2025.05.27 David_Clark_1

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Bradley Byrne: Hello and welcome to the Matters podcast, powered by the Mobile Chamber, where we dive into the big topic shaping Mobile’s thriving business community. I’m your host, Bradley Byrne, president, CEO of the Mobile Chamber. A special thank you to our podcast sponsor. Visit Mobile for making today’s episode possible today we’re excited to welcome David Clark, the president and CEO of Visit Mobile.

David and his team are leading the charge to Elevate Mobile as a top tier destination for leisure business, travel and conventions. David. Welcome to Mobile Matters.

David Clark: Thanks Bradley. We appreciate you and the Chamber very much. Great to be here.

Bradley Byrne: Well, y’all doing great work and we really appreciate the partnership that we have with y’all.

You and I talk about this all the time. You’re selling Mobile. We’re selling Mobile. We’re all selling Mobile and it’s important that we have a great relationship and we do. So, um, we want to start with a new CAM campaign from Visit Mobile. It’s called Bring Your Meeting Home. Can you tell us how that works and what you’d like to accomplish?

David Clark: Yeah. We [00:01:00] appreciate y’all’s collaboration very much on this because we view this as a grassroots efforts to have everyone selling Mobile. And you know, meetings and conventions are a really big thing. You know, we have a really big convention center. We have a whole lot of hotels that have meetings and conventions every day.

And we have a team of five sales managers that are selling Mobile really all over the world. We go to a lot of trade shows. We, we. And so anyway, we thought what a, what a great way to collaborate with their chamber, a great chamber and announced a campaign called Bring Your Meeting Home to Mobile, Alabama.

A lot of our business men and women have meetings and associations and corporations that they belong to, and they attend several meetings at the year and trade shows. So we would love to have their input of what those are, what are the names, and, uh, give us the information so we can bring that meeting home.

Bradley Byrne: Yeah, so lemme make this something where even I can understand it, we’re all members of something. That’s just the nature being in America these days. [00:02:00] So here at the Chamber we’re a member, members of the. Association for Chamber of Commerce executives and they have various meetings around the country, and so we are making that ask of our association.

We pay them dues. Everybody who’s listening to this who’s a part of something like that is pretty simple. You pick up the phone, you call the people that you are a member of. They gotta take your phone call and say, I really want you to consider bringing your meeting or your meetings to Mobile. And that triggers what David and his team need for to be able to follow up on that.

David Clark: That’s right, and we’re really making this easy and fun for everybody. All they have to do is to do what Bradley said. Give us a contact of what that is, what the meeting name is, and maybe even a contact on top of that. And then call me on my cell phone, uh, or email me. And everyone has those numbers, and then we’ll take it from there.

And then the fun part about it too is not only do we get to bring a lot of business back home and expose a lot of people, all the great things that are [00:03:00] going on in Mobile, but then, uh, their name will be eligible for a cruise or a vacation stay at the Battle House or Grand Hotel. And we’re gonna make some, do some raffles and, and do that, uh, in October at a chamber meeting or even in one of our meetings.

So, um, a whole lot of fun.

Bradley Byrne: Well, you know, one of the reasons why it’s important to us is we actually get some of our new business prospects and people that have come here for a business meeting that’s right. To see how great the place is and what’s happening here, and they say maybe I should. Bring my whole business or part of my business to Mobile.

We’ve actually got some of those. So we’ve kind of jumped over what is Visit Mobile. So what let’s, let’s assume nobody out there really understands what Visit Mis. Tell ’em what it’s,

David Clark: so, we market and promote our destination of mobile all things. To do Mobile. You know, we, we are comprised our hospitality community, employees 22,000 jobs, our tourism.

Impact every year is $1.9 billion with a B. Uh, and we have [00:04:00] about three and a half million visitors that come here annually. So they’re, they’re here to stay in our hotels experience. Our great, uh, culinary, uh, go, go visit our attractions and all of our history, arts culture, ecotourism, Mardi Gras. Uh, and heritage tourism, uh, that’s what we sell all the time and promote.

So we have a team of sales managers, a team of marketers and influencers. Uh, and that’s what we do is go sell Mobile all over the place.

