Southwest Missouri is a multifaceted region that encompasses Springfield, the state's third-largest city; Branson, which is known as the "Live Music Show Capital of the World" and also features scenic lakes; and Joplin, which made headlines in May when it was hit with one of the most destructive tornadoes in the country's history, yet its tourism infrastructure suffered little damage.
With its many lures, the region offers something for every type of group.
Branson/Lakes Area
Branson and the Lakes Area boasts 50-plus music theaters and more than 100 live shows, more than a dozen golf courses, around 18,000 hotel rooms and almost 8 million visitors a year. And that's with a city population of less than 8,000.
The destination boosted its presence in the meetings and conventions market in November 2007 with the unveiling of the Branson Convention Center, Serving up 220,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, including a 23,000-square-foot ballroom, it is adjoined by the 293-room Hilton Branson Convention Center.
The center is next to the 95-acre Branson Landing fronting Lake Taneycomo, and the development features another hotel: the 242-room Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing, with meeting space for 120 people. The $420 million Branson Landing has more than 100 stores, condos, marinas and a town square for special events. Free trolleys navigate the landing and adjoining historic downtown.
"The convention center opened up lots of opportunities for us. We've been booking religious groups of 5,000. If a group of wants 1,000 people in one property, Branson is a good fit. Our biggest challenge is to get the word out that we can hold great meetings," says Deborah Cohen, director of meeting and convention sales at the Branson/Lakes Area CVB.
"We are a friendly and affordable city with a lot of diverse options—great shopping and golf, great fishing with both trout and bass. Some who haven't been here think that we're all country music, but we're a lot more," she says.
Aside from the two Hiltons, meetings hotels include the 300-room Chateau on the Lake Resort Spa & Convention Center, with 43,500 square feet of function space; the 472-room Radisson Hotel Branson, with 15,000 square feet of meeting space; and Big Cedar Lodge on Table Rock Lake, which can handle groups of 1,000.
Hotels, theaters and attractions stretch from downtown west along highway 75 for about four miles.
Groups can cruise on the 700-passenger Showboat Branson Belle; the Lake Queen riverboat and the Princess motor yacht, each holding 149 passengers; and the 49-passenger Spirit of America catamaran. Groups can also take in both land and lakes aboard the 40-passenger Ride the Ducks vehicles.
On land, the Branson Scenic Railway accommodates up to 325 passengers aboard vintage railroad cars.
With a range of group meeting and event spaces, Silver Dollar City, an 1880s theme park, opened the $1 million Half Dollar Holler, a new children's area that includes treetop fun houses and climbing nets. Last year, it unveiled a new $7 million raft ride.
Towering over the Strip and billed as "The World's Largest Museum Attraction," the Titanic can accommodate functions for more than 300 and is planning special events and promotions for the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking in 2012.
The newest dinner theater, the 400-seat Icon Theatre, opened last December.
Zip lines are a new group activity in Branson. Four operations opened between March and October last year: Branson Zipline & Canopy Tour at Wolfe Creek Preserve; Zip Line USA northeast of the city; Adventure Zipline of Branson (within city limits); and Vigilante Zipline at the Shepherd of the Hills Historic Homestead.
The $155 million Branson Airport, the country's first privately developed and operated commercial airport, opened in May 2009 eight miles from downtown.
Joplin
With a city population of 50,000, Joplin developed along Route 66 as a regional transportation center; Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas are less than 30 minutes away.
The city made news when an EF-5 tornado struck May 22, resulting in more than 150 deaths and thousands of destroyed homes.
Its path from west to east was three-quarters to a mile wide south of the downtown core and north of Interstate 44, which crosses the area to the south. The convention center and most of the hotels are located near the interstate off South Range Line Road to the south of the heavily damaged areas.
Two days after the tornado, the Southwest Missouri Lodging Association announced that all Joplin hotels, representing 2,100 rooms, were operational and collaborating to help provide critical shelter, especially to displaced residents.
"Everybody knows Joplin now. We're coming back. Our hotels and meeting facilities and attractions were three areas that were affected very little by the tornado, and all the roads were soon cleared," says Lenny Brubaker, sales director at the Joplin CVB.
