Tourism gurus come to Maryville

Two tourism experts traveled to Maryville March 30 to discuss possible routes for the fledgling tourism committee to take in their first stages.

Kathleen O’Dell and Tracy Kimberlin, both of Kimberlin, O’Dell and Associates, Springfield were introduced by Maryville Tourism Director DeAnn Davison to the Nodaway County Commissioners during their March 30 session. The trio spoke to the commission about Visit Maryville and the county’s role in tourism.

Kimberlin, who led the meeting’s conversation, told the commission, while Visit Maryville has served its initial mission, it should be broadened to include the entire county. He also shared the parochial boundaries of city limits, county lines can prohibit good tourism marketing.

“I am an avid golfer,” noted Kimberlin, “and I have never heard of the Mozingo Lake Golf Course.”

He continued by describing he and his friends take a week-long golf outing each year. With the additional amenities of cabins, a restaurant and the lake, Mozingo would be a prime spot for he and his friends next vacation. He shared the attraction of the excursion from Springfield to Maryville would be the ability to “relax.”

“There is no parking-lot style traffic or long lines to wait for a seat at a restaurant here,” said Kimberlin.

He attributed to the reason he was not aware of the golf courses at Mozingo was the inability of the current tourism efforts to reach out with promotional messages due to budget constraints. He encouraged the county to make an annual contribution to the tourism budget.

He reported the cost to reach the Kansas City market could reach $75,000 per year.

While Commissioner Scott Walk and the other two commissioners saw his thinking as true, Walk noted if the county provided funds, they would expect representation on the decision-making board.

Commissioner Chris Burns explained another attraction for the county is agriculture from its traditional roots to the current developments of agriculture future with Northwest Missouri State University’s School of Agriculture. Burns also spoke about the visitor draw of the Conception Abbey and the Benedictine Sisters Convent at Clyde.

The meeting closed with Davison giving a report to the commissioners about her role as director of the Tourism Committee and the Maryville Downtown organization. There are parts of the two groups’ mission statements that intersect and the synergies of the two perspectives will allow for a more complete, and possibly more complex, outlook for the future.