The State Of Tourism
Photo by Kathryn Shea Duncan
Destination: Determination By Angie Manning, CDME SWLACVB Communications Director
A “
hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” – Christopher Reeve
Grit, determination, hardship, adversity, spaghetti models, boots on the ground, chainsaws, debris, grief, rebuilding, gas cans, humming generators, heroes and everyday angels. There were so many words that surfaced to my mind when I reflected on 2020. On a lighter note, if I never see another spaghetti model again, I’ll be just fine. I prefer my spaghetti with a side of garlic bread anyway. The quote from Christopher Reeve seemed appropriate for Southwest Louisiana. Of course, Reeve played 100 LAGNIAPPE /// 2021 ANNUAL REPORT SPECIAL EDITION / 03.25.21 /// www.BestOfSWLA.com
Superman on the silver screen and in real life. After surviving an accident that paralyzed him from the shoulders down, he still pursued the arts and even wrote two autobiographical books, Still Me and Nothing is Impossible. He moved forward with grit and resiliency. Our community is moving forward with determination too — focused on the future. It takes all of us, every hidden hero in the shadows or standing in the spotlight, to make things happen. We know this. We know our heroes well, from firefighters to police officers, city and parish employees, non-profits, compassionate residents, business owners, the hospitality community, faith-based organizations, and of course, the linemen. It was the linemen who worked tirelessly post-Hurricanes Laura and Hurricane Delta to rebuild power grids destroyed by the hurri-
canes of 2020. They were extraordinarily dedicated. All this context is set against the background of a pandemic that indelibly touched the lives of people we know. 2020 is a heartbreaking story, and the impact of the events that occurred will remain as soft whispers in the wind that play a powerful role in shaping our communities for many years to come. “The word ‘resilient’ truly has its own meaning for people who live in Southwest Louisiana. There is no doubt that the community has pulled together to walk through the back-to-back storms and challenges surrounding the pandemic. The hospitality community is interconnected across many sectors, and it’s remarkable to see the outpouring of support that we all share in rebuilding Southwest continued
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Louisiana from both business and humanitarian standpoints,” said Kyle Edmiston, President/CEO of Visit Lake Charles. At the start of 2020, Visit Lake Charles had just officially launched a new brand for the area at the Golden Nugget Lake Charles. Members of the Visit Lake Charles group were surrounded by colleagues, community leaders and hospitality industry executives from around the country. Miles Partnership, a strategic marketing company focused exclusively on travel and tourism, conducted an extensive research study to determine the brand essence of Southwest Louisiana. The idea that rose to the top across all market segments was that Lake Charles is a mixture of contrasts. An intriguing juxtaposition creates the identity of Lake Charles as a destination. It’s what makes Lake Charles stand out when tourists consider the abundance of gaming resort experiences compared to the natural wonders found alongside the Creole Nature Trail AllAmerican Road. The idea of Lake Charles as “Louisiana’s Playground” was born. Soon after the campaign was launched in earnest in early 2020, COVID forced a shutdown of the travel industry with a mandated quarantine. This depressed the tourism economy along with other sectors throughout the nation. Visit Lake Charles turned its attention to supporting local businesses within the destination. Immediately, new search abilities were put in place on the Visit Lake Charles website; these enabled visitors to the site to connect with restaurants that had pick-up, delivery or outdoor dining options. Twice a week, every restaurant in the Lake Area was contacted for updates, as hours of operation and services changed practically weekly. Creative engagement on social media was key in keeping the spirit of the travel industry vibrant, connecting the community with outdoor options and offering inspirational ideas about how to safely explore Southwest Louisiana to boost the morale of the community. “The quarantine experience was a challenge for the communications department [of Visit Lake Charles] as huge sections of our programming and website
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were no longer available for promotions. We dug deep into the passion that we all have for the area and worked with our partners to create fresh content to highlight our shining gems the best way we knew how. I was proud of the entire Visit Lake Charles team for showing up every day with new ideas and inspiration,” said Angie Manning, communications director. The summer months brought more promise as businesses were able to open to greater capacity and more was understood about safety protocols. The intent to travel had regained strength. However, hurricane season loomed on the horizon, and in true 2020 fashion, no one could have predicted the cloudy swirl of devastation tucked away in Lake Charles’ crystal ball. When Laura came ashore in August, 2020, as the most powerful hurricane to hit Louisiana in 150 years; and was followed by