committee will help our team and the hired facilitator determine the details of the process, including the best ways to solicit public feedback, ensuring we Involve the entire community in our Recovery Plan. Strategize & Ideate: The first phase of the Recovery Plan is building community buy-in, collecting feedback, and proposing new ideas. Our facilitator, staff, and the Recovery Plan Task Force will host public input sessions with extensive outreach to engage as many stakeholders and residents as possible. Chattanooga Tourism Co. has relationships with over 1,000 different partner organizations, but we know that there are new hospitality businesses being created everyday. We’ll work with community partners to reach new groups and involve residents in the planning process. We’ll also engage with other stakeholders going through their own individual planning processes to make sure their planning is incorporated into our Recovery Plan. The City, future developments, and existing businesses are also planning for the future, and our Recovery Plan process will be inclusive of and align with those efforts. Prioritize & Plan: Armed with all of the inclusive feedback, the second phase of the Recovery Plan is to prioritize the findings into actionable goals and priorities. Because the Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry encompasses such a broad range of businesses, we’ll form subgroups to focus on specific needs of each sector. For example, efforts could include an Event Subgroup to discuss how to better support our existing large-scale events and how to recruit new events and festivals to Chattanooga. A Sports subgroup could determine the types of infrastructure needed to recruit new sports business, as well as focusing on growing our existing sporting events. An Attractions subgroup could look at ways to collaboratively market the city to potential new visitors. Subgroups will also include, but are not limited to: Meetings & Conventions, Outdoor Recreation, Hotels & Accommodations, Visitor Experience, Workforce Development, Restaurants & Culinary Events, Shopping, Performing Arts, Cultural Heritage & Arts, Sports, Events, Beer Tourism, and more. Depending on the needs of each subgroup, we will also have the ability to bring in specialized expertise to refine that portion of the Recovery Plan. Implement & Execute: As with any good plan, the third phase of the Recovery Plan is implementation. Many aspects of the plan will require funding, and Chattanooga Tourism Co. is well positioned to support in this effort. In addition to our matching funds for this proposal, Chattanooga Tourism Co also manages our Cultural Tourism Advancement Grant that can be used to fund new visitor experiences and tourism product development. This grant program launches annually each February with $600,000. These grants are selected after a rigorous application process by an internal review committee. This grant program will be a helpful tool in implementing many aspects of the Recovery Plan. Other aspects of the plan may require more collaboration amongst many partners, and our Chattanooga Tourism Co staff can serve as conveners and facilitators of those conversations. Our subgroups will continue to shepherd each project to fruition, reviewing progress, maintaining momentum, and engaging more partners as the city grows. We’ve seen the vulnerabilities in our system, and we’ve learned of new opportunities that can help us grow. While we are investing in new projects, our competitors are also investing at record levels, thus making our Recovery Plan even more urgent. Our Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Industry was devastated by Covid-19, but we are resilient and in need of this Recovery Plan to collaboratively set goals, prioritize, and work together to implement improvements. The Recovery Plan will help us improve outcomes for our area’s hospitality workers, build our local businesses back from devastating losses, and provide opportunities for residents to improve their quality of life in Chattanooga. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | Chattanooga’s Travel, Tourism & Hospitality industry was one of the most negatively impacted industries during the Covid-19 pandemic. Normally, visitors to Chattanooga spend over $4.2 million per day at Chattanooga businesses, adding up to an annual $1.54 billion economic impact, according to US Travel. At seasonal peaks, over 30,000 residents work in the Travel, Tourism, & Hospitality industry in Chattanooga. Then, when Covid-19 hit, this industry nearly came to a complete halt. Visitors canceled their trips, restaurants were empty, and many attractions had to close their doors. The negative impact was felt throughout Chattanooga. The local travel, tourism & hospitality industry represents thousands of local businesses, including small businesses like restaurants, shops, event vendors, hotels, artists & musicians, attractions, and more. These businesses also employ tens of thousands of workers, with an outsized proportion of those workers being from communities of color. The impacts of Covid-19 were widespread, hitting all aspects of the travel, tourism & hospitality industry and felt by a large number of residents. Our local workers and business owners faced both temporary and permanent business closings, a catastrophic amount of lost wages for local workers, and severely decreased revenue for local business owners. With many hospitality jobs unable to switch to remote work and small businesses facing large scale layoffs, many of these negative economic impacts fell most heavily on our communities already facing economic insecurity. Today, these negative economic impacts persist. Revenue continues to be down across the board. Business owners are struggling to fill jobs, and many businesses are cutting hours due to unmet staffing needs. Meetings & Conventions, which normally bring in thousands of visitors at a time, are very slow to return to normal. Many other events are being rescheduled or canceled because of new Covid-19 variants. Hotel and lodging accommodations pricing has not recovered from 2019, and many attractions are still limiting attendance. Not only do we need to recover from Covid-19, but it is imperative that we come back stronger than ever. We’re entering a market full of pent up visitor demand – and every other city across the country is fighting for their attention. To stand out, we’ll need to come together to improve on our vulnerabilities, create new opportunities, and advance our city’s assets for both visitors and residents. |
