News release from Visit Fort Wayne:
Visit Fort Wayne to Celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week
(May 5, 2014) – Since 1984, the first full week of May is recognized as National Travel and Tourism Week, and Visit Fort Wayne and CVBs across the United States will celebrate the power of travel from May 3-11.
During the celebration, Visit Fort Wayne will host a Frontline Service Workshop on May 6 at the IPFW Alumni Center. The workshop is free for Fort Wayne’s frontline employees, who meet and greet with visitors and citizens each day. This year’s session will focus on the “Power of Pride,” educating frontline employees on serving visitors with our passionate and famous Hoosier Hospitality.
Fort Wayne welcomes approximately 5.8 million visitors each year, bringing in $497 million dollars into our local economy, supporting 8,000 jobs, and accumulating $68 million dollars in paid state and local taxes. Tourism is the 6th largest industry in Allen County.
Over the last year, the Fort Wayne tourism and hospitality industry has been booming with upgrades, renovations and openings. Here’s a list of recent and future improvements around the city of Fort Wayne:
- Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) is celebrating 50 years through the public art initiative “Sculpture with Purpose.” This initiative will display 50 new sculptural bike racks around the community. The project will officially be recognized with a community-wide celebration called “Kickstart” on May 17. On that day, Visit Fort Wayne will host an open house party at the Visitors Center, celebrating “65 years of Welcoming the World to Fort Wayne!”
- The Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo announced a $7 million restoration of its Australian Adventure area in April. The improvements will feature a new entry path, renovated train station, new ice cream shop, more outdoor guest seating, upgraded restrooms and repairs to building facades. The project will also bring in new animals, including a pair of Canadian lynx, baby colobus monkey, crocodile skink, Cabot’s tragopan pheasants and call ducks.
- The Hilton Fort Wayne at the Grand Wayne Convention Center is nearly finished with its $5.2 million renovations project. All 246 guestrooms were remodeled with new bathrooms, carpet, vinyl, and window treatment. The meeting space received new banquet seating, carpet and vinyl, while the public space was remodeled with new carpet, seating and complimentary connectively center.
- Science Central revealed its first new major exhibition since 1995 last summer called Science on a Sphere. The new 50-lb. high-quality globe rotates in mid-air in the center of the room, and showcases changing land shifts, weather patterns, and ocean currents all in real-time. Science on a Sphere is the first of its kind in Indiana and one of only about 100 in the entire world. The new exhibit is part of a $1.5 million capital campaign.
- Canlan Ice Sports renamed its Fort Wayne complex the SportONE/Parkview Icehouse. The facility, which opened in 2010, is one of Indiana’s newest and largest ice facilities with 3-NHL sized ice surfaces, restaurant, bar, locker rooms, and spectator seating.
- For the second-straight year, Parkview Field, the home of the Fort Wayne TinCaps, was named as the top 2013 Minor League Baseball experience and the #14 experience in all sporting venues, according to Stadium Journey magazine. The downtown ballpark welcomes over 400,000 fans and hosts more than 100 non-baseball events on a yearly basis.
- The Fort Wayne Residence Inn remodeled every guestroom with new furnishings, bedding, paint, carpet and stainless steel appliances. The lobby now features new modern furniture, tables, and TV pods. For spring and summer, the “outdoor experiences” showcases a fire pit, patio furniture, grill, and lighted sports court for baseball, tennis and volleyball.
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