Discover Monroe-West Monroe Continues to Impact Community through Tourism Economy
This National Travel and Tourism Week, let’s celebrate how the travel industry powers the economy, connects our people, creates quality job opportunities and supports our communities. Travel is invaluable to Ouachita Parish’s success. Our job at Discover Monroe-West Monroe is to promote Ouachita Parish as a tourism destination through conventions, sporting, and leisure visitors. Keep reading to see how we’re helping shape Ouachita Parish’s economic development and culture.
Conventions, Meetings, and Sporting Events
Discover Monroe-West Monroe strives to host events that create such large economic impacts consistently throughout the year. Sporting events, conventions and meetings hosted in 2023 resulted in an estimated economic impact of $23.8 million in Ouachita Parish.
Check out the estimated economic impact from some of our largest events below.
NCHA Eastern National Championship: $1,497,173.05
Live Original Conference: 1, 165, 572. 30
Louisiana Association of Student Councils: $1,395,586.65
USA BMX Cajun Nationals: $447, 276.98
MLF Heavy Hitters: $431,747.14
In total, 181 meetings, conventions, and sporting events were held in 2023. It was a busy year for Monroe-West Monroe!
Community Outreach
Community outreach is top of mind when promoting our area. Our locals are what make this community so special! Check out some of the ways we celebrated our local community in 2023.
Food shouldn’t just be for thought – it should be for sharing, savoring, and celebrating. Discover Monroe-West Monroe did just that with our first ever MWM Restaurant Week held September 11-17. This week-long culinary celebration was designed to highlight our restaurant culture and local food scene in Ouachita parish! 11 local restaurants participated in the first annual MWM Restaurant Week.
Hospitality was front of mind for Discover Monroe-West Monroe. In 2023, we revamped our Team MWM Hospitality Training sessions. Two rounds of training sessions were held last year in June and November at different local museums. This gave attendees a first-hand opportunity to experience a local attraction, which they will then be able to share with visitors. Similarly, attendees sampled food from local restaurants to help grow their knowledge.
We know our area is great, but we wanted to share the love! March 18th, or 3/18, is now recognized as 318 Day. Since 318 is the area code for North and Central Louisiana, it is the perfect way to celebrate the area we work and play in! The Mayor of Monroe and Mayor of West Monroe joined together to sign an official proclamation of March 18th being recognized as 318 day. Everyone was encouraged to share their reasons why they love the 318 area on social media.
Grants & Sponsorships
Discover Monroe-West Monroe offers 2 grant opportunities. Our Tourism Development Program and our Capital Improvement Project grant are intended to provide for the development, growth, and enhancement of tourism and conventions in Ouachita Parish.
In partnership with the city of West Monroe, the West Monroe Indoor Sports & Events Complex opened its doors in January of 2024. The Indoor Sports Complex was granted $6 million from Discover Monroe-West Monroe for construction of the venue. The 112,000 square foot venue will feature 8 basketball courts, 16 volleyball courts, training rooms, and covered access to an adjoining hotel. Not only is the facility predicted to generate an estimated $21.5 million annually for the community, but it will also create 300 full and part-time jobs. In addition to funding, our sales team was able to help bring the USA Table Tennis Olympic Trials to this brand new facility in March of 2024.
Seeking continued growth in amateur sports, grants were also awarded for an expansion of the tennis courts at Forsythe Park, in partnership with the city of Monroe. $1.8 million was donated to this project which will bring an addition of 7 new tennis courts to Forsythe Park. With the additional 7 courts, the Forsythe Park tennis courts will be open to host more regional and state tournaments in the area.
Marketing Efforts
The holidays are the best time of year! In 2023, we celebrated by launching our first annual guides for Mardi Gras and Christmas. These guides included information for parades, events, stories behind the attractions, and much more.
Our tourism ambassador group relaunched this year. This relaunch included new challenges encouraging locals to celebrate our area. Another new update included an award for our Tourism Ambassador of the year. This award is presented during our Annual Tourism Industry Luncheon. Our tourism ambassador group has seen a 236% membership increase from our re-launch in March to date.
In 2023, Monroe-West Monroe received media attention for our unique stories. Earned media was valued at over $7 million for 2023. Monroe-West Monroe was featured in the AAA Explorer, Southern Living, Louisiana Life, placed 3rd in USA Today’s 10Best Southern Small Towns, and more!