Joplin's major venue, the 262-room Holiday Inn Hotel Joplin Convention Center & Spa, has 50,000 square feet of meeting space and can take groups of up to 4,000 people. The adjacent 114-suite Residence Inn Joplin also has meeting space.
Both are properties of John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, which announced soon after the tornado that the two sustained minimal damage and were serving as home to hundreds of displaced families and to disaster response teams. The convention center, including its 35,000-square-foot ballroom, was being used by St. John's Regional Medical Center, the most high profile of the destroyed facilities.
According to Phill Burgess, the company's vice president of sales and revenue management, since the tornado, the meeting space at the two hotels and convention center has primarily served as offices for FEMA, St. John's Regional Medical Center and insurance companies, and has been housing disaster relief supplies.
"Now that the relief supply locations are being consolidated, they are once again reserving space for group functions," he said at press time.
Five other Joplin hotels have meeting facilities, including a La Quinta and a Hilton Garden Inn.
The city has a several off-site venue options. Downtown's Joplin Memorial Hall can seat more than 2,500. Missouri Southern State University has meeting space. The Joplin Museum Complex, which includes the Tri-State Mineral Museum and the Hoover Historical Museum, has space for up to 250, and the galleries of the Spiva Center for the Arts can handle 100. Another popular off-site option is the 4-year-old Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center.
Springfield
A number of groups booked for Joplin relocated to Springfield, 75 miles to the east along Interstate 44.
Missouri's third-largest city—marketed with the tag, "Welcome to the Middle of Everywhere"—is headquarters for Bass Pro Shops and John Q. Hammons Hotels, and home to seven universities and colleges.
With more than 112,000 square feet of available space, Springfield Exposition Center downtown includes a 45,000-square-foot expo hall. Across the street, the 217-room University Plaza Hotel has more than 39,000 square feet of meeting space. Both the hotel and convention center are operated by John Q. Hammons.
John Q Hammons withdrew a plan to build a convention center hotel on a vacant lot last year, and in June a consulting firm reported that a 240-room headquarters hotel would help the city attract convention business.
"It would mean the opportunity to bring in business we wouldn't be able to get," says Dana Maugans, director of sales at the Springfield CVB. "We are affordable, have a central location and the amenities of a larger city, and are easy to get around."
Within walking distance of the convention center is Missouri State University (MSU) and Drury University, both of which have augmented their meetings inventory. MSU recently opened the $67 million, 11,000-seat JQH Arena, and Drury University recently opened the $13.5 million O'Reilly Family Event Center, seating 3,100 for athletics and 3,600 for concerts.
Shopping and dining areas surround the convention center. Nearby is Hammons Field, home of the Springfield Cardinals. There are also two historic playhouses downtown: the 538-seat Springfield Little Theater and the 1,130-seat Gillioz Theater.
Among major meetings hotels are the 127-room Ramada Oasis Hotel & Convention Center, with 18,000 square feet of meeting space; the 193-room Clarion Hotel, with 17,000-square feet of function space; the 188-room Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites, with 8,200 square feet of meeting space; and the 203-room Doubletree Hotel Springfield, with 7,000 square feet of meeting space.
The 125-room Hilton Garden Inn Springfield, the newest hotel, opened in March. It has more than 3,500 square feet of meeting space.
Springfield has the first and largest Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World. Next door is the Wonders of Wildlife Museum & Aquarium, which is expected to reopen by late 2012 following an $80 million expansion.
Missouri figures prominently in the Civil War Sesquicentennial that got under way this year. A three-day reenactment of the Battle of Wilson's Creek, the first major battle west of the Mississippi, will be held north of Wilson's Creek National Battlefield outside Springfield Aug. 12 to 14, its 150th anniversary.
For large groups, the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds has almost 90,000 square feet of exhibition space.
The new Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center opened last October at the Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park. For gatherings, the 12,700-square-foot building features meeting rooms, studios, garden settings, gazebos, pavilions and a rooftop garden.
Five miles from downtown is Springfield-Branson National Airport, which recently unveiled its new $117 million, 10-gate Midfield Terminal.
Tony Bartlett has been covering the travel trade industry for more than 20 years.
