Everybody recognizes the problem is there, but we’ve got to start hitting it head-on.Smart Warehousing will join MMGY Global & Wellington at Edison District in Downtown Overland Park. “Anything that creates a good image of Vermont is good for our members,” said Piper, whose organization has about 65 inns and B&Bs with up to 50 guest rooms.īut “they can spend all the money in the world talking about quality of life and that we’re a beautiful state, which we are, but it’s getting much, much harder to find housing for those middle management careers, those young professionals. He cited a lack of affordable housing and functional broadband in rural areas. “It’s a good portal for big city people to try Vermont,” Piper said of Burlington.īut Piper added that there’s no point in marketing to visitors unless the infrastructure is available to ensure their success, and right now it’s not. Tourism generated $481 million in Chittenden County in 2017, Jones said.Įnhanced marketing in Burlington will affect tourism businesses all over Vermont, because Burlington is a gateway of sorts to the rest of the state, said Tim Piper, president of the Vermont Inn and Bed and Breakfast Association. But tourism is spread more evenly throughout the state than many other industries, and Chittenden County only produces 17 percent of the state’s annual tourism revenue, according to Ken Jones, economic research analyst for the Agency of Commerce. The agency said 13 million people visited Vermont in 2017.Ĭhittenden County is home to a quarter of Vermont’s population and a quarter of its private businesses.

In 2017, tourism brought the state $2.8 billion, according to the state Agency of Commerce and Community Development. Tourism is big business in Vermont, and particularly in Chittenden County, which regularly attracts conference-goers, University of Vermont parents, and others to its award-winning breweries, Church Street marketplace and the shores of Lake Champlain. “I think they’d see for the first time Burlington have a clear and coherent brand messaging,” he said. Asked what Vermonters might see as a result of the campaign, Lawson said the goal is higher tax revenues and then some intangibles. “Ultimately, at the end of the day, everything we are talking about is about economic impact,” said Lawson, who is the head of Hello Burlington, the chamber’s new destination marketing organization.

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