By Miles Flynn | Southern Indiana Business Report
BEDFORD — Misty Weisensteiner’s passion for sharing the story of Southern Indiana with visitors has been part of her personal and professional identity from her earliest days as a cave guide right through her time as executive director of the Indiana Office of Tourism Development. Now, Weisensteiner is putting her experience and lifelong love of the region to work in her own backyard as the new chief operating officer of Discover Southern Indiana, the tourism marketing arm of the regional economic development organization Radius Indiana.
Weisensteiner’s new position officially began Oct. 4, and thanks to her many contacts with Discover Southern Indiana and Radius, it’s been a natural transition for her. “I have the utmost respect for the Radius team,” she told Southern Indiana Business Report.
Now, she’s eager to continue building on the foundation that was put into place by Blaine Parker, former director of tourism and quality of place for Radius, with the 2019 establishment of Discover Southern Indiana. “She’s done such a good job helping to brand the region,” Weisensteiner said. (Parker is now serving as director of entrepreneurship and small business support for Radius, helping communities develop and support diverse, locally owned small business sectors.)
Jeff Quyle, president and CEO of Radius, is also pleased to have Weisensteiner on board, and he’s hopeful that the region’s proposal for funding through the state’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative will be successful and mean additional support for local projects including Discover Southern Indiana. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation is expected to pick regions in December to receive up to $50 million in funding. “With the READI program in mind, Radius is hopeful that there may be significant funding to help augment our engagement in tourism branding in years to come,” Quyle said. “We are grateful for the opportunity to have Misty lead our region’s team, and we cannot wait for so many people to ‘Discover Southern Indiana.’”
Tourism’s role in the regional economy
Weisensteiner firmly believes tourism is a key factor in the overall economic prosperity of the region. In 2018, more than $300 million in tourism spending was accounted for in the eight Radius counties alone, with $157 million in total economic impact, according to a study by Rockport Analytics. Additionally, she sees ongoing improvements in tourism as quality of place efforts that will also help attract businesses and workforce to the region and help retain current residents.
Considering the area is home to such gems as French Lick Resort, Gasthof Amish Village, Patoka Lake, Spring Mill State Park, Marengo Cave, Bluespring Caverns and the Hoosier National Forest, all in close proximity to I-64 and I-69, Weisensteiner said the concept of collaborative marketing for the entire region is an idea whose time has come. However, she stresses that Discover Southern Indiana’s regional push is in no way meant to diminish local efforts or voices. Instead, she believes collaboration is a way to amplify word of what’s happening and deliver an even more powerful message in surrounding metropolitan areas in order to attract more visitors and increase lengths of stay. “They need to know what options are out there,” she said of travelers.
Now, Weisensteiner is busily working to build more one-on-one relationships with tourism leaders and company officials at attractions around the eight-county area and beyond. Ideally, she said, each county convention & visitors bureau director would be included in a strategic taskforce. “I want to bring everybody to the table,” she commented. “… It’s going to be challenging… but I think it’s something that makes sense, and I’m passionate about it.”
Getting her start in the industry
Weisensteiner’s professional journey had its beginning at one of the attractions she’s now helping to market. “A long time ago, I was a tour guide at Marengo Cave,” she shared.
It was at the U.S. National Natural Landmark, during Weisensteiner’s time talking to visitors from around the United States and even other countries, that she started to see the pieces come together on just how impactful tourism can be for a local economy. While she went on to earn a degree in biology, that love of the hospitality sector stayed strong and led to a series of career steps that all taught her more and more about the value of working together. Her next stop was Wilstem Ranch in Orange County. There, she worked her way up to be general manager and also dipped her toe into local and regional marketing efforts. Her experience in collaboration grew during her time as a member of the opening management team at French Lick Resort.
Then, once French Lick Casino opened and the Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau had funding to grow its marketing power, Weisensteiner was brought into that organization. She said Teresa Anderson, the executive director at the time, provided her with a major opportunity for personal growth and also helped mentor her.
Weisensteiner ultimately rose to lead the CVB, now known as Visit French Lick-West Baden, and then went on to serve as executive director of the Orange County Economic Development Partnership before moving on to the Indiana Office of Tourism Development in 2019.
Happy to be back home again
Weisensteiner said she never would’ve taken a job outside the Orange County area if she hadn’t been presented with the opportunity to help lead state tourism efforts. Really, it felt to her like a sort of put-up-or-shut-up moment, since she had long expressed strong opinions about what the state was (and wasn’t) doing in regard to tourism marketing.
Now that she’s served with the state organization and brought her views there, she’s happy to be back home in Southern Indiana once more. Really, though, she never left. Weisensteiner maintained her residence here even while working in Indianapolis, and her children remained in school at Springs Valley in French Lick. Her daughter Emily is now a freshman at Purdue; her son Owen is a junior in high school.
She’s just overjoyed that such a unique opportunity presented itself and now allows her to lead the first regional tourism effort in the state — and one of the first such programs in the nation — back here in the place she loves.