Tourism key part of state's economy

SANDPOINT — As time goes on, tourism will only become more important to the state’s economy, according to speakers at an economic summit Thursday.

Hosted by several regional chambers of commerce and state officials, the North Idaho Tourism Summit helped business owners make sense of how the $3.4 billion-a-year industry affected them.

According to Karen Ballard, chief administrator for Idaho Tourism, the income generated from individuals vacationing in Idaho is only increasing. The tourism industry employs nearly 25,000 state residents and brings $7 million to the state in the lodging tax revenue, and it’s growing at a faster rate than the state sales tax. Tourism dollars also benefit a broad range of businesses, as data indicates tourists spend 12 percent of their vacation funds on recreation, 17 percent on transportation, 19 percent on retail items, 29 percent on lodging and 23 percent on food and beverages.

In Ballard’s book, that’s all good news. It means more people are seeing Idaho as a desirable place to vacation, she said.

“Our mission is to build the economy,” Ballard said. “Some people think all we do is invite people to come up here and play, but that’s part of building the economy.”

The best way to build that economy, Ballard continued, is to effectively communicate the message to the national and international markets. Idaho Tourism has identified several key points for tourism-dependent communities to communicate in promotional materials, including the good value and family-friendliness of an Idaho vacation and the nature of the state’s unique identity. Natural beauty is another factor to play up in marketing, but Ballard said people usually need less convincing on that point.

“The beautiful scenery is one thing everybody already believes, unless they’re mistaking us for Iowa, and that does happen,” Ballard said.

As for getting that message out to the rest of the world, there are several ways to go about it. Idaho Tourism doesn’t have the largest budget compared to many state tourism agencies, but they still have enough money for some strategically-selected advertisement campaigns. The 2012 Vitamin ID campaign, which played up the idea of an Idaho vacation as a dose of alternative medicine using imagery from Schweitzer and other key locations, won a national Mercury Award from the U.S. Travel Association for best overall state tourism campaign.

Attracting bloggers, writers, journalists and other professionals into the state is another good approach. For instance, the two individuals behind the blog “For 91 Days,” which details the experiences of the writers over 91 days of living in a new location, dedicated a series to Idaho, which included time spent in Sandpoint.

Major events like sports competitions are also desirable third parties to court.

According to Great Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce Director Kate McAlister, local business professionals are reaching to out-of-state individuals in a variety of ways. One of the most promising developments is in the sister city relationship with Nelson, British Columbia, which is expected to produce a variety of cultural exchanges, industrial partnerships and cross-marketing opportunities.

McAlister hopes the relationship with the Canadian city will bring increased prosperity to the owners and employees of small businesses, because that should spread benefits to the rest of the community.

“If we can make their standard of living better, everyone’s standard of living will be better,” she said.