Written by Amanda Coers – The Brownwood Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon focused on the subject of tourism in the Brownwood area with a presentation featuring the launch of the new VisitBrownwood.com website and the “Visit Brownwood” initiative.

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The luncheon was sponsored by Bruner Auto Family, currently celebrating it’s 90th business birthday and 11 years of operation in the Brown County area.

Sunni Modawell, Tourism Director and interim Director for the Brownwood Chamber of Commerce, introduced Roland Soto – Sports Coordinator for the City of Brownwood, and Marshal McIntosh – Marketing and Communications Director for the Brownwood Municipal Development District. Both Soto and McIntosh are heavily involved in encouraging tourism for the area. 

“Whenever I say what I do, the very first thing people ask is “Brownwood has tourists?” and I say, yes we do!” Modawell said to the luncheon attendees of her work as the Tourism Director. Modawell further explained tourism generated $47 million dollars for Brown County in 2016. 

“If we haven’t had visitors in Brownwood and spend that $47 million, every single person in Brownwood would have to spend $1,300 a year to replace that revenue. Those dollars go to our parks, our police and fire departments, it’s important.” 

Though locals might claim to have little to do, Modawell, McIntosh, and Soto have been working to change that mindset.

“Tourism in Brownwood is a matter of perception, we’ve all heard people say there is nothing to do here, but that’s not true, there’s a lot to do here,” Modawell said before introducing Marshal McIntosh to speak more on the Visit Brownwood campaign. 

McIntosh explained a lack of organized information in one central location can contribute to the idea of little to do in town. 

“We want to better tell our story of Brownwood, where visitors and residents can know more about the events,” he said. The Visit Brownwood campaign officially kicked off today with the unveiling of the new informative website: visitbrownwood.com  

“Visit brownwood is a collaboration that multiple people have worked on for a long period of time, there is so much in Brownwood, we wanted to have it in one spot.”

The website features lodging, restaurants, events, and more. McIntosh told attendees city and chamber staff were constantly asked how to get all the local events listed on one central calendar. On visit brownwood there is a community events page, and organizations can submit events to be added to the calendar. 

Beyond simply seeing what’s happening on any given day in Brownwood, visitors and locals alike can fully plan their day’s adventures directly on the website utilizing a specialized widget to create an itinerary. Plans can be made on the website or with the “Visit Brownwood Texas” mobile device app.

On the social media side, McIntosh encourages the community to like and engage with the Visit Brownwood Facebook Page, and also Visit Brownwood on Instagram.   

“If you’re interested in seeing Brownwood in a different light that you may not see, you should follow us on Instagram,” McIntosh said. Along with a comprehensive social media push, billboards are also part of the effort to direct traffic to the new website.

Following McIntosh, Roland Soto offered information about sports tourism for the Brownwood area.

“This is a huge market,” Soto said, showing statistics for economic gains in the last year related to sports tourism. National sports tourism statistics show it is a rapidly growing market, grabbing 14 percent of overall tourism dollars. 

From 2017 to 2018 hotel stays in the Brownwood area are up by 18 percent, with an almost 40 percent rise in the local economic impact: $427,000 for 2017. Soto is expecting to see $590,000 in economic impact for 2018. Those dollars are spent at hotels, restaurants, local stores, gas stations and beyond to infuse the local economy as travelers come to Brownwood for sporting events at the growing list of venues such as the Bert V. Massey II Sports Complex, the Brownwood Soccer Complex, Gordon Wood Stadium, the Brownwood Coliseum, the new skate park, the paddling trail, and others. 

Soto credited several local organizations and businesses with their help in recruiting big sporting events to utilize the venues in Brownwood. He also praised the city’s recreation staff for continually striving for excellence to prepare for events.

A newly printed Facility Guide is part of marketing efforts to get information to event coordinators. Soto is currently overseeing ad campaigns in Sports Destination magazine, and other publications to showcase all Brownwood has to offer. 

Moving forward, Soto explained he is focused on prospecting new events, partnering with existing events to improve, and developing hew “homegrown” sporting events.

“One of the trends in the industry in all sizes of the market is getting your local people to organize and host events,” Soto said, giving the resurgence of the TexasBank Holiday Classic as an example.

To learn more, visit the Brownwood Sports Facebook Page.

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