Christian County seeks tourism 'jewel'

But don’t forget about Christian County in between. That’s the message of community leaders in that county, who are hoping that with a little help from the state Division of Tourism, they can entice tourists to visit their attractions.

Christian County is one of 11 counties participating in the Missouri Jewels Program, a two-year track designed to offer technical and financial help to counties that want to develop continued tourism marketing.

Christian County got involved as a result of a request from Ozark Main Street Program Inc., a nonprofit that works to preserve Ozark’s downtown area.

“We in Christian County, and Ozark, specifically, had been looking for methods to market our community to the tourists that travel Highway 65,” said Ozark Main Street Executive Director Robert Snook. “We have a flea market, the antique shops, specialty dining areas, a large national park, (and) part of the Wilson’s Creek battlefield is in Christian County. There’s a lot of opportunity in this county for the traveler.”

The state tourism department does offer the Cooperative Marketing Program, a one-to-one matching grant program to help counties fund their destination marketing efforts.

But that program has several criteria for communities to meet, including two years of marketing experience – a qualification that can eliminate many needy areas.

The Missouri Jewels Program aims to fill that void.

“The Missouri Jewels program was conceived with the notion that we could assist emerging destinations with beginning the process of destination marketing for the location, to achieve the two-year requirement, as well as developing a Web site and a brochure,” said Becky Heeren, cooperative marketing officer with the Missouri Division of Tourism.

Filling the void

While the Jewels program does offer some financial assistance – up to $2,500 a year in matching funds for two years – Heeren said monetary gain isn’t the real reason for the program.

“Sometimes all it takes is someone from the outside coming in and saying, ‘We’ll gather you all together and start the conversation,’” she said. “We want them to understand what they have to do if they want to qualify for the next step, if they want to partner with the state for some marketing funds.”

Snook said he and several Christian County businesses are working to establish a central Web site for potential tourism destinations, which should be operational in 60 days and would link to area businesses, as well as an information brochure. No Web domain has yet been reserved for the site.

He pointed to businesses such as Ariel’s Pottery Haus, Stained Glass Theatre and fireworks and collectibles store Boomland as companies that could be strong regional tourism destinations.

Boomland owner Terry Pittman said the effort could help draw some of the thousands of travelers who drive up and down U.S. Highway 65 daily.

“I’m sure we haven’t even scratched the surface yet of those numbers. I know there’s room for growth there,” he said. “The more people we get stopping off of 65, the more it increases our odds of all increasing our business.”

Help from the north

Christian County has access to some guidance from the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau in its efforts to become better known as a tourist destination. The Springfield CVB is the designated destination marketing organization for both Christian and Polk counties.

CVB Communications Director Laura Whisler said the Jewels program will allow the county to work more independently to further its own tourism sector.

“We feel in Springfield that we’re only as strong as the region, so any time there are regional partnerships that are encouraging tourism marketing – even outside of Greene County – we’re in favor of that,” she said.

Whisler also noted that the CVB is represented on the Christian County committee developing the Web site and brochure and would help to market those through the CVB’s three Springfield information centers.

While areas such as Christian County may be known more for annual festivals and events – such as Sucker Days in Nixa – Snook said there is more to do in the area.

“We’re (targeting) the 365-day-a-year attractions that can draw in people from 50 miles away or further,” Snook said. “We want to attract anyone in the county with a bed and breakfast, a specialty shop of any sort, or any business in the county that might be attractive to tourism.”

The Missouri Jewels Program

Missouri Division of Tourism created the Missouri Jewels Program as a two-year, entry-level tourism marketing program designed to assist counties with promising tourism assets by offering technical and financial help to establish marketing.

The multi-stage process begins with an assessment to confirm a collective commitment to tourism marketing. The team then works with the interested groups to:

• assess and identify the county’s tourism product;

• establish or identify a tourism marketing organization;

• obtain nonprofit status, if necessary;

• develop a detailed marketing plan with specific action items utilizing low- or no-cost marketing opportunities; and

• obtain pre-market visitor research and provide technical assistance in planning marketing activities to include a tourism marketing Web site and brochure.

Once these steps are concluded, the program participant may apply for Missouri Jewels assistance for a maximum of $2,500 matching state dollars per year for two years.

Grants may be used for the development of a qualified tourism marketing brochure, tourism Web site and/or pre-market visitor research.

Source: Missouri Division of Tourism