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Doug McDonald, president of the Cincinnati Museum Center, long-time CVB Board Members and Chair of the Regional Tourism Network’s Marketing Committee, sums it up well: “Key attractions, working with the CVB to build relationships with national editors and news outlets now, fuels a much larger and longer lasting effort to make Cincinnati USA top of mind for leisure travel and tourism.”

As strong as the media push has been, so too are the hard spending numbers that demonstrate the significant and growing impact of tourism on Cincinnati USA.

Consider that a conventioneer visiting Cincinnati spends an average of $300 per day on hotels, restaurants, shopping and entertainment. Conversely, leisure travelers spend $638 per person per trip, compared to just $391 in cities in our competitive advertising markets. Nationally, travel and tourism generate $124 billion in tax revenue for local, state and federal governments, and the industry supports 14.4 million jobs. In fact, one out of every nine jobs in America depends on travel and tourism, and without it, each U.S. household would pay $1,055 more in taxes without the tax revenue generated by the travel and tourism industry.

Cincinnati USA’s journey to become one of the world’s great destinations has been years in the making. We have much work to do, but already we’re leaving a lasting legacy of growth, community pride, positive awareness and economic viability. Like no other time in our region’s history, there are dozens of ways to engage and make an impact that is sustainable beyond the Games. Jump in and help us tell our story to the world.

Article source: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120504/EDIT/305040053/Telling-our-story-world?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cp