Coronavirus in Oklahoma: State tourism industry doubles down on advantages after hard hit from pandemic

May 31--A version of this story appears in Sunday's The Oklahoman as part of the "Rebuilding America" package.

Oklahoma tourism industry trying to cowboy up after hard hit from coronavirus pandemic

Visitors returning to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum are greeted by the cardboard countenance of the new social media sheriff in town: Cowboy Tim.

Deputized on the marketing team, Tim Tiller, director of security and operations services, became the beloved online face of the museum during its two-month closure in response to the coronavirus pandemic. His folksy posts rounded up newfound followers from the Netherlands, Ireland and Australia; celebrity fans like Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt and fellow Oklahoman Toby Keith; and coverage in the Wall Street Journal, on NPR and on "CBS Sunday Morning."

"Tim has agreed to continue to be a deputy member of the marketing team. ... Of course, he has a full-time job, and we'll take that into consideration. We know that we can't have his full, undivided attention, but yes, we will still continue to have Tim involved and his voice," said Chief Marketing Officer Seth Spillman, now known as "Seth from Marketing."

"If the world returns to something near normal -- or at least we learn how to better exist in a world with this new reality -- then we're hopeful ... that we'll see a lot more people coming that didn't have awareness (of the museum) before."

The folks at the National Cowboy Museum aren't the only ones hoping Tiller will prove a hero in a triumphant turnaround for Oklahoma tourism, which was devastated by the pandemic.

"You get something like Cowboy Tim ... that has gone viral, and people all over the country are now very well aware not only of The Cowboy but are looking at that saying, 'That's really neat. Wonder what else there is in Oklahoma City?'" said Mike Carrier, president of the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"It is a very interesting time in our industry, I guess is the best way to say it. Bureaus all over the country are looking at a whole new world and a different normal."

Devastating drop

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, no industry took a bigger hit from the pandemic than the hospitality business. It's national workforce plunged from 17 million in February to 8.7 million in April.

"It literally stopped. There was no hotel business, there were no restaurants, museums were closed. Tourism stopped, which meant sales tax stopped, and cities now are having to deal with that reality," said Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, the state's Secretary of Tourism and Branding.

Many Oklahomans don't realize that tourism is the state's third largest industry, he said. In 2018, it generated $9.6 billion in direct visitor spending, $708 million in local and state tax revenue and supplied jobs for 103,600 Oklahomans.

"It's a real gut punch because we had so much momentum going," Pinnell said.

"Oklahoma City was legitimately a top tourism destination in the the United States moving into 2020. We had multiple national tourism magazines that put Tulsa and Oklahoma City on their top 10 lists. So, we had the momentum. Now, we're aggressively going to try to get that momentum going again. There's just no doubt -- the number speak for themselves -- that tourism is an economic engine in Oklahoma. And we have to do everything in our power to make it an economic engine again."

As the pandemic spread in the U.S. and shelter-in-place orders were issued in March, air travel dropped to a 60-year low. Traffic at Will Rogers World Airport was down 95%.

"For the first time since March 26, 200,000 travelers passed through airport checkpoints on (May 8). A year ago, same date, it was 2.6 million," Carrier said.

"Airlines are significant trouble. Our hotel industry, same report: Hotel occupancy for the week ending May 9 nationally was 30.1 percent. So, 30 percent of the hotel rooms available in the United States were rented sometime over the course of last week. Normally in the United States, it's around 65 percent."

Drive market

While the pandemic has been a game-changer for every state's tourism industry, Oklahoma has some specific advantages as its phased reopening progresses.

"A perfect social distancing activity for families is a road trip, and Oklahoma is the perfect state: We have backroads for days. We have more miles of Route 66 than any other state in the country. ... I think we can be a national destination point. We're a great drive market already," Pinnell said.

"People aren't going to New York and getting on the subway. They're not going to go to L.A. They're not going to Chicago. These are big cities where public transportation or having to get on airplane is just something that a lot of Americans are not going to be comfortable with for a very long time. ... And we have to take advantage of that."

The Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department launched May 18 its special #OKHereWeGO campaign to encourage Oklahomans to travel, shop and dine local as they start to venture out and to entice potential road-trippers in the region to steer toward the Sooner State.

Pent-up demand

The Oklahoma City CVB is putting the pedal down on its "Modern Frontier" campaign, which started strong in February but was derailed by the pandemic.

"People are used to being out doing things ... and are looking for opportunities to go somewhere. And we think that pent-up demand is going to lead to the beginnings at least in a resurgence in travel to Oklahoma City," Carrier said.

"With I-40, I-35 and I-44 intersecting here ... it's easy to get to us from a lot of different points in the central region of the United States. So, I definitely believe that plays to our advantage."

Fortunately, Oklahoma's tourism industry isn't dependent on one particular massive event, like the Indianapolis 500 or the Kentucky Derby. But as long as COVID-19 makes large gatherings problematic, Pinnell said the industry's recovery will be hampered.

"Unfortunately, we have a world-class convention center in Oklahoma City that's going to be finished soon that we were really excited about aggressively pushing to get thousands and thousands of people filling that up. ... Obviously, then you have the multiplier effect, and that's really what we need to really get numbers going again," he said.

"But in the meantime, we're not stopping. We're going to continue to innovate. We're going to continue to be very smart targeting folks around the country that we know will come to Oklahoma and spend money while we wait for those larger events to be able to be put back on."

Innovative measures

Pinnell said he was proud to see Oklahoma's attractions embark on innovative engagement strategies during their temporary closures. Althought Cowboy Tim led the posse, the Oklahoma City Zoo, Tulsa'sPhilbrook Museum of Art, Science Museum Oklahoma, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the American Banjo Museum and more swaggered onto social media with live video, virtual tours, creative hashtags and more.

"Innovation is always good ... and that will benefit them moving forward as they open their traditional front doors," Pinnell said. "And I think that will benefit the state of Oklahoma moving forward as people start traveling again. ... There is such an amazing opportunity for Oklahoma to sell ourselves as 'If you want to see America, you gotta see Oklahoma.'"

Naturally, it doesn't get much more all-American than the National Cowboy Museum, which is continuing the social media shenanigans of Cowboy Tim and Seth from Marketing, even though the museum has reopened.

"We had a number of people that have said, 'Had no idea you guys existed, have no interest in cowboy anything, now I can't wait to go there.' ... Now that we've got fans all over the world, we're anxious to see how much of that translates into actually showing up at the museum and experiencing all that we have here," Spillman said.

"And it's certainly good to see people back in the museum."

Contributing: Staff writer Steve Lackmeyer.

-BAM

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