If George Ward, Kentucky’s new commissioner of state parks has his way, staying at a Kentucky State Resort Park will feel a whole lot more like staying in a fine hotel.

In addition to the state’s natural wonders, the Kentucky park system will also be serving up amenities like Starbuck’s coffee, upscale pizza, online reservations and staff so knowledgeable and helpful, they can serve as concierges directing visitors to other local shops and attractions.

It’s all part of Governor Ernie Fletcher’s proposed reorganization plan to eliminate $29 million in state funding to subsidize the park system, while adding more services. How? By boosting the amount of money being spent by visitors to the parks, eliminating wasteful spending and running it more like a business.

According to Ward, there’s a lot of room for improvement. “Our yearly occupancy rate for state park lodge rooms was only 54.5 percent – way below the industry average. Two of our parks only managed to sell eight percent of their classroom space. Right now, only one park, Cumberland Falls, manages to pay for itself. A lot of people think when they hear our plans, that strip malls are going to be springing up and the parks will be overcrowded. It’s not true. We’re only trying to make sure the facilities we have are fully utilized. We think this is a great opportunity,” Ward said.

State parks accounted for $215 million in spending by visitors to Kentucky in 2002, out of $5.6 billion in direct tourism and travel spending in the state that year, according to the Kentucky Department of Parks Annual Report.

Ward’s goal is to wipe out the $29 million in state funding to the parks by increasing park revenue by $21 million and cutting waste and inefficiencies by $8 million.

So how will these changes be achieved?

Step One: Improving Service
Ward, who in addition to owning several hotels has served on the Kentucky Lodging Association since 1988 and on the Board of the Kentucky Tourism Council since 1998, has more than a few ideas on this front.

“I did an assessment before I started to work for the parks department. When we called around to the local parks, we found there was no way to make a reservation online. You had to call the park directly. And when you did, you didn’t get good, thorough answers to your questions. Employees didn’t guide callers to services and events. And they didn’t ask for the order. Just improving those things alone could generate another $100,000 per park per year,” Ward said.

One of his biggest concerns is the fact that the Kentucky State Parks are not listed in the travel databases used for bookings by travel agents. Ward said the parks department is currently contracting with an agency that will list parks on the databases for a fee of as little as $195 per park, with a $2 to $5 per reservation fee tacked on each order.

Extensive training programs for park employees will be given this year, much like the customer service training hotel employees get in the commercial sector. Employees will be encouraged to not only help sell visitors on events and services at the park, but at other nearby attractions, as well. In fact, key service employees will be required to visit all the local attractions near the parks, so they can better answer questions of incoming guests to the park, Ward said.

Step Two: Cross-Promoting
Marcheta Sparrow, president and CEO of the Kentucky Tourism Council, is looking forward to a renewed commitment to cross-promoting.

“I think there’s a perception, particularly during the peak periods, that you can’t get a room in a state park. But the truth of the matter is, there are many times of the year when you could throw a bowling ball down the hallway and not hit anyone. When people shy away from the parks, they also shy away from the businesses around the parks. Many of these parks were developed decades ago to be economic engines for their communities – and they still are. When the parks do well, everyone does well,” she added.

One of the first places you’ll see evidence in cross-promotