The Main Street Montana Project, led by some of Montana's most well respected business leaders, has heard from all corners as they developed the first ever business plan for the state of Montana.

Written by Montanans for Montana, this plan [published April 4] builds on the strengths that have made Montana great.

Some of the report's key take-aways for the tourism industry:
1. tourism is listed as one of the state's eleven Key Industry Networks (KIN) and primarily responsible for promoting Montana's quality of life and managing the Montana brand
2. tourism is seen as a top economic strength in every region in the state and central to how our highly marketable quality of life is perceived by potential visitors, investors and entrepreneurs
3. our past successes in tourism...marketing, business investments, development of infrastructure...is a scalable knowledge set that can be applied to other marketing efforts across state agencies
4. our state's successful tourism marketing & promotion of the Montana brand is the means through which other industries can better synchronize and improve their recruitment of businesses and improve marketing initiatives
5. for the first time, tourism is formally recognized as one of Montana's three major service exports along with environmental consulting and computer services
6. "expanding tourism" was identified as the #1 economic growth opportunity by the almost 2,000 participants that responded to the project's survey

Read the complete report here.

This year’s National Travel and Tourism Week, May 3 – 11, is an annual salute to travel and tourism in America.

The observance was established by a Congressional joint resolution in 1983 and first celebrated in 1984.

According to the U.S. Travel Association, leisure and business travel in the U.S. generated $2.1 trillion in 2013 including $57.1 billion from international visitor spending making travel our nation’s #1 service export.

According to the University of Montana’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research, just over 11 million non-residents visited Montana in 2013 and generated $3.62 billion in spending. It is estimated that non-resident tourism last year directly supported 30,000 jobs statewide.

Read our full press release here and learn more about some Montana events that coincide with National Travel & Tourism Week:

1. 5/3/2014, MISSOULA, GARDEN CITY BREWFEST

2. 5/10/2014, KALISPELL, MONTANA SPARTAN RACE

3. 5/4/2014, GREAT FALLS, LEWIS & CLARK CENTER 16TH ANNIVERSARY

4. 5/11/2014 – 12/20/2014, LEWISTOWN, CHARLIE RUSSELL CHEW-CHOO

5. 5/3/2014 – 5/4/2014, BILLINGS, SPRING CLASSIC BIG SKY MOTORCROSS RACE

6. 5/11/2014 – 5/18/2014, MILES CITY, MILES CITY BUCKING HORSE SALE

7. 5/3/2014, HELENA, INTERNATIONAL MIGRATORY BIRD DAY FESTIVAL

8. 5/10/2014, HELENA, DON’T FENCE ME IN RUN TRAIL RUN

 

Don't forget, the next Tourism Advisory Council is scheduled for June 2-3 at the Rock Creek Resort in Red Lodge.

Look for an agenda soon and updates at the TAC webpage.

See you there!!


Correction: the original e-update published at 1:54 pm MST incorrectly stated the dates of the next TAC meeting as June 3-4. Apologies for any confusion or inconvenience due to our error.