Delta in October; the roadweary evacuees of Southwest Louisiana started to assess and clean up. The Visit Lake Charles Welcome Center was devastated as Hurricane Laura ripped off a major section of the roof. Six months later, the staff is working from Creole Nature Trail Adventure Point, the bureau’s satellite office and interpretive center, with staff working in makeshift office space. The hotel inventory was hit hard, and to this day, properties are being rebuilt. A site of one of these rebuilding projects is the Isle of Capri property, now owned by Caesar’s Entertainment. The new casino is slated to reopen in the spring of 2022. Thankfully, the Golden Nugget, L’Auberge Casino Resort and Delta Downs Racetrack Casino Hotel were able to reopen. For a large portion of 2020, attractions such as Rikenjak’s and Paul’s Rib Shack, reopened. Crying Eagle Brewing Company provided a Back in Flight benefit concert and much needed outdoor musical entertainment. Many press conferences, emergency meetings and insurance claims later, stories of hope from the community began to rise, almost like a phoenix from the ashes. continued
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The State Of Tourism
“The one-two punch of the hurricanes of 2020 was felt throughout a widespread area. Upon return, and realizing the extent of the damage, we were initially down to almost half the original inventory of hotel rooms in Southwest Louisiana. Our office is currently being renovated, and we understand the hardship of rebuilding and finding materials to get the job done. We are optimistic that in 2021 we will start to see more and more growth so that 2022 can start off on a positive trajectory,” said Edmiston. The communications department was inundated with media calls, and the team meticulously reached out to the travel media and travel writers who have come to Southwest Louisiana or had longstanding relationships with the destination. Several of the main highlights from hurricane recovery stories included five stories from Good Morning America with a 4.06M potential reach per story; two Southern Living stories with 9.4M unique users and 36M page views; a story in The New York Times, with 151M online users globally and 6.1M from print; and People Magazine, with a potential reach of 28.1M. The total number of Hurricane Laura and Delta stories has reached 88,100. “Having a featured story in The New York Times brought a feeling of muchneeded energy after the first few months
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Photo by Kevin Davis
following Hurricanes Laura and Delta. This one story led to dozens of public relations and media opportunities and exposed Lake Charles’ story to a much wider audience. I received words of encouragement and support from people all around the world who were eager to follow our journey to a full recovery and a bright future for Southwest Louisiana through rebuilding efforts,” said Kathryn Shea Duncan, media/public relations manager. In addition to hurricane coverage, there was a variety of stories running the gambit from Mardi Gras to culinary delights, the Creole Nature Trail and golf. Several major wins for public relations included Reader’s Digest’s “What Is King Cake? History and Meaning of the Mardi Gras Tradition”; Country Living Magazine: “7 Virtual Mardi Gras Events That Let the Good Times Roll”; Thrillist: “The Best Scenic Drive In Every State”; HowStuffWorks: “Why Boudin Is Cajun Country’s Most Famous Sausage”; Houston Chronicle: “Lake Charles gets its groove back”; Matador Network: “Craft spirits and Creole favorites make Lake Charles, Louisiana, the South’s summer hub”; and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: “Oh my!: Gators, fish, birds and more await along the Creole Nature Trail.” From March all the way through the end of 2020, the sales department focused on reaching out to clients for support,
revising contracts and managing expectations during a difficult year. The good news is that the seeds that were planted in 2019 for 2020 will continue to bring business to the area, as many of the events secured in 2019 were multi-year contracts. The 2020 LHSAA Marsh Madness State Basketball Tournaments started out business as usual, but they were modified at the very end of the tournament to allow only athletes and tournament personnel to attend. It became more important than ever to be flexible while hosting. Fast forward to March of 2021. The area once again hosted a portion of the Louisiana High School (LHSAA) Girls’ Basketball State Championship Tournament at Burton Coliseum, followed by the LHSAA Boys’ Basketball Championship Tournament at Burton Coliseum. “It was refreshing to have fans in the stands for the 2021 LHSAA State Basketball Tournaments after the championship games last year lacked the atmosphere that truly adds to the overall experience for these student athletes who worked so hard to reach this level of play. There is no substitute for hearing the fans cheering on their teams, and I am glad these athletes were able to once again feel that energy,” said Eric Zartler, sales director at Visit Lake Charles. continued
