Community Spotlight - Pulaski County Tourism Bureau
Fort Wood Hotels is so proud to be able to partner with the Pulaski County Tourism Bureau. The tourism bureau does a fantastic job of showcasing Pulaski County and all the amazing things to do and see and enjoy here. This helps to bring visitors, income, and employment to the area in a significant way. We see the benefits for our community, and we are always on board to help where we can. If you’d like to learn a little more about the Pulaski County Tourism Bureau, how we work together, and how it benefits this area, just keep reading this blog.
1. Tell us about your organization.
The Pulaski County Tourism Bureau & Visitors Center is a non-profit organization that invests into marketing to bring awareness to Pulaski County Missouri as a tourist destination. These investments range from traditional advertising, print, broadcast, outdoor and digital to relationships; networking with other destinations and travel industry associations. We reach those looking for a unique vacation destination, that may have never known about Pulaski County Missouri and the amazing activities, events, attractions, eateries and shopping that our community partners offer. Our marketing investments focus on leisure travelers, as well as groups such as motorcoach travel planners, reunions; both family and military reunions, sporting event planners and media, which includes journalists and film makers. Pulaski County makes for the perfect destination with our centralized location within the state, our gentle and clean riverways, beautiful Ozark scenery, our communities rich history and unique culture that center around the Trail of Tears, Civil War, Frisco Railroad, Fort Leonard Wood and historic Route 66.
In addition to marketing the destination the Bureau also fulfills requests asking for more information from the advertising that is placed, creates various themed self-guided tours to enhance the visitor experience, creates and distributes various brochures; state-wide and locally, and operates a Visitors Center.
The Bureau marketing and service investments are funded through a 3% transient guest tax, which is a tax collected on overnight stays (hotel, cabins and vacation homes) in Pulaski County Missouri. To increase our growth and ability to promote Pulaski County as a destination we focus increasing overnights. The longer visitors remain in our area, the more benefit this brings to businesses, employment and government tax funded programs.
2. What is the Mission Statement of your organization?
The Pulaski County Tourism Bureau & Visitors Center, Destination Marketing Organization for Pulaski County Missouri, is organized for the sole purpose of promotion of tourism and the comprehensive marketing of our destination, in order to fuel the local business climate and broaden the local tax base.
3. How long how has your organization been serving our community?
The Transient Guest Tax was passed by Pulaski County voters August 1998. This use tax, relates to a specific state statute for use in marketing Pulaski County tourism. The Bureau is contracted with the county to manage tourism marketing with the formal acceptance of the 501C6 in early 1999.
4. How can our community help serve your mission?
We invite community members to learn more about the Bureau activities and the resources we provide. Knowing about these activities, or knowing what resources are available and where others can learn more will help the entire community prosper. I don’t know how many times I am stopped at a convenience store and am asked questions about the area and where to find a shop, an attraction, where some of the great fishing accesses are…. Knowing these locations, or knowing I can point them to PulaskiCountyUSA.com is so helpful to those new to the area, or those vacationing in Pulaski or traveling thru. The bonus is, as a local you discover all interesting things to see and do, right here in your backyard! (There is more to working and family responsibilities!) As a business in Pulaski, or an event planner, the Bureau has various partner programs available, most of which are at no cost.
Regarding the Tourism Board, these volunteers are made up of county-wide Chamber of Commerce representatives, outfitter association, and industry representatives from the hotel, restaurant and business interest sectors. Representation is as a community or industry with focus on financial soundness and strategy of the organization.
5. Do you have any events you’d like to promote in 2022?
We assist in marketing events held throughout Pulaski County and there are a wide variety of activities occurring year-round! Signature Events for 2022 include; Pulaski County Fair, which will feature a Dog Show, ATV Rodeo and Bull Riding. Big BAM Ride will be in town June 15th, this is a bicycle across Missouri’s Route 66 event that begins in Joplin and ends in Eureka. The 2-day Route 66 100 Mile Yard Sale is growing every year, spanning three counties. The first weekend in October is busy with the Tadpole 5k opening on Friday night, with the Frog Hill Half Marathon starting Saturday morning. This same Saturday, Oct 1, is the Nasty Pulaski Gravel Grind, which is a 65-mile bicycle challenge. Participants may also choose the 25 miler. If you enjoy game play the Route 66 Challenge is a lot of fun! 2-person teams receive clues and missions to complete for a fun day along Route 66 in Pulaski County. And the holidays are a spectacular time to explore the county during the Light Up Pulaski County Christmas light contest. Area homes, businesses and not-for-profits compete for 3 weeks.
The Tourism Bureau also produces a blog highlighting monthly events that are coming. It includes various weekly activities that are happening, to include Farmer’s Markets, Swap Meets, days that the various non-profit museum’s are open, Art shows, live theater…..
Another way to keep apprised of all the activities and events is to sign up for the email list on the calendar. Simply go to the event calendar, click on More, Create an Email Reminder and you will receive an email for every event posted to the calendar. You may want to insert keywords such as festival, craft fair, music to personalize the event notifications. For event planners to be involved, they simply need to go to the event calendar, click on More, Add Event. Once the Bureau receives the details we then roll the event into our various marketing efforts.
6. How can the community get in contact with you? Website, phone number, email, etc.
The Pulaski County Tourism Bureau website is PulaskiCountyUSA.com. Our phone number is 573.336.6355 and our staff email is email@pulaskicountyusa.com. The Bureau also operates a Visitors Center located at 137 St. Robert Blvd., St. Robert, MO, just north of I-44, exit 161. The Visitors Center offers 3 rooms full of information, not just on the local area, but on state-wide attractions. The Center is an excellent resource for both local community members as well as travelers to, and thru, Pulaski County. Visitor Center hours are 8am-5pm Monday thru Friday year round, and Saturday and Sundays from 9am-3pm the weekend after Memorial Day thru Labor Day weekend.
A Valuable Partnership
Our hotels are very involved with tourism, in fact our Director of
Operations, Rick Morris, is the president for the Pulaski County Tourism
Bureau. There are many reasons that we believe this partnership with Pulaski
County Tourism Bureau is so important. We work together to bring in groups,
events, and reunions to our area. For one, we help showcase this region to
groups looking for a place to hold their events. We also participate in many
giveaways with free nights at our hotels to advertise the area in advertising
campaigns. This is not just about hotel sales, it’s also about the revenue that
we are able to bring to the area as a whole. In 2021, tourism brought in
$76,972,599.12 to Pulaski county alone and employed 2,663 people according to
the Missouri Division of Tourism annual report in 2021. It really is a win-win
situation for everyone. If you’d like to see more details from that report click here.
We are so glad to partner with such a great organization. We love the Pulaski County area, and all has to offer. We value being a part of such a wonderful community and are always excited to help in any way that we can. Whether it is providing a much-needed getaway, making your event planning easier and more successful, or bringing jobs and revenue to the area, we think the work that is done through the Pulaski County Tourism Bureau is important to everyone in the area. If you have any questions about what to do in Pulaski county, or how to plan an event, and of course where to stay, Fort Wood Hotels is here for you and happy to help. Check out our website and give us a call. We would love to hear from you and help you plan an event here in Pulaski County. Don’t forget to use the links below to follow us on your favorite social media channel to stay in touch and hear all the latest deals and information about vacationing in the Fort Leonard Wood area.
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Reservations: 573-451-3678
Sales Office: 573-451-3203
sales@fortwoodhotels.com
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