Visit Indiana Tourism Incentive Legislation

In 2019, Ms. Bethanie DeRose collaborated with Visit Indiana to produce a statewide Tourism Master Plan. The comprehensive Plan provided data-driven opportunities and strategic recommendations for growth, sustainability, and economic impact across Indiana’s tourism sectors, including rural and outdoor recreation, hospitality, sports, events, and conventions/ meetings.

Ms. DeRose and the team provided Visit Indiana with a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of the state’s tourism assets and events by region, as well as product gap analysis and tourism development recommendations. The team met with, interviewed, and surveyed a range of local and regional stakeholders representing tourism operators, government officials and departments, community organizations, business leaders, and others to understand commonalities, trends in local and regional environments, infrastructure needs, competitors, and objectives and visions for tourism development projects.

The result was a long-term Tourism Master Plan for the State and its regions, outlining actionable strategies, priority actions, and timelines for key milestones.

Since the completion of the Plan, the State established the Indiana Destination Development Corporation (IDDC) to elevate tourism, talent, and business attraction. Visit Indiana has used the Plan’s recommendations to inform statewide branding efforts, including the IN Indiana campaign, and to guide regional product development and long-term destination investment.