Shawnee Oklahoma Conventional & Visitor's Bureau

By Mike McCormick
michael.mccormick@news-star.com

Tourism in the Shawnee area continues to have a significant impact on the local economy, and room revenue during 2008 hit an all-time high. Even though hotel occupancy was at the lowest level here since 2002, local figures indicate the area fared better than the national average.

Gordona Rowell, executive director of the Shawnee Convention and Visitors Bureau, said one of the focuses for this year will be to acquire a site in the I-40 corridor for a proposed visitors center.

Rowell said “we budgeted flat line for our surcharge revenue this year compared to 2008.” Already in January this year, she said, “We’re down 10 percent in occupancy from January of a year ago. But we don’t stop working the business just because of it,” she added.

She said, “The two things working against us are the national economy and a saturation point on supply of motel rooms.”
She said another motel, a Comfort Inn and Suites, is under construction in the I-40 corridor across from the LaQuinta. Projected completion date is October this year, she said.

“We have times when we need all the rooms,” Rowell stated. “The hard part is keeping these rooms full.”
She pointed out that occupancy in the Shawnee motels is pretty evenly split with corporate, leisure and event travel drawing about one-third each.

During a Monday interview, while referring to the proposed visitor center, Rowell said she believes “we’ll have something on acquiring the property by May or June. I can’t think of any other options we haven’t explored, and by April everything will be on the table. We can close on a site by May or June, I think.”

A study by Randal Travel Marketing in 2006, authorized and accepted by the CVB, indicated that a visitor center was critical to Shawnee and its continued efforts to attract tourists.

She anticipates the visitor center will cost between $1 and $1.5 million, although probably closer to the latter figure. That includes the land and construction of a building of around 4,000 square feet.

“That’s because we are talking about going from the ground up,” Rowell said.

Because she thinks it would be unwise “to start the construction before the land is paid for,” she predicts it will be from three to five years before a center can be completed. She would be satisfied if one was in place by 2013 or even 2014.

The CVB budget for the current year calls for $415,000 in revenue. Rowell said that $90,000 is included for land payment this year, and an additional $200,000 is reserved in a money market for the center. “We could start construction as early as 2012, and it probably wouldn’t be completed until 2013,” she noted.

But she also insisted “we are not looking at carrying a million dollar loan. We do not want to jeopardize our marketing and recruitment efforts.”

“By the time we have the land paid for, we will have our design and plans all in place,” she continued.

Rowell also mentioned that other available funding sources are being researched to help with possibly paying for the center.
She also thinks it makes the most sense for the CVB to be housed in the visitor center.

“If you don’t house there, it’s an extra expense. You still have the chamber here helping,” Rowell said. “Most visitor centers have volunteers up front. Our idea would be to have a volunteer program with our staff available.”

She presumes it would most likely be open six days week. Pointing to the visitor center located in Midwest City, which is 3,800 square feet, has only one office, and was built in 1998, she indicated that city’s center is open six days a week. She said Midwest City officials told her that one cost $550,000 for the building, an additional $200,000 for parking and the city provided the land.

Rowell said they told her that same facility would have a price tag of  $1.2 million today, plus any land costs.

“I think we are looking at 4,000 square feet. I don’t want to construct a building that we outgrow in a year,” she said.
Rowell presented the CVB annual report to Shawnee city commissioners Monday night.