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[chittlins]

Branson tourism rides high; cites weather, flights

By John Magsam

Posted: October 13, 2013 at 3:43 a.m.
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It's been a good year so far for Branson tourism.

The city reports the first nine months of collections of its tourism taxes for 2013 are the highest since 2010. The city's sales-tax numbers for the first nine months are sitting at record highs.

Garret Anderson, the city's director of economic development, said mild summer weather, new attractions like the Outlaw Run roller coaster at Silver Dollar City and direct service by Southwest Airlines to the Branson Airport were all factors in the strong tax collections.

In February 2012, a tornado skipped through the city. While no one was killed, the twister heavily damaged several major hotels and entertainment venues in the city's downtown and along the entertainment strip.

So far this year, Branson's various tourism taxes have brought in $7.8 million, up 6.8 percent from $7.3 million in 2012. In a month-to-month comparison, the city reported losses compared with 2012 in the first three months of the year but showed double-digit gains in three months when compared to last year - a 10.7 percent gain in March, 16.9 percent in May and 14.8 percent in September.

The total numbers are the second-highest in the last five years for the period, coming in below $7.9 million gathered in 2010. During the last decade, the city's high for the first nine months of the year came in 2008 with $8.31 million, just before the national recession hit full force.

Collections of the city's 1 percent sales tax were $8.6 million for the first nine months of 2013, up 3.6 percent, compared to the previous year and a record for the period, according to data provided by the city.

Anderson noted 2012 not only saw the tornado but also a blistering hot summer that likely hurt some outdoor attractions. He said 2013 saw a rainy first part of the year that probably benefited indoor attractions, while the spring and summer were mild, making spending time outdoors more appealing.

"Everybody seemed to do well," he said.

Lisa Rau, a spokesman for the Silver Dollar City amusement park, said the year started out slow, with snow in early May dampening attendance figures. But this year's addition of the wooden roller coaster Outlaw Run, which opened in March, has helped push attendance up by 103,000 so far this year, compared with the same time last year. The park averages 1.7 to 1.9 million visitors each year.

"Outlaw Run has been an amazing addition this year," she said, predicting the park may see 2 million visitors by years' end if the weather cooperates.

Rau said while most of the park's visitors come from the Springfield, Mo. area, the Fort Smith and Fayetteville areas rank second for number of visitors who come to the park. She said through Oct. 5, the park has seen 123,000 visitors from the Fort Smith and Fayetteville areas, up by 4,000; 70,000 visitors from Little Rock, up by 3,000; and 11,000 from Jonesboro, up by 1,000, when compared with last year.

Joe David Rice, tourism director for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, said statewide Arkansas' collections for the Tourism Trust Fund through July are $7.75 million, up nearly 5 percent compared to $7.4 million in 2012.

"It was a mixed bag," Rice said of the Arkansas collections in the Northwest corner of the state near Branson.

Benton County, home of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, collected nearly $819,000 through July, up 12.2 percent compared with last year, while Washington County collected a little more than $488,000, down 3.6 percent. Carroll County, home of touristy Eureka Springs, collected nearly $356,000 for the period, down less than 1 percent.

Rice said the state spends money advertising in Branson, touting the fun and beauty to be found in Arkansas, to lure travelers who go there to cross the border.

Mike Maloney, director of the Eureka Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau, says his city sees a lot of tourist traffic come from Branson. He said the city is having a good year for tourism tax collections but saw a breakout August, collecting $123,485 for the month in various tourism taxes, an increase of 19 percent compared to August of 2012. He said the area is becoming more of a regional tourist destination with the addition of Crystal Bridges.

"Where did they all come from? We don't know, but we're glad to have them here," Maloney said.

When asked about Branson's success, he pointed to the advantage it has with the city's airport acting as a regional hub for low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines.

"That a huge asset for them to have in their own back yard," Maloney said.

In March, Southwest Airlines began service into Branson. Branson Airport offers two nonstop Southwest daily flights to Chicago and daily flights to Dallas and Houston.Branson Airport is the nation's only privately owned commercial airport. In a statement, Rachel Wood, deputy director of marketing and air service development at the airport, said the three cities are key hubs that connect travelers to many additional markets with a single stop.

She said the low-cost of airfare, often called the "Southwest Effect," is bringing more and more visitors to Branson.

Silver Dollar City's Rau noted the airport brings more first-time visitors to Branson, and first-time visitors are the key to continued growth for the city's tourism businesses. She said visitor patterns show that as many as 80 percent of those who come to Branson choose to return.

[Junior]

Saw this story in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette today. Yeah, Branson!

[qwed94]

You know, I still have friends in high places at SFSL, I ought to contact one of them and see what SFSL attendance has been this year, compared to 2010-2012.  STL has lost a few major businesses this year, that will likely affect SFSL. However STL lost most of the big time businesses from about 2008-2012. 2013 was a much better year for business in general.

Well we didnt contribute much to Branson tourism this year. We only went 3 times for a total of 6 nights.

Still in all --- ALL RIGHT BRANSON --- way to go.