Hospitality Roundtable

John Livengood, President/CEO, Indiana Hotel & Lodging Association
 
Scott Blalock and Cindy Hoye are right in feeling a sense of optimism and renewal. That is especially true for Downtown Indianapolis where there is growing awareness of the powerful economic engine fueled by visitor spending that benefits our entire community. In many other Indiana communities, hospitality is the principal economic activity. Unfortunately, the state of Indiana is not taking full advantage of the income potential from visitor spending. When you talk to policy makers about investing in promotion to grow the hospitality sector and generate more jobs and tax revenue they all too often express disbelief or disregard the facts you present to them. This may be because Hoosiers are used to thinking of Indiana as a manufacturing state or because tourism is not seen as an essential economic activity.

I suspect that policy makers, both in the General Assembly and in the Executive branch of state and local government, don’t understand the role hospitality plays in our quality of life and economic development. Those of us in the hospitality sector need to do a better job of sharing the economic and social value we bring to the table.