| Where would your project take place? | We're focused on the entirety of Chattanooga |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 500000 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | Yes |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | $250,000 - Chattanooga Tourism Co. funds |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | 50% - $250,000 |
| If funded, when would your project start? | April 1, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | Phase one and two of the planning process will take one year to complete. Phase three, Implementation, will continue after that year, and our subgroups will continue to monitor that progress. |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | Milestones: Confirming Members of Recovery Plan Taskforce: completed one month after grant award Hiring of Recovery Plan Facilitator: complete three months after grant award Phase 1: Strategize & Ideate: complete 6 months after grant award Creation of Subgroups & confirmation of members: at finalization of phase 1 Phase 2: Prioritize & Plan: complete within one year after grant award Phase 3: Implement & Execute: starts within one year of grant award In addition to these milestones, we’ll also measure a variety or outputs and outcomes to measure our project’s success and impact. Our team, with guidance from the Recovery Task Force, the City of Chattanooga, Mayor’s office, and other stakeholders, will determine goals for the measurements below. Outputs: # of Public Input Sessions # of Subgroup Members # of Residents Engaged # of Projects Outcomes: % increase in Travel, Tourism & Hospitality jobs % increase in Visitors to Chattanooga % increase in Visitor Spend % increase in Economic Impact from Travel, Tourism & Hospitality |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | Accountability and transparency are crucial parts of a planning process. In order for people to feel like they are a part of the process and welcome to submit feedback, residents need to know about the Recovery Plan and the process to develop it. Our Recovery Plan Task Force, staff, board of directors, and facilitator will lead community outreach and invite people to participate. We’ll need to educate the community on the planning process and how they can participate. We’ll take applications to serve on the different subgroups, and we’ll ensure that the communities are representative of the Chattanooga community as a whole. Public Input sessions will be held at various days, times, and locations in order to reach as many residents as possible. The planning process will be highlighted in multiple ways across our different communication channels and with community partners. We’ll make all information about the Recovery Plan and reports generated from this process widely available on our website and other communications channels. Our subgroups will continue to meet after the plan is developed to monitor the progress on our priorities and implementation. The Recovery Plan will guide our priorities over the next several years, and we’ll continue to review and update the plan as progress is made. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | This project would have an immense impact on the recovering Travel, Tourism, & Hospitality Industry. The Recovery Plan will help unite residents under a broad vision and provide a guide for the recovery and growth of the industry. Soliciting feedback from the public will help us see our blind spots and improve upon our residents’ pain points. Public input sessions will bring in new ideas for improvements while building community buy-in. Our staff, Task Force, and subgroups will work directly with beleaguered local businesses and hospitality workers to find ways to support them as they recover. We’ll be able to take advantage of new opportunities for growth, like new visitor experiences or a plan for new sports infrastructure to recruit more events. We will help preserve our natural areas by creating a sustainable usage plan and implementing stronger wayfinding signage. Developing a solid Recovery Plan will help Chattanooga outperform our regional and national competitors, who are all increasing their focus on travel, tourism, & hospitality. The Implementation process of the Recovery Plan will ward against vulnerabilities, refine our area’s competitive advantage, strengthen our regional economy, and provide a more stable environment to grow the household incomes of hospitality workers. This industry contributes $1.5 billion of economic impact annually and employs more than 30,000 local workers, while collecting tens of millions of valuable tax revenue from non-residents that goes directly to our city and county budgets. Helping it recover and grow will increase visitor spending in the area, creating more hospitality jobs, giving life to new businesses, and improving the quality of life for our residents. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | Attracting community buy-in is the most important step for community planning processes. By creating our Recovery Plan Task Force and our subgroups, we are ensuring that the Recovery Plan is a plan for the community, led by the community. We’ll lead an open, transparent process that provides ample opportunity for residents to participate. Our subcommittees will be open to applications so that any resident can sign up to participate. We will also ensure that staff, facilitator, and the committees are all helping with community outreach to reach residents who may not normally engage with Chattanooga Tourism Company and are not already one of our partners. By determining the priorities areas with the help of the subgroups, we are giving our community an opportunity to participate, prioritize needs and set the goals for their area of expertise. With our Cultural Tourism Advancement Grant, we are also supporting the community with phase three of the Recovery Plan, Implementation. Currently, our local Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Industry is already looking to Chattanooga Tourism Co. for guidance. We already lead monthly discussions for our partners on all aspects of the tourism community, and we have staff that directly support many of our partners through marketing, sales, partnerships, and more. Many of our partners, along with support from the Mayor’s office, have already suggested we should lead a Recovery Planning Process, and we are fortunate to already be seen as a valuable and trusted resource for our travel, tourism, & hospitality workers and businesses. |
| Name | Barry White |
| Contact Information | Barry@Chattanoogatourism.com |
| Name | Dave Santucci |
| Contact Information | Dave@chattanoogatourism.com |
| Name | Donna Elle Harrison |
| Contact Information | Donna@chattanoogatourism.com |
| Name | Hugh Morrow |
| Contact Information | hugh@rubyfalls.com |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | |