Kentucky Department of Tourism Commissioner Mike Mangeot

Mike Mangeot serves as Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Tourism for Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration, bringing to the office extensive experience in both tourism and economic development. 

Prior to returning to the office of Commissioner, Mangeot was the Executive Director of the Bardstown-Nelson County Tourism Commission, and previously served as Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Travel and Tourism, was President & CEO of the Kentucky Association for Economic Development, and Deputy Commissioner & Director of Marketing & Advertising for the Kentucky Department of Travel.

Mangeot has also served on numerous state and national boards, including Travel South USA (Chair), the Kentucky Travel Industry Association, Southeast Tourism Society, the U.S. Travel Association, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, Kentucky Derby Festival, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and Downtown Frankfort, Inc., the Main Street Program for Kentucky’s Capital City. 

KTIA: You are serving your second tenure as Kentucky’s Tourism Commissioner. What is it about the position that attracts you to it? How have those reasons been affected by the industry’s COVID-19 crisis?  

One of the main reasons I was excited to serve a second tenure at the Kentucky Department of Tourism is because of the people and relationships within the industry. We are blessed in Kentucky by the fact that our industry members work so well together and truly support one another. This past year has proven that unwavering support. Over the years, I’ve had other state travel directors comment on this and I do not take it for granted.

I’ve worked in a variety of industries: Advertising, healthcare, higher education, college athletics and economic development, but something about the tourism industry gets in your blood and won’t let go. At its core, tourism is about promoting all that is good about a destination. Our efforts impact spending, but also play an important part in how Kentucky is viewed as a place to live, start a business, raise a family, get an education or even retire. That is a mission I enjoy very much.

As for the effect of COVID, if anything, it has made me more determined than ever to help our industry recover as quickly as possible and grow beyond our pre-COVID impact. I firmly believe that tourism can, and will, remain one of the leading economic drivers for Kentucky.

KTIA: What are the top takeaways from the KDT upcoming spring campaign? Please highlight them from both a business objective and a media objective. 

The overarching theme of the campaign is, “Stay Close. Go Far. Travel Safe.” It builds on this past fall’s, “Stay Close. Go Far.” campaign.  We want to reach a broader audience portraying Kentucky as accessible and close to home, even for those living in neighboring states, but with an emphasis on traveling when it’s safe. The goal is to promote Kentucky’s primary tourism pillars (Outdoors, History, Horses, Bourbon, Arts, Music, & Food) with a continued focus on the outdoor activities. 

Kentucky is a state with immense natural beauty, outdoor adventure and fantastic attractions that are easy to get to, but also transports you worlds away. We want to let people know that Kentucky offers a wide variety of vacation options, and the campaign is designed to reach and inspire potential travelers as they begin planning their vacations and getaways.

We are a relaxed and welcoming state and a perfect destination for road trips, which research indicates will be very popular in the next 12 to 18 months. Because of this, we are supporting the advertising with a PR campaign focused on planning your next road trip through each region of the state. This campaign started March 1 and will take place over the next nine months. 

KTIA: As Kentucky works to be a leading destination in capturing the attention of travelers during these unprecedented times, tell us about the target audiences of visitors that the state is actively working to reach. 

Our core, primary audience remains family travelers (adults 25-64 with a household income of $50,000+). This is the largest and broadest demographic and their average spend on a vacation is higher than most other demographics. 

Our secondary targets we break down into three categories: Entertainment & Amusement, Outdoor Recreation and Arts & Culture. There are subcategories within these as well. For example, Outdoor Recreation includes hiking, visiting state parks, fishing, camping, or house boating. Entertainment & Amusement includes shopping, visiting a festival or event, taking a distillery tour and similar activities. According to our visitor profile research, these are the three categories with the most participation among our visitors.

KTIA: In addition to the new spring Campaign, KDT is also launching another PR campaign, which is centered on planning your next road trip throughout each region of Kentucky. Please tell us a little more about what this entails, the goals behind it, and how KTIA members in all categories can capitalize on this. 

Each month, we will create a road trip to one of the regions in the state and feature it on all of our social media channels, which include Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. On the consumer-facing side of our website, we launched a new page focusing on road trips www.kentuckytourism.com/ready-made-kentucky-road-trips. 

For media, we have created itineraries for each region, and a listicle based on our tourism pillars, to go with those itineraries. These itineraries include attractions, restaurants, places to stay, trip extensions and more. We will also use this information to pitch potential story ideas and FAM trips to national, regional and state media.

The goal of this campaign is to educate the media and visitors alike on the amazing assets Kentucky has to offer by region. 

KTIA members can capitalize on this campaign by sharing and engaging with our social media channels each month and utilize the assets by sharing with their local media. We began in March by focusing on the Caves, Lakes & Corvettes region and will highlight a different region each month over the next nine months. The industry can find more information on when their region will be featured in the next KDT newsletter.

KTIA: What are five tips you have for KTIA members to be prepared out the gate for the impending release of pent-up travel demand that is on the horizon?

1. We have to remain committed to safety protocols even as vaccinations increase and COVID cases decline. We are beginning to see optimistic signs for travel and now is not the time to backtrack on our safety efforts.
2. Building consumer confidence on a couple of levels is going to be critically important. For visitors, it’s making sure they have information on how your community is working to keep them safe at local shops, restaurants, attractions, etc. For your local community, we need to build confidence and engagement to support that it will be safe for the return of visitors.
3. Focus on the VFR market (visiting friends & relatives) initially. In the short term, this will be the most important and popular reason to travel.
4. Consider some non-traditional time periods for your marketing. While we are optimistic that travel will increase later this year, we do not know when that might become a reality. Fall and winter campaigns may be more important than ever.
5. Road trips are going to be very popular this year as many consumers still have concerns with flying. Create a variety of itineraries for your community that include one, two and three-day trips. Work with your partners around the state to create regional or multi-regional plans.

KTIA: You have spoken how some DMOs have pivoted and been acting as a resource to their local communities. Please share your thoughts about this and its importance, including its relevance to DMOs’ local industry partners.

COVID forced almost every DMO to pivot from marketing and become a more broadly focused community resource. Many of our DMOs became the local clearinghouse of safety information and protocols for restaurants, hotels, events, etc. Others started local grant programs to assist their tourism partners during their toughest periods, or raised money from their local business community for unemployed hospitality workers. These aren’t the traditional responsibilities of a marketing organization, but it highlights the reach and importance that DMOs play locally. They do so much more than print brochures and staff a visitor center!

Longer term, I believe we need to be thinking in terms of Destination Management, not just marketing. How do we as tourism professionals help drive the development of tourism assets in our communities?  How do we insure sustainability and diversity? It may not be appropriate for every DMO, but it is a conversation we need to have.

KTIA: Traditionally, KDT focuses on leisure travel, leaving the pursuit of meetings and conventions to local DMOs and their industry partners. Arguably, the hardest hit Kentucky travel sector is meetings and conventions, and business travel generally. What advice do you have for local DMOs, hotels and venues in regard to the meetings and conventions market, and do you anticipate any KDT involvement in those efforts in the future?

I agree that meetings and conventions have been the hardest hit segment and I don’t know that a lot of people outside our industry understand the reach of the convention market. Most look at it and think it only impacts hotels or convention centers, but it goes so much deeper by affecting local restaurants, shops, attractions, caterers, local food vendors, rental and event companies, cab/Uber drivers and so much more.  

The sooner we can get this sector open safely, the better. Unfortunately, I also think it may be one of the last sectors to recover fully due to a variety of factors. Part of that is the consumer confidence I mentioned earlier. Is the event producer doing all they can to protect the attendees? How willing will people be to attend large gatherings for the foreseeable future? For a business, what is the liability they may face associated with sending employees or hosting meetings/conventions? Do I have to fly or can I drive to the meeting? With so many unknowns and questions, it’s going to take time to get to pre-COVID levels.

The meetings and conventions market is critical to the success of the tourism industry in Kentucky. We have all had guests stop in our local visitor centers, restaurants or attractions who are traveling to or from a conference. If the event is large enough, some of our communities’ hotels are used as overflow rooms. It is without question that almost every region of Kentucky feels the impact of conventions in the state. While we have not traditionally spent a lot of marketing dollars in this area, leaving that to the local DMOs, we have had some initial discussions with the DMOs in our convention cities about how KDT might be able to assist.  

KTIA: You interact a great deal with your state tourism director peers from throughout the country. Please do some comparing and contrasting of Kentucky’s tourism COVID-19 experience with other states. How do you think our recovery will compare with others?

Kentucky’s experience has been very similar to most other states. The immediate impact from the cancellation of meetings and conventions was felt across the country, as was the impact on air travel.  

Some states have been very restrictive in how they have addressed COVID. New York, for example, just began allowing limited in-person dining last month… and others much less so. In some states, hotels were closed completely for months at a time and many attractions are closed as well. In Kentucky, for the most part, our hotels, restaurants and attractions have remained open, even if at limited capacity, through a good portion of the pandemic. 

From a tourism promotion standpoint, in the beginning, most states reacted in a similar fashion by halting their spring campaigns last year and then pivoting to in-state marketing. (Visit California, which is set-up as a non-profit and not a state government agency, had to get special approval from their board to do in-state marketing). You also saw a number of states, Kentucky included, run aspirational ad campaigns in essence saying: “We miss you and will be ready when you’re ready to travel again”. 

Since then, it’s more of a mixed bag. Some states are moving ahead in their traditional target markets with full marketing campaigns, while others, Illinois most notably, has not spent any dollars on tourism marketing since the pandemic began.  

I believe Kentucky is very well positioned for recovery due to our outdoor opportunities, charming small towns with low density populations, our “drivability” (a day’s drive from 2/3 of the U.S. population) and, frankly, due to our common sense approach to how the administration has handled the pandemic.  

KTIA: You have announced plans for KDT to undertake a strategic planning process. What is the purpose and scope of that initiative and how do you anticipate that the industry will participate in it?

One of my priorities when I returned to this office was to implement a statewide strategic plan, not just for KDT, but for the industry as well. I looked at a number of other state tourism plans and really believe this is a necessary step to develop and sustain Kentucky tourism’s competitive advantages. Specifically, we want to create a roadmap for our industry for the next five to 10 years that will identify ways to not just increase the number of visitors, but to also drive more traveler spending; to broaden the role of DMOs from Destination Marketing Organizations to Destination Management Organizations; identify how we as an industry can work to attract and develop new tourism experiences and improve the visitor experience by enhancing and protecting our state’s assets; insure the KDT team is properly aligned and prioritized to accomplish these goals. 

We want this to be a very collaborative process and plan on hosting facilitated regional meetings across the state. We not only want, but will need, input from our industry partners for this to be successful. This is a very ambitious project for us.

KTIA: Prior to the pandemic, Kentucky was making solid progress in gaining international exposure. With the entire U.S. having been set back in regard to international visitation, post-pandemic do you expect Kentucky internationally to emerge better, worse or about the same than where we were pre-pandemic relative to competitive states?

Right now, I don’t expect international, long-haul visitation to rebound until early 2022, and even then, it may take a while to reach pre-COVID levels. We have limited a lot of our paid marketing in the UK and Germany (our primary long-haul markets), but we continue to work on building relationships with tour operators and media. Similar to our domestic marketing, we want to raise Kentucky’s awareness and inspire them to want to visit Kentucky. Working with our partner Lofthouse Enterprises, we have started hosting virtual meetings for these groups and they have been very successful to date. One advantage of a virtual meeting is that they allow you to easily showcase attractions and destinations and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’ve hosted four of these so far and have two more planned for April. We expect to continue these throughout the year.

Another area of focus internationally for us will be Canada. Kentucky has not had representation or actively marketed in Canada for about five years. We expect this to be the first international market to rebound, and since many Canadians drive to U.S. destinations, I believe we can see an immediate influx of Canadian visitors. We are looking at a variety of opportunities, including with Brand USA, for the Canadian market.

KTIA: Everyone in the industry has had to feel their way through an unprecedented and continually evolving crisis and to cope with accompanying fears and stress. How have you dealt with this personally and with your team?

Frankly, I’ve struggled with it at times. I miss the face-to-face interaction with our staff in the office and the ability to walk over to someone’s desk when you have a question about something. A good friend of mine calls it MBWA (Management By Walking Around) and that’s how I operate best, so it’s been a challenge. I’m also not good at working from home because I get distracted too easily.  

To help manage the stress, my wife and I try to exercise and eat a healthy diet, which has been easier since I haven’t had many industry functions to attend! 

For the staff, we have weekly Zoom meetings, so we can stay up-to-date on current projects, but also see familiar and friendly faces. We’ve virtually acknowledged staff birthdays and other achievements, but it just isn’t the same. Mona Juett (Deputy Commissioner) and I have tried to keep in touch regularly with everyone and sometimes it has nothing to do with work, but just to check-in.

I will say, however, that I’m very proud of the professionalism and work the KDT staff has put in throughout the pandemic and I can’t wait until we can all be in the office together again.

KTIA: What lasting changes do you anticipate with tourism in Kentucky as a result of the pandemic?

I believe virtual activities and tours are here to stay. I don’t believe they will ever replace in-person tours or visits, but their importance in generating awareness and interest will only increase as a promotional tool. I also think most meetings and conventions in the future will have some type of hybrid registration available. All the virtual meeting platforms that are available have shown that you can have a good meeting/conference experience virtually, and I think meeting planners will look at this as just another level of participation. 

KTIA: What is the best personal trip you’ve ever taken and why?

The best trip I have personally taken was over Christmas in 2018. My son-in-law is in the Air Force and he and my oldest daughter were stationed in the UK about 90 minutes outside of London. My wife, youngest daughter and I spent the holiday with them at their home in the small village of Red Lodge. We toured the area, including the town of Newmarket, which is a sister city to Lexington. We then went to London, where we were joined by some very close friends and spent five days exploring the city and surrounding neighborhoods. I had been to London a few times before for work, but this gave me the opportunity to see attractions and other areas I had missed before. I love the history and culture of London, and being able to share that with my family and friends was priceless.  I look forward to when we can all go back again.