Visit KC leaders warn against yanking welcome mat

Kansas City enjoyed the strongest number of convention bookings last year since 2008, but civic leaders say tourism and business growth is threatened by Missouri Senate Joint Resolution 39, which would allow businesses to refuse to serve same-sex couples.

The annual meeting Wednesday of Visit KC, the metro area’s convention and tourism marketing agency, was a celebration of hospitality industry growth, tempered by warnings about a proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution.

“It’s bad for business and bad for our economy,” said Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wagner. “We’re an inclusive and diverse place and want to keep it that way.”

Visit KC president and CEO Ronnie Burt echoed that plea, saying now isn’t the time to create an unfriendly or unwelcome environment that would cause people to choose not to come to Kansas City.

Mostly the mood was upbeat. A crowd of about 700 at the Kansas City Convention Center heard data testifying to the annual importance of travel and tourism — 24 million visitors to the city, a $5.1 billion economic impact, a $1.9 billion payroll representing one out of 19 jobs in the metro area and $356 million in visitors’ taxes that freed each Kansas City household from about $550 a year in taxes.

The agency is extending its marketing effort to other cities under a new theme, “That’s how we do Kansas City,” a reference to inclusion and collaboration.

Visit KC chairman Kevin Pistilli, a hotelier, extolled the planned doubling of hotel rooms in downtown Kansas City. He said current proposals for 10 hotels would add 2,000 rooms near the convention center.

Attorney Michael Burke, who is leading a team working on the Hyatt convention hotel, said after the meeting that the project is “working feverishly to put the package together,” including design, construction and financing, after a six-month delay caused by a group that opposed the city’s financial participation.

He said no groundbreaking is scheduled yet, but the target opening is for early 2019.

The main speaker at the Visit KC meeting, Clayton Reid, CEO of MMGY Global, swung attention to understanding travel preferences and practices of millennials born between 1981 and 2001. MMGY Global is a travel research organization that has found millennials are driving the travel and tourism industry.

Key findings:

▪ Disease outbreaks and acts of terrorism have only short-lived effects and aren’t stopping total growth in travel.

▪ Millennials lead in taking off-the-beaten-path vacations, but they also use “staycations” near home and “brick and mortar” travel agencies.

▪ Millennials, unlike boomers, don’t leave vacation days unused, and when they use them, they travel, often jumping on last-minute deals.

▪ Mobile pay platforms are growing rapidly, partly because of travelers.

▪ People place rising importance on collecting memories or experiences instead of things.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Visit KC leaders warn against yanking welcome mat."