The Memphis region offers a wide range of attractions that bring tourists from regional, national and global areas.
Sports, convention and tourism venues are dispersed within the metro area and across the region. While the largest and most diverse concentration of sports, convention, and tourism facilities are located in the metro, many are also located throughout region in cities such as Tunica, Jackson, and Jonesboro. Several of these facilities generate significant one-day drive trips and one night stays for an audience within a 150-mile radius.

The metro area contains eight professional and collegiate sports activities including baseball, hockey, football, basketball, tennis, golf, motor sports and rodeo. The prospect of bringing additional professional sports teams to the metro is now being discussed.

There are two convention centers in the metro area in Memphis and West Memphis. Plans are under way in Tunica for another convention center. The Memphis Cook Convention Center, in downtown Memphis, is working on a facility expansion that will open in 2001. This newly renovated center will be able to accommodate a 264,000 square foot convention.

Music, especially the Blues and Rock and Roll, and entertainment are part of the Memphis attraction. The Pyramid, in downtown Memphis, attracts various national, regional and local entertainment with attendance often reaching 21,000 for single events.

The Memphis metro area contains three large and diverse sets of sports, convention and tourism clusters.
There are three main activity clusters for sports, convention and tourism facilities in the metro area along with multiple venues scattered throughout the area. The downtown is the largest and most diverse cluster, followed by one in Midtown and another in south metro DeSoto County. The downtown area contains the region's largest convention center and a host of other supporting facilities such as: The Pyramid, Peabody Place and Hotel, the Smithsonian Rock 'n Soul Exhibit, Gibson Guitar Experience and the National Civil Rights Museum. Memphis' downtown has been bolstered by its new baseball stadium, AutoZone Park--"Home of the Redbirds," expansion of the Memphis Cook Convention Center, new hotels, and a new entertainment complex adjoining Beale Street. Together, these downtown assets make Memphis the sports, convention and tourism anchor for the entire region.

The Pink Palace Museum, The Memphis Zoo and Aquarium, the McCarver Baseball Stadium, Fairgrounds, Mid-South Coliseum and Liberty Bowl are situated in the Midtown area. The Memphis Motorsports Park and the USA Rodeo Arena are located to the north in Millington, and Graceland is located in south Memphis. Just across the border in DeSoto County is the DeSoto County Civic Center where the hockey, basketball and arena football teams play. Additionally, the Memphis Maniax began playing in the XFL in 2001.

Tunica has rapidly emerged as one of America's largest casino and tourism "destination resort" centers.
Tunica is emerging as an extremely important part of the region's tourist economy. Tunica has ten casinos and more than 6,000 hotel rooms that attracted over 20 million visitors in 1998. New construction on more hotels and the Paul Battle Arena and Exposition Center are under way. Tunica is also seeking to diversify its economic, social and cultural infrastructure through new amenities, including large-scale outlet retail, a Main Street Historic District, Tunica County History Museum, the Delta Blues Train, and new golf courses. Other proposed projects include light rail between the casinos and Memphis, a Six Flags type theme park, a NASCAR track and a new airport. Stronger synergies between the Memphis region and Tunica would benefit the regional tourism and the convention-oriented economy.

Many important specialized tourism attractions are located throughout the Memphis region.
In addition to the metro area and Tunica, the region offers many other tourism attractions. For example, Clarksdale is known as the legendary birthplace of the Blues. Holly Springs has many intact antebellum mansions. Oxford is an historical city and the home of William Faulkner and University of Mississippi. Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Presley. St. Francis County has a scenic highway along Crowley's Ridge. Many national forests, state parks, lakes and natural areas are in abundance and provide outdoor sports and recreation opportunities throughout the region.

Recommendations

Create a strategic marketing plan to promote the region's assets.
The Memphis region faces the challenge of becoming a true tourist destination. Sports, convention and tourism facilities are important components in building and communicating the region's identity to the national and global market. While the Memphis region has many strong attractions, a comprehensive marketing program would be very valuable to promote all of them. Many of the region's assets are not well known in the marketplace. The strength of the total set of offerings would provide more visibility to the region than any single venue can create by itself.

Include eco-tourism, outdoor recreation, heritage tourism and Native American history in the tourism strategy.
The region contains many high-quality amenities, but they are not all being fully utilized effectively to achieve the maximum potential for building a strong regional tourism economy. They are a growing segment of the tourism market and could add to the diversity and richness of the region's image in a world market. Regional amenities include waterfowl resources, the International Headquarters of Ducks Unlimited, trout fishing in the Ozarks, Delta wildlife, the "Great Outdoors Festival," the Mississippi River and the Mississippi flyway. These assets should be promoted and marketed to environmental organizations and outdoor enthusiasts who appreciate these special amenities.

Strengthen the relationship between the Memphis Metro and Tunica as an example of facilitating tourism growth for the region.
A strategic plan for strengthening the sports, convention, casino, and entertainment functions of the tourism economy does not exist. The growth of Tunica as a destination and its proximity to the Memphis Metro area offer benefits to both communities. The relationship of Tunica and Memphis is an example where cross-marketing opportunities logically exist. Creating cross promotional scenarios for the casinos and Memphis makes the region stronger than the sum of the individual amenities. With a wide range of other important regional tourism destinations, a coordinated plan to build strong relationships among the other regional centers would strengthen Memphis region in the world tourism marketplace.

Create a regional sports and tourism council.
The Memphis region has an opportunity to coordinate tourism promotion activities as well as expanding existing programs. While the region has a variety of attractions, many of them operate in isolation without effective interaction and influence on one another. While individual efforts are under way to promote the various sports (ranging from youth sports to professional), convention and tourism offerings, there is little synergy, communication or coordination between the various facilities that could build stronger tourism efforts throughout the region. A newly created tourism council could coordinate the individual marketing efforts of the region's convention facilities, sports and tourism venues to enhance utilization of these assets.

Continue to position the region for professional sports.
While the region has many sports offerings, it does not have a major league sports team. Professional sports teams give regions heightened visibility nationally and project a "major league" image. Memphis has many of the basic qualities required to sustain a professional sports team. Support for a team should be led by a sports and tourism council.

Establish a marketing program aimed solely at sports.
A focused sports-oriented marketing campaign aimed at strengthening local markets and enhancing attendance is needed to strengthen Memphis' sports economy. While the individual teams and venues have their own marketing programs, a sports marketing program that includes all of the region's sports activities would build greater visibility among the region's citizens. Marketing should address all levels of activity, from professional to amateur and youth sports.

Strengthen, coordinate and market amateur and youth sports.
Youth and amateur sports are important to the quality of life of Memphis as they provide opportunities for local residents and their children to participate in physical activities. As the metro continues to expand, sports activities should be included in a long-term economic growth strategy of the region with plans to attract competitive youth sports. World-class facilities for soccer, baseball, swimming and figure skating should be further developed.

Many of the physical assets are in place to create a very strong identity for youth sports. For example, the University of Memphis has two Olympic size pools and has hosted the Southeast Regionals. World-class soccer facilities are available in the Mike Rose Soccer Complex. Southaven hosted regional baseball tournaments in 2000. Many cities in the region benefit from the sports tourism economy because dollars are spent in restaurants, hotels, and retail establishments.