LRCVB’s Gretchen Hall hopes capital city can ride board-chair coattails
The pandemic “rain delay” seemingly behind us, organizations like the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau (LRCVB) are back on the field, warming up and preparing to resume the game of promoting their cities as tourism and meeting destinations.
Pre-pandemic, the Little Rock metro accounted for roughly 22 percent of the tourists and out-of-state visitors to Arkansas, roughly 6.4 million people generating just shy of $2 billion annually in travel-related spending.
Beginning in the first quarter of 2020, those numbers began declining. Revenue from the state’s 2 percent hospitality tax was down almost 35 percent in 2020 in Central Arkansas. Of course, such numbers were down everywhere.
Gretchen Hall
But the global hospitality industry is ready to click resume, and Little Rock stands to benefit from a little extra exposure courtesy of Gretchen Hall, LRCVB’s president and CEO. On July 1, Hall will ascend to the board chairmanship of the prestigious global-travel organization, Destinations International.
The first Arkansan to serve on the board, Hall represents just the sixth woman to assume the board leadership role since the organization was founded in 1914. While humbled by the opportunity to help further blaze such a trail, Hall is equally as excited for the opportunity her chairmanship represents for Little Rock.
“This is a really good thing for Little Rock,” she emphasized. “Having Little Rock tied to me in this role will provide extra recognition and also open doors through more speaking engagements. I’ll be able to highlight Little Rock as a viable tourism destination and introduce Little Rock and its assets to a global audience.”
As the “face” of Destinations International at numerous conferences, summits and other events across the country and even the globe, Hall’s profile is about to expand. And every time she speaks on behalf of DI, another opportunity arises to brag on Little Rock and Central Arkansas. As Hall noted, it amounts to a lot of free advertising and exposure.
“A lot of individuals who otherwise may not have looked at Little Rock as a destination will now be exposed to the possibility,” she said.
Hall hopes to bring at least one Destinations International event to Little Rock during her tenure, which runs through June of 2022. She was elected to the organization’s executive committee three years ago and has served as finance committee chair, secretary/treasurer and chair elect. Other board members represent major-market destinations such as Nashville, Dallas, Palm Springs and even Banff, Canada, placing Little Rock in some hefty company.
Essentially, Little Rock will be moving up in the industry’s lunch-table hierarchy, at least for a year.
Don Welsh
Don Welsh, president and CEO of Destinations International, believes the city stands to benefit from Hall’s tenure as board chair.
“Not only is Gretchen a leader in her local community, but she is also a strong, passionate and forward-thinking leader for the entire destination organization sector,” he said. “She has the Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) credential, which is the tourism industry’s highest individual achievement. A strong leader is even more important now than ever before as our industry recovers from the global pandemic.”
In addition to promoting Little Rock from a global soapbox, Hall is eager to learn from her colleagues and implement their own successful practices back home. And she’s grateful for the opportunity to further blaze that trail.
“There are women CEOs in the industry but in smaller markets,” Hall said. “Women are still part of the minority in mid-size and larger markets. It’s a very diverse industry until you get to the C-suite levels and leadership positions.”
As the world emerges from COVID-19, Hall said LRCVB is beginning to field more calls and host more site visits from officials considering destinations for their company event. Hall said new tenants are moving downtown, people are starting to return to their offices, and visiting groups are becoming much more visible.
May felt like the beginning of a slow return to normal, she added.
“We were able to book a few more concerts, schedule our future Broadway series and re-open Ottenheimer Market Hall and the Farmers’ Market,” she said. “Every weekend, the restaurants are filling back up, and patios are full. If the weather cooperates, we anticipate a really good summer leisure season. There’s a lot of pent-up demand.”
Concerts indeed are returning to downtown Little Rock. Upcoming shows scheduled for the historic Robinson Performance Hall or the First Security Amphitheater in the River Market include ZZ Top, Jason Isbell, Ashley McBryde and Jamey Johnson/Whiskey Myers. Plus, The Price is Right Live! game show is returning to Little Rock later this year.
But even with vaccinations up and the COVID-19 cloud dissipating, challenges remain. Small businesses and especially restaurants are finding it hard to attract workers back to their old jobs. Hall said many workers either found new jobs in other industries, are working remotely or took early retirements. And, yes, the federal stimulus motivated some to stay home and not work, she noted.
“By and large, there are just less people in the job market,” she said. “Being able to bring back staff and find new staff is a real issue.”
It’s an issue impacting the hospitality industry nationwide. Hall believes local CVBs and similar organizations can act as community resources and help local businesses get back to work. Last month, LRCVB hosted the Big On Little Rock Recovery Job Fair for hospitality and tourism workers at the Statehouse Convention Center.
Welsh cited Little Rock’s hospitality job fair as another example of Hall’s leadership, which he believes bodes well for Destinations International.
“That experience will be invaluable as our organization builds upon our equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives,” he said.
Meanwhile, with visitors and locals alike starting to fill downtown Little Rock once again, Hall stressed that the industry needs workers to do the same.
“Especially on weekends, it’s starting to look a lot more like it did pre-pandemic.”
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