Chamber remodel helps spruce up Fort Scott's image

Note: This is the final story in a three-part series about the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce.

The recent $60,500 remodel of the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Information Center should project a positive image of Fort Scott to local residents and tourists, FSACC President and CEO Gary Emry said.

Last year, construction crews and local volunteers remodeled the exterior of the facility at 231 E. Wall St. and finished up work earlier this month on a complete renovation of the building's interior that began in January.

Emry said chamber officials have worked hard since 2002 -- when he began his employment at the chamber -- to change Fort Scott's image in the community and bring the town forward into the 21st Century.

"The Fort Scott Visitor Center is often the first stop for travelers and visitors to the area," he said. "I can tell you that since finishing the project a few weeks ago, I have heard nothing but positive comments from both local citizens who have stopped by to view the facility, and travelers that have passed through."

Before the remodel, hundreds of brochures from other cities and states throughout the region were displayed inside the visitor information center. Chamber officials have moved away from this marketing effort to design a visitor center that focuses on and highlights local amenities and attractions, Emry said.

"We now have a center that really allows us to put our community on display," he said.

An example of Fort Scott's impact on tourists occurred when a married couple from northern Missouri, who travel through Fort Scott each year to attend a spring family reunion in Oklahoma, stopped by the visitor information center recently, Emry said.

"The husband turned to his wife and said, 'All these years, we have stopped here and I didn't realize Fort Scott had so much to see,'" Emry said. "On their way home last Saturday, they stopped again and, after more than 10 years of just using our center as a spot to stretch their legs, they finally took the trolley tour. Maybe next year it will be an overnight stay."

There are two primary ways that chamber officials will continue to market Fort Scott to tourists and businesses that consider relocating to the city -- an updated Web site that is more user friendly, and finding the right personality fit for the chamber's tourism director position, which is currently vacant, Emry said. National statistics indicate that more than two-thirds of travelers today use the Internet to create their itinerary before they leave home, he said.

"To take advantage of that trend, in coming weeks we will begin work on our Web site that will bring us in step with current technology and marketing techniques," he said.

The chamber's 2007 integrated marketing plan is a diverse blend of advertising, promotion, public relations, and direct selling through chamber presence at travel shows. Chamber officials plan to make more frequent use of the Internet as an interactive marketing channel by upgrading their own Web site in order to take advantage of modern technological changes in the marketing industry, Emry said.

"We want to position our brand by including the Internet to compliment direct marketing, surveying our market, and integrating public relations activities more effectively and efficiently," he said.

A vital part of the upgrade to the chamber's Web site involves the design and distribution of about 5,000 small, interactive CD ROM discs that chamber officials will use as a marketing tool. People will be able to use the discs, which are about the size of a business card, in conjunction with the new Web site, Emry said. The discs will introduce the traveler to the Fort Scott community and its attractions, and will also address visitation and relocation issues, he said.

The discs will also be an all-inclusive one-stop shopping resource that will market all aspects of the community such as attractions, business and industry, education, events, economic development, and all other areas that affect prospective visitors, citizens and businesses before making decisions to visit, relocate, or build their business in Fort Scott, Emry said.

Emry said that during his five years with the chamber, three different people have occupied the position of Tourism Director, and he would like that trend to change by finding the ideal candidate to represent the tourism division, an integral part of chamber operations.

"I have come to the conclusion that this position demands 'personality plus,'" Emry said. "Although experience and industry knowledge are very important, it's really all about attitude, especially in rural America. Not only do you have to connect to the outside world, you have to connect to the community."

Both of these qualities are equally important because one feeds the other, and when one is out of balance, it dramatically affects the other, Emry said. He is still looking for the person who possesses all of these attributes.

"We are working hard to get the right person for the task at hand," he said.