Press Release: The Clinton Presidential Center Drives Little Rock Tourism
Nearly one year has passed since the opening of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, and the tourism business is reporting record numbers for 2005 and continued positive projections down the road. Hotel revenues, tourism tax collections, individual travel, motor coach business and convention bookings all saw big gains in 2005 and the future looks to be as bright in the coming months and years, said Dan O’Byrne, chief executive officer of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau (LRCVB).
“You can’t over estimate the value of the Clinton Center to the tourism business,” O’Byrne said. “President Clinton put our city on a whole new course in 1997 when he chose to build his presidential library here. Since that time we have gone to a different level and our 2005 numbers and future forecasts reflect that. Most of what has happened in the eight-year period since 1997 is a direct result of President Clinton’s commitment to our city, and for that we owe him and his staff a great deal.”
With visitor totals approaching 500,000 people, the Clinton Center has far surpassed the projection of 300,000 visitors for the first year, according to Clinton Foundation officials, and the hospitality industry has felt the positive effects of this influx of tourists. Several large conventions, including the League of United Latin American Citizens and City Year’s Cyzygy came to the city in 2005 as a direct result of the Clinton Center.
“Meetings and conventions in Little Rock have brought thousands of people to the Clinton Center, many more than we anticipated,” said Skip Rutherford, chairman of the Clinton Foundation. “One of the best decisions we made on this project was the location of the facility – just down the street from the convention center, on a major interstate and just a short walk from great hotels, restaurants and other attractions.”
Also, more than 500 out-of-state motor coaches visited the Center this year, doubling the LRCVB projection of 250. This total does not include in-state coaches, school buses or motor coaches that visited Little Rock but did not visit the Center.
Collections on Little Rock’s 2 percent hotel and restaurant tax are up more than 11 percent in 2005 as compared to 2004, according to the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. This figure offers, “A reflection of the health and vitality of the hospitality industry in Little Rock,” O’Byrne said.
Hotel room revenues in Little Rock for the first three quarters of 2005 are up $15 million from the same period in 2004, a 21 percent increase in business, according to a report by Smith Travel Research. The number of hotel rooms sold in 2005 has increased 15 percent over 2005 with over 550 more rooms sold per night in Little Rock.
“Those numbers speak for themselves,” O’Byrne said. “Not only do we have more people staying in our hotels, but the industry has increased its supply with over 2,000 new or renovated hotel rooms in the city. So, our supply and the quality of that supply is increasing along with the demand.”
But the direct and indirect impact of the Clinton Center on the tourism business won’t end in 2005, O’Byrne said. Many more future meetings and conventions have been booked for 2006 and years beyond, and the city is eagerly awaiting more new attractions, including Heifer International’s World Headquarters and Global Village, a Game and Fish nature center and the Center for Arkansas Studies, all to be constructed within walking distance of the Clinton Center.
The meetings and conventions business in 2006 continues on its upward trend. Little Rock will welcome influential meetings such as the African American Travel Conference in February, the Association of Alternative News Weeklies and the Association of Area Business Publications both in June. The city will also see another year full of heavily-attended events including the 2006 Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Championship in March, the Poultry Federation Annual Festival in June, the Amateur Athletic Union Division I Boys Basketball Championship in July, The Omega Psi Phi International Conclave in July and the American Taekwondo Association World Championship in June, which continues to draw larger crowds every year.
“Looking forward, we have more business booked for the city now than we had at this time last year,” O’Byrne said. “As our pipeline of convention business continues to grow, more and more people are realizing that our city is offering a first-class meetings, conventions and sports destination. We are excited about what the future holds for all of the markets we serve.”
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