James July-August 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 11
ternational publications including being listed as a 2023
“Top Place to Visit” by The New York Times, Conde Nast
Traveler and Bloomberg. Travel and Leisure also named
Macon as a “Top Place to Visit in 2024”.
Just since Wheat started at Visit Macon in 2017, the
community has added several assets to their marketing
list. The job is not getting easier, but the sell might be.
“With the reopening of Mercer Music at Capricorn
Studios, the World’s Largest Indoor Pickleball Facility in
Rhythm and Rally, opening of the Atrium Health Amphitheater and construction of the Otis Redding Center for
the Arts, Macon’s tourism landscape has expanded to provide visitors a variety of attractions to speak to our destination’s history, culture and vision,” Wheat said. “With the
Ocmulgee Mounds on track to become America’s newest
national park, Macon’s tourism future becomes brighter
creating a place attractive to visitors, new residents and
new development.”
Consider that a study from the National Parks Conservation Association estimates an increase of nearly $30
million in annual tax revenue and more than $200 million
in total economic activity generated from the national park
designation. The designation as a full national park means
that the area immediately appears on an infinite number
of lists, books, posters and the full collection of national
park sources material.
Community Collaboration
All those tourists will be visiting restaurants, staying in hotels, buying gifts and discovering other things
Macon has to offer. The mission of the Greater Macon
Chamber of Commerce for 163 years has been to boost
businesses, advocate for legislation and increase economic opportunity for the community. And it was just
two years ago when Macon native Jessica Walden was
named president and CEO of the Chamber. By all accounts she hit the ground running, supporting all the
activities that enhance the residential standard of living.
Walden especially points to collaboration across the community as the foundation for success in Macon-Bibb and
making her job easier.
“I think it’s such an important part of our success story
right now because I’ve been here all my life and it’s not always been this way,” said Walden. “And a lot of communities would kill to have that; we are singing from the same
song book right now. We share legislative priorities. We’re
working on these projects together; the silos are non-existent. That’s how we’re getting stuff done. That’s how you
get an amphitheater. We created the world’s largest indoor
pickleball arena. That’s why we are the Great American
Main Street and that’s why we will be home to the next
national park.”
All these projects have been done through the work
of multiple community organizations like the Chamber or
Visit Macon, with the cooperation of the Macon-Bibb government and popular Mayor Lester Miller. One connection
that many of these groups have in common is that they are
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