Attractive to athletes equals tourism dollars

By Catherine Godbey, Staff Writer, The Decatur Daily

A merry-go-round of collegiate softball players, soccer teams and professional anglers will stream through Decatur in 2010 as the city seeks to cement its place as a premier recreation site in the Southeast.
“We are always examining issues on how we can improve the service we provide to the visiting teams. That keeps us on top,” said Tami Reist, president of the Decatur-Morgan County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Returning to Decatur in 2010 are Alabama Youth Soccer Association tournaments, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics softball championship and Bassmaster events.
With a growing reputation, the city also lured in new events, including the Women’s Bassmaster tournament, the Crappie USA tournament, the AYSA Mickey Holmes Cup and the Southern Collegiate bass tournament, a televised event.
Seeking more events
While welcoming returning and new tournaments, the tourism bureau and Decatur Parks and Recreation are working to secure more notable events.
“We are preparing for the 2011 President’s Cup soccer, placing a bid for 2010 Amateur Athletic Union soccer and looking into some more soccer events,” Reist said.
To stay ahead of sites vying for tournaments currently hosted in Decatur, the city must continue to maintain and improve the facilities, Reist said.
Hosting duties up for grabs include the 2011 NAIA softball championship, which is marking its 12th consecutive year at Wilson Morgan Park, and the AYSA State and Governor’s cups, which completed their final year of a three-year contract with Decatur in November.
With the recently installed press box at the Jack Allen Soccer Complex, the quality of the parks and the city’s hospitality, officials hope to bring the tournaments back.
While the Southwest Decatur soccer complex, Ingalls Harbor and the Wilson Morgan softball fields thrive, the Point Mallard ice rink is emerging.
In January and February, the Mississippi State University hockey club will load its pads, helmets and skates and travel to Decatur. Although the Bulldogs previously used the rink for practices, the games against Life University and Louisiana State University will be the first collegiate matches Point Mallard will host.
The 160-mile one-way trip from Starkville, Miss., indicates the demand for and lack of indoor ice rinks in the South.
As the only indoor sheet of ice between Huntsville and Birmingham, Point Mallard attracts teams from Mississippi to Tennessee, according to James Brannon, assistant director of the ice complex.
While Decatur’s sports travel is a reliable source for generating traffic, corporate travel, the meat of the tourism industry, is not. Corporate travel, Reist said, defines the success of a city’s tourism.
Recession challenge
With the recent recession, business travel slowed, creating a challenge for the visitors bureau, Reist said.
Unsteady hotel traffic hinders the economy. Unfilled hotel rooms translate to fewer funds generated through the room occupancy tax. With the tax, the convention and visitors bureau collects $2 a night for each hotel room booked.
Reist said through the first three months of fiscal 2010, the lodging taxes are down 30 percent compared to the previous year.
“All indications from our industries is that travel will get back up to where it was two years ago, but there is no way to pull ourselves out of the hole,” Reist said. “We may be able to end the year down 18 percent.”
The bureau uses the funds for improvements to city parks and attractions. In November, the tax financed the $150,000 press box at Jack Allen.