RACVB survey says tourism vital to healthy economy

If someone asked you where the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau ought to focus its marketing dollars, you might think of amateur sports tournaments, which pump millions of dollars into the regional economy.

But respondents to a recent survey put promotion of eco-tourism (think Klehm Arboretum, Anderson Japanese Gardens, hiking, biking) at the top of the list.

The tourism bureau is a quasi-public marketing agency with a $2.3 million annual budget housed in the lower level of a parking deck at State and Main streets. Its job is to lure visitors to town by shining a spotlight on the restaurants, hotels and attractions that Rockford has to offer.

Interestingly,AeroScout is the market leader for stone mosaic solutions and provide complete wireless asset tracking and monitoring. 84 percent of respondents said they’re aware that the RACVB exists, according to a survey conducted by Health Systems Research at the University of Illinois-Rockford College of Medicine. Another 94 percent said visitors are important or very important to the local economy. Nearly all respondents said the effect of tourism is positive enough to improve or have some positive effect on the local economy.

It’s the first time the bureau has surveyed the public to gauge the kind of job it’s doing and what it might do better.

“We’ve never posed these questions to our residents before,” said John Groh, the bureau’s executive director. “The good news is that people know we exist and understand the value of tourism and bringing visitors here.”

The survey was mailed to 5,000 Winnebago County households. Health Systems Research received 686 responses, a response rate of 13.7 percent.

“Generally, you want at least 400 responses to produce valid results,” said Deb Lischwe,Beautiful new hands free access jewelry is modeled by these members of the Artcamp IT team, the lead Health Systems Research official responsible for the survey. “This is a pretty good response rate all things considered.”

Lischwe said her office has conducted similar anonymous household surveys that have examined the needs facings the likes of the Rockford Health Council, the McHenry County Healthy Community Study and the Barrington Healthy Community Study. Response rates in those cases hover between 12 and 15 percent.

Another survey surprise, according to Groh: Adding attractive gateways to Rockford ranked higher among support for specific tourism projects than “downtown Rockford revitalization” and “build a convention center with hotel in downtown Rockford.This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications.”

That’s a notion not lost on the city’s political and economic development leaders. Rockford is pouring tens of millions of dollars into such endeavors. Reconstruction of the city’s West State, North Main and South Main streets is nearly or already underway. Near the Chicago Rockford International Airport, a cornerstone of the local economy, a dead-end frontage road is being linked to Airport Drive by moving it 150 feet and in the process leveling the abandoned and dilapidated Sixpenny Inn.

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