Bradley Byrne: So you listen to that economic impact, 23,000 jobs. What’d you say? One and a half billion dollars in almost 2 billion now. Almost $2 billion in economic impact. Okay, so I can, I understand our hotels and restaurants are kind of obvious.

What are the type of businesses are impacted by that?

David Clark: Well, you, you look at our attractions. Uh, they’re impacted by all those visitors. And then you look at Southern museums, all the museums. [00:05:00] Um, and then you look at too, just the footprint around it. And a lot of, you know, just the, for instance, gas stations and incubator businesses are affected by it.

’cause these visitors kinda spin off in other places. So it’s a big, big wide net.

Bradley Byrne: Yeah. We’ve, we’ve come across as businesses in Mobile that help us set up our meetings. I’m sure they’re, they’re being used by these. Uh, groups are coming in from out of town too. All kinds

David Clark: of vendors and suppliers too. And a lot of these meetings that we host and conventions, uh, people supply those too.

And then the other thing we do is we lock and load a lot and selling cruises and, and, and carnival. Yeah. You know, we’re very intimately involved with cruise development. Air Service Promotions. You know, we have been a partner with the Mobile Airport Authority for United Airlines and that new route directed doles.

We’re a partner with that. We, we do advertising, uh, in Orlando. We do advertising, United Air Airlines in, uh, in the [00:06:00] DC uh, in Arlington area all the time. So, uh, we’re trying to fill that flight up.

Bradley Byrne: So, um, one of the more exciting things that’s, uh, right around the corner is the new Amtrak line that’s going to connect Mobile to New Orleans.

Now, a lot of people think of that in terms of, well, I get to jump on the train in Mobile and go to New Orleans, but that’s not what I’m thinking about. I’m thinking about the reverse. Me

David Clark: either. I, I, I’m thinking about what you’re thinking the reverse of that. And I’ve been fortunate to be a Southern Rail Commissioner for seven years and, you know, not all of that’s been happy times.

Um, but you know, it’s, I think it’s a real big success story of what our city supported. Uh, and then when you bring in Mississippi and Louisiana, three states coming together with our port and so many, and our elected officials to make that happen, it’s a proud moment. And the train should be going down the tracks probably by late July, early August, and we think that will bring in a lot of people along the Gulf Coast

Bradley Byrne: of Mobile.

So that’s where we have to get our heads turned around. It’s [00:07:00] not just us going to New Orleans, it’s people from New Orleans looking for. A safe, fun place to spend a weekend or maybe even a week. Uh, and, and we’re own best ambassadors if we have talked that way.

David Clark: That’s right. Another thing that our advantage in Mobile is that especially where the, where the platform’s located in downtown, you can get off the train, you can walk straight across the street to our hotels, our restaurants, and you don’t even have to get an Uber, you know, and there’s not many places in America that have that opportunity.

We’re a very walkable city with a whole

Bradley Byrne: lot of things to do. So another big exciting thing, we just broke ground last week on the new Mobile arena project. It’s generated a lot of buzz. Um, what are some of the features planned for the arena and how do you see it boosting Mobile’s, tourism and hospitality industries?

David Clark: Yeah, you know, I’m really, we’re really grateful that our elected officials, our mayor. Are investing in tourism like they are and this new arena, the thing it’s gonna do is gonna [00:08:00] tee up a whole lot of flexibility and versatility to have multiple programming on a daily basis in this new arena, our old arena was very old.

It was logistically challenging to pull some of these things off. Like, you know, it was hard to have a sporting event in there early in the day and then have a concert that night. It was kind of one or the other, and so it wasn’t real functional. Our new arena is designed and programmable for lots of interchangeable spaces and people in those places, and so it’s gonna give us a whole lot more flexibility to sell that place all the time, not withstanding having world class events, concerts, and different venues, like whether it be monster trucks or dance recitals or sports or.

Volleyball or basketball or Mardi Gras and upgraded options and to service each of those kind of venue.

Bradley Byrne: So, uh, a lot of people, uh, don’t know it, but, um, Oakview Group, which is the company that’s actually managing [00:09:00] the convention center in Sanger right now, will be managing the new arena. And they have a special relationship with a company called Live Nation.

Live Nation. As I understand it’s the number one event promoter in the world. They have own Ticketmaster. So with somebody like Live Nation involved, what, what can we expect? What, what kind of quality events can we expect there?

