KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City’s tourism, travel and hospitality industries took over the Midland Theatre Wednesday afternoon in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, to celebrate 2023 and look forward to 2024.
There was no shortage of events to celebrate from the first nine months of this year, which included a Super Bowl Parade, new single terminal at Kansas City International Airport and the NFL Draft, just to name a few.
The calendar might look a little different in 2024, but those who work in the tourism and travel sectors are still making plans to put Kansas City front and center.
“The rest of the country knows us now, and they know us for all the right reasons,” Visit KC CEO Kathy Nelson said during her remarks at Wednesday’s annual Tourism Outlook.
Nelson and the VisitKC team also took advantage of the event to unveil their newest branding campaign, From the Heart.
“Kansas City is absolutely the best city in the country,” Nelson said. “Everything we do is from the heart.”
Travel trends
Katie Briscoe, CEO of Kansas City-based travel and tourism marketing agency MMGY Global, told the audience that while leisure travel hasn’t been immune to the effects of inflation, business and corporate travel could help the travel and tourism industry — especially in Kansas City — pick up the slack in 2024.
The firm’s 2023 Portrait of the American Traveler suggests a resurgence in road trips among leisure travelers, but how those travelers plan those trips will be increasingly important for tourism, travel and hospitality firms.
Briscoe said travelers are increasingly depending on brands on social media networks and influencers to help make their travel decisions. Some early adopters are also using artificial intelligence travel apps to plan out their trips.
Several of the first waves of AI-assisted travel apps, such as tripplanner.ai, come pre-populated with popular attractions in a particular city. Users can select which attractions they are interested in, and then the app comes up with an itinerary based on how many days the user is spending in the city, even providing different options based on the traveler’s budget.
While many popular destinations across the country — think New York and Los Angeles — have attractions pre-populated, some cities such as Kansas City are more of a blank slate. Creating data for those travel apps will be an important part of Kansas City’s next chapter of travel, Briscoe said.
Additionally, companies that develop a virtual reality version of Kansas City can give prospective travelers an idea of what their trip might look like and even give them the inspiration to take an actual trip.
Briscoe said she believes Kansas City can stand out in the travel market because the area has a brand, has the assets and is well-positioned in the market.
From the Heart
VisitKC’s From the Heart branding ties into the now nearly ubiquitous KC heart logo that’s popped up on everything from art displays to coffee mugs and hoodies.
The KC heart logo first appeared on the scene thanks to Kansas City, Missouri-based brand Charlie Hustle.
