Officials in southwest Missouri are hopeful that the results of a tourism study will assist them in attracting more visitors to the Joplin area.Published on : Monday, December 4, 2017
Officials in southwest Missouri are hopeful that the results of a tourism study will assist them in attracting more visitors to the Joplin area.
Design Workshop, of Aspen, Colorado, is conducting the tourism study for Joplin.
Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau director Patrick Tuttle said that the city needs to encourage people to explore the city and not just stop by for a night.
“That’s one of our tasks, I think, that will come out of this,” Tuttle said. “We have a large population that is hitting our hotel district and dine and buy gas that never see the rest of our community.”
An initial assessment of the city was released on Nov. 14, which said that the city may have trouble attracting tourists because many of the original sites along Route 66, a tourist draw that runs through the town, no longer exist. The 90-year-old highway transports 7,000 to 8,000 people through Joplin each year.
Joplin has about 2,000 hotel rooms. However, the town lacks large meeting spaces and proper accommodations for conventions. The Joplin Convention and Trade Center is outdated and needs remodeling. Restricted airline availability is also another factor for the town’s tourism struggles. Joplin only has two daily flights to Dallas.
Tags: Joplin tourism