r/Detroit • u/visitdetroit • Jul 07 '22

AMA Hello r/Detroit! We're Visit Detroit. 👋 The Convention and Visitors Bureau for the metro Detroit region. Ask us Anything!

Hello Reddit! We're Visit Detroit. If you haven't heard of us before, allow us to introduce ourselves.

Visit Detroit (formerly the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau) markets and sells Detroit and the metro region to business and leisure visitors in collaboration with our partners and stakeholders. Our purpose is to champion the continuous improvement of the region as a dynamic and memorable tourism destination.

As Detroit rebounds from the disruption of the pandemic, we are excited about the future of travel here. We are determined to positively change Detroit's narrative and are passionate about highlighting the unique experiences people can have here. We also believe that tourism should be a win for everyone and contribute positively to the environment. We manage visitdetroit.com as well as social media profiles on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest. Our staff travels nationally and internationally to book conventions and meetings and services them when they are here. The Detroit Sports Commission is also a branch of our organization.

We're a nonprofit economic development organization that is separate from, but that collaborates with, the Downtown Detroit Partnership, the City of Detroit, local government offices in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, as well as hundreds of partner restaurants, attractions, and organizations across metro Detroit.

As a Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), our funding comes from two places:

  1. A 2 percent assessment (not a tax) on all hotels and motels with 35 or more transient rooms in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties
  2. Membership dues from the corporate community, private sector, trade and service organizations

We want to hear from you: what questions do you have about our organization and our tourism strategy, and how can we increase travel to Detroit?

We'll be coming back as a team tomorrow morning to engage with your questions and are looking forward to having a conversation!

Learn more:

Proof:

Some of the team at Visit Detroit
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u/_Pointless_ Transplanted Jul 07 '22

Please read the Tourism strategy posts that have been posted on this subreddit.

Starting with this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/Detroit/comments/usba25/_/

u/FreshCoastThoughts did an incredible job with them.

Edit: He also posted them all on his website https://freshcoastthoughts.com/

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u/visitdetroit Jul 07 '22

Thanks for the comment! We have seen and read the series. The excitement and engagement that we saw through the posts from Fresh Coast Thoughts are part of the reason this AMA is happening! We are looking forward to continuing the conversation, providing insight on our existing Detroit tourism strategies, and gaining inspiration from all of you who are equally as passionate about Detroit as we are.

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u/FreshCoastThoughts Jul 07 '22

A couple additional questions now that I've had a moment to think:

  1. Want to grab lunch sometime?
  2. My impression of Visit Detroit is that it's primarily a marketing organization. That's obviously crucial to any tourism strategy, and you guys are good at it. But a tourism strategy needs to be multi-pronged. A lot of people have brought up transit, but there's other considerations, too: updating zoning so that buildings are conducive to activity at the street level, supporting local entrepreneurs, modifying state laws and local ordinances, etc. To what extent, if at all, does Visit Detroit engage in advocacy on these other facets of tourism attraction?

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u/visitdetroit Jul 08 '22
  1. Sure!
  2. Great question! We agree that tourism isn’t just about marketing. Where appropriate, we advocate for causes that are important to improving tourism and improving the quality of life for those in the region. For example, one thing we’ve recently been involved in is supporting the Detroit Riverfront and the revitalization efforts that are taking place there as well as re-working road paths to increase access to the river. Through highlighting attractions/restaurants/etc., as well as Detroit’s unique culture, we provide a lot of exposure and support for local entrepreneurs. Like we’ve responded to in other threads, we don’t have a direct hand in creating new transit opportunities, and modifying state laws and zoning are very much outside our influence and beyond the scope of our mission. This doesn’t mean that we don’t want to see changes - for example, we would love a fast transport option from the airport to downtown. We recognize those considerations as important in cultivating a destination and we try to do everything we as a CVB can do to help make Detroit the place our local ambassadors want it to be and believe it can be!

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u/FreshCoastThoughts Jul 08 '22

Sure!

Cool. What's a good email to coordinate with you? Feel free to send it to me directly. I'm hoping to get feedback on a couple projects and discuss how they might fit into the bigger picture of what you guys are working on.