David Clark: The highest quality, you know, the seat, I think seeing capacity 10,000 with maybe another 20% of expandable, to my knowledge.

And so Live Nation’s the very best of the best. And. Oakview group is the very best venue operator in the world. So when you have that kind of partnership with our tourism committee and with our community and, and, and the city of Mobile, I think the opportunities are endless. We will have the best of the best.

Bradley Byrne: Pretty amazing. Uh, another big thing coming our way is Riverview Plaza, which is the new hotel mixed use in Ben, uh, uh, uh, site down there right next to the convention center on the riverfront. Which kickstarts [00:10:00] a river wall. So how, how big is that to our tourism?

David Clark: I think it’s really big. You know, we five Hall of Famers, baseball Hall of Famers, that pace homage two and, and one football player, Mr.

Brazil. And you know, we have more. Uh, hall of Fame baseball players per capita in any other city in the United States. And so that’s a fun tourism opportunity and a story to tell. And what that does too is it brings people down to the river. And as we began to expand all these tourism opportunities, like our arena and, and we have Dolphin Street and now St.

Louis Streets expanding to some really cool stuff over there, and then everything’s gonna be expanded toward the. The south toward the civic center arena. And so then you have the, the new walk down by the convention center and maybe a new Kessler Hotel on the riverfront. And it gives a whole lot of activation down toward the riverfront.

Bradley Byrne: Yeah, we talked to the Kesslers when they were making the decision about whether partner with Burton Property Group, that made a point of saying to [00:11:00] us, look, you can’t just have one thing on the riverfront. You if it’s gonna fail, you gotta have more stuff on the riverfront. So when I say that kick starts it.

That’s the beginning and that sets in motion a lot of work by you and the city, and we’ll play our supporting role to make sure that we’re getting more stuff on that waterfront.

David Clark: Yeah, I call that may be the new heart of the riverfront and it’s gonna lead to a whole lot of arteries that I just talked about and eventually, hopefully all the way down to Brookley by the.

Bradley Byrne: Wonderful. Alright, we’ll be right back with more from David Clark, including why Mobile should be your next vacation spot. An exciting campaign that brings conferences and conventions home to Mobile.

We’re back with David Clark from Visit Mobile to talk about tourism here in Mobile. David, as someone who spent years championing Mobile, what do you think makes our city such a special vacation destination?

David Clark: You know, Bradley, it’s, it’s, it’s so [00:12:00] wide and diverse. I, I think I mentioned earlier when we’re talking about the walkability of downtown, any destination without a.

Vibrant downtown’s not a destination, and boy do we have a whole lot of things to do downtown that’s walkable. I think when you look at Dolphin Street, there’s not many streets in America like we have in Mobile and Dolphin Street that have 50 ish plus. Hotels and, and restaurants and, and that kind of activity along with walkable attractions, right by ’em, uh, with a whole lot of history on top of it.

Uh, and that’s really a good start. But whether you go out to Belling grass. Uh, to the west or out to, you know, do some ecotourism on the delta to obviously, you know, we were the first Mardi Gras, uh, ever to, to have, uh, so when you look at the [00:13:00] history too, you have that piece, you have the art piece, uh, and then you have the, um.

The, the eco piece and that cultural heritage tourism piece that is significantly grown in Mobile with, with the Dora Franklin family, African American Heritage Trail, with the Civil Rights District now being developed by Commissioner Lug good downtown, uh, discovery of the Clo Tilda. So there are, there’s a whole lot of history, uh, that we have that’s, that’s non repeatable.

Bradley Byrne: Yeah. Uh, of course I grew up here, so I’m, I guess I’m sort of entitled to think we’re unique. But we really are unique and, um, and when people come here, they’re kind of blown away by what they see. I can’t, can’t forget the time that one of a friend of mine from Wisconsin came down here and spent a few days with us at Mardi Gras.

He said, I had no idea. Yeah. Uh, so Richard, I to give him that idea. Yeah. So we have something now called a tourism improvement district. Why don’t you tell us what that is and why’s so [00:14:00] important?

David Clark: I think it’s been a game changer and you know, I’m proud again of our mayor and our city council. Um, you know, we were the first city in the state to get one approved about five years ago.

