Member Spotlight: Experience Columbus

Each week, the Columbus Chamber will spotlight one of our member businesses, their presence in the Columbus Region, what they do and how they’ve involved at the Chamber. To submit your member business for a member spotlight contact the Chamber's marketing department.

About Experience Columbus:  Experience Columbus generates revenue for the Greater Columbus community by promoting the area as a destination for conventions, meetings, trade shows and leisure tourists. 

Incorporated in 1941 as the Greater Columbus Convention Bureau, the organization began doing business in June 2003 as Experience Columbus, reflecting a broader role in orchestrating the Columbus visitor experience to entice visitors to return, again and again.  More than 900 hospitality industry businesses and organizations, stakeholders and supporters are members of Experience Columbus.  

Experience Columbus’ headquarters is in downtown Columbus at 277 W. Nationwide Blvd.  It operates a visitor center at that location and at Easton Town Center and provides visitor information at Port Columbus International Airport, Easton Town Center, the Greater Columbus Convention Center, the Ohio Statehouse and through its Web site at ExperienceColumbus.com and toll-free telephone line at 866-EXP-COLS. 

Why we're members: Experience Columbus and the Columbus Chamber are both dedicated to our community’s economic development.   Only through collaboration and big picture thinking can we unleash the kind of innovation that will transform the way we envision our community and its future. 

We work closely with Chamber staff and members on marketing initiatives, business-to-business opportunities and resource sharing.  The Chamber produces a wealth of invaluable research, publications and collateral materials that assist with our convention and tourism sales and marketing efforts.  And Chamber events provide important networking opportunities for our staff.  

Featured product or service: We love to spread the word about playing, dining, shopping and staying in Columbus. One of the ways we do that is by sharing experiences on our blog, The Columbus Experience. The blog also has links to connect with Columbus locals and visitors on Facebook, chat with us on Twitter, share Columbus photos on Flickr and watch Columbus videos YouTube. To see what others are saying, take a look at some of the articles and blog posts saved on Delicious.

If you’re a Twitter user, you can do more than just follow along. Tune into the hashtag #ExpCols. Our staff, Columbus locals and visitors use it to give and get recommendations about what’s good in Columbus. Check the details here.

Cool facts:  Tourism is big business in Columbus and Franklin County.  The latest independent research revealed that in 2007, visitors generated $7.2 billion in local business spending and supported nearly 62,000 jobs, from entry level to executive.  Local tourism also is responsible for more than $1 billion dollars in federal, state and local tax revenue.