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Several national sports events that were secured in 2019 include multi-year contracts. Visit Lake Charles was able to land Pro Watercross in 2019 with only three weeks’ notice, and then, established a three-year commitment to host the event, which was extended due to COVID in 2020. It’s all about personal relationships and the willingness to go the distance to make events happen, and that’s what the team at Visit Lake Charles strives to do every day. Another national sports event in the area is the New Balance Future Stars Series National Championships — the largest single sporting event in the history of Southwest Louisiana. This event brought a significant number of teams, players and scouts to the area amid a global pandemic June 30 through July 25, 2020. The event started with four National Championship events, and then, quickly, in year one, turned into seven events. The top high school baseball players in the nation descended on our area, attracting nearly 100 scouts from Major League Baseball teams. Incredibly, it was through social media that contact was made to land the New Balance Future Stars Series, which turned into an estimated $7 million win for Southwest Louisiana. USA Boxing, which was slated to return to Lake Charles in 2020, will be
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Photo by Kathryn Shea Duncan
Photo by Kathryn Shea Duncan
back at the Lake Charles Civic Center Dec. 2-11 for the USA Boxing National Championships, bringing in over 1,500 boxers along with their coaches, trainers and families. The Lake Area will be teeming with boxers from all over the country. Also secured in 2019, with a fiveyear commitment, was the inaugural PGA Korn Ferry Tour Lake Charles Championship. Unfortunately, the inaugural event was not able to occur in March, 2020; however, plans are underway for 2022. Owned and operated by the PGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour identifies and develops players who are ready to compete and win on golf’s biggest stage. A five-year agreement is in place through 2024. This tournament is a big win for Lake Charles, and the community will be able to see incredible golf in the coming
years through this commitment. In addition to sports business, VLC will host the first international conference in Southwest Louisiana’s history, “The 18th CWC World LNG & Gas Series: Americas Summit & Exhibition,” to be held in November of 2021. The event has only been held four times in the United States: in New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. Key partnerships emerged to make this dream a reality. These partners, who worked along with Visit Lake Charles, included the City of Lake Charles; the Port of Lake Charles; the Cameron Parish Port, Harbor and Terminal District; the Cameron Parish Police Jury; the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance and the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury. continued
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“We are fortunate to be able to bring together so many organizations, which helped secure the ‘World LNG & Gas Series.’ The ability to tap into the industry which makes this region thrive was essential. We are the epicenter of the LNG industry, so we truly are the perfect fit for this annual meeting. And hopefully being able to show off our area to CEOs and industry decision-makers will continue to bring additional growth in the future,” said Taylor Beard Stanley, senior sales manager of Visit Lake Charles. As many of the group events were canceled in 2020, unfortunately, Lake Charles was unable to hold the Lt. Governor’s Travel Summit last year. However, as the tourism industry rebuilds in Louisiana as a whole, the Lake Charles area will be able to host tourism professionals from around the state in 2022 for a chance to showcase the growth and resiliency of Southwest Louisiana. The last time the conference was held in Lake Charles, the attendance numbers broke records. We are looking forward to experiencing that same energy next year. For now, the staff at Visit Lake Charles is working out of Creole Nature Trail Adventure Point while the office on Lakeshore Drive is being repaired following the storms. The staff is collaborating with agencies in the area to create synergy for the rebuilding of Southwest
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Louisiana and the creation of volunteer opportunities. Angie Manning and Amos Orr worked with the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana, City of Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, Cameron Parish, City of Sulphur, Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance and United Way of Southwest Louisiana to create RebuildingSWLA.com and the Facebook group Facebook.com/RebuildingSWLA, with Kathryn Shea Duncan managing social media content. The eight community communications teams are sharing content about stories of resilience and of progress being made in the area. For more information, check out the website and social page. As the area rebuilds, Visit Lake Charles will promote new openings, businesses and opportunities for visitors to experience what the area has to offer. If you would like to receive updates from Visit Lake Charles or submit events or news about your place of business for the Visit Lake Charles website, connect with us at visitlakecharles.org/RebuildSWLA or on social media channels. The staff at Visit Lake Charles is looking forward to experiencing a more prosperous 2021 and inviting the community back to the Welcome Center on 1205 N. Lakeshore Drive in the near future.