We were the first city in the state to get one renewed about three months ago. And what that does is it’s the very best public private partnership. Um. That you could ever have. I know you and the mayor, I’ve known y’all for years, big believer in public private partnerships and that’s, that’s between our hoteliers assessing themselves and then the city being a partner in all of that, which gives visit Mobile, more resources to tell Mobile story better than ever before.

And so it’s another five year program, uh, committed to bolstering tourism and, and promoting all of those great things that we just talked about in ways that we’ve never been able to promote, which is really important given the fact that all the significant [00:15:00] investment that you just mentioned, uh, whether it be Amtrak or new civic center arena, all the new live entertainment concerts and things, venues are gonna be coming in, plus our new.

International airport, we’re going to be able to promote in ways that we’ve never been able to promote before.

Bradley Byrne: I’ll never forget, you had your consultant come in and give a presentation to the community year or two ago, and he said that the biggest game changer for tourism Mobile is moving the airport.

David Clark: Totally. When you look at surveys, in fact, destinations International just came out with two of the mission critical things that define, uh, a destination that’s. Air service and safety and walkability,

Bradley Byrne: and we got two of those three. Now we gotta get third. Well, we’re getting there. Yeah. So looking forward, what’s your vision for tourism and Mobile and how do you see it evolving over the next decade or so?

David Clark: You know, our vision is to con was continue to get the, the public private partnership to a higher [00:16:00] place, uh, than what it’s been. And now we’re there, uh, but that doesn’t mean we’re done. ’cause of the work really now, now is beginning that once you have the resources, you have to use ’em effectively. To align to get the people here.

So it’s all coming together because of all now the destination development that you and the mayor and our, our, our county commissioners, our and our city counselors have committed to. So we’re grateful for that. Uh, I, I do think the next 10 years should be the very, the golden age of tourism and Mobile.

Bradley Byrne: That’s my phrase. Golden age. I’m sorry. I took it, I stole it. It is a golden age, and I tell people all the time, it’s, it’s, it’s, we’re at the beginning, not at the end. That’s right. So it’s kind of fun to watch this unfold. Okay. So how can the business community and residents get involved in supporting Mobile’s tourism efforts and initiatives?

David Clark: Tell everyone about it. You tell ’em all the things that we just talked about. Get involved. Uh, bring your meeting home, uh, [00:17:00] recommend. Mobile, um, as a place to come and visit and stay. We have some of the nicest hotels in the country. You know, we just had a Hyatt studio, uh, that, you know, y’all were a part of the groundbreaking, the first in the world to open.

In Tillman’s Corner, we have a top historic hotel in America downtown called the Battle House Hotel. Doesn’t get much better than that. Um, you know, so we have a lot of walkable, quality hotels, uh, and get involved. Spread the good news. And, uh, gimme also a call about your meeting.

Bradley Byrne: Yeah. So somebody wants to call you or to learn more about your work, visit Mobile’s work.

Where do they go for updates and resources?

David Clark: Yeah, mobile.org. That’s our website and you can find anything to do in Mobile. On mobile.org, or you can, you can email me at dclark@mobile.org, or you can call my cell. So great man giving that your cell phone like that.

It’s a local number, so call me, contact me.

Bradley Byrne: Yeah, it really is true. We are your best salesman. The people that live here. Yeah. ’cause we know all the great stuff that’s here and sometimes we’re not as good as we should be about telling people about it. So everybody out there’s listening to this, go tell the rest of the world the great story about who we are in mobile, what’s going on here.

There’s so much to do. There really is a whole lot to do here. And it’s fun. It’s a great place. And it’s not all Mardi Gras by the way. A lot of people get stuck on Mardi Gras and I love Mardi Gras. But there’s tons of things going on here all the time and uh, we need to tell more about it. Alright, David, thank you for joining us today.

We’re excited to see how these projects and campaign campaigns will shape mobile’s future and bring even more visitors to our city. From the heart of the Mobile business community, this is the Mobile Matters podcast, powered by the Mobile Chamber. With a special thank you to our sponsor. Visit [00:19:00] Mobile.

To learn more about the Bring Your Meeting Home Campaign, visit https://www.mobile.org/bring-your-meeting-home/