KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Discover Kalamazoo received half a million dollars from the county to ramp up tourism and encourage more people to discover what the area has to offer.
“Visitors to Kalamazoo County spent over $500 million that created more than 10,000 jobs in Kalamazoo County. And what it does is it sustains the businesses that Kalamazoo County residents enjoy,” said Jane Ghosh, president and CEO of Discover Kalamazoo.
According to Ghosh, that number dropped to $387 million during the pandemic.
“So our job is to get that back up to 500 million, you know, and beyond,” she said.
With the $500,000 the organization received from the county’s ARPA funds, they plan to get the county back on track.
“The way we're going to do that is really twofold. One is to attract more multicultural visitors to Kalamazoo County.” Ghosh told FOX 17 they plan to print the Kalamazoo travel guide in Spanish as a way to be more inclusive to all visitors.
Other parts of the plan consist of working with athletic groups to bring more sporting events to the county, training, and educating local businesses to make sure their establishments are accessible.
Discover Kalamazoo will be joining forces with the city and county on ways they can better promote the area.
“Kalamazoo is such a unique place. It's this wonderful small-town feel where people are friendly. It has a phenomenal quality of life, but we have these world-class attractions here that you can't find anywhere else in the country,” Ghosh told FOX 17.
The plan is to use the money in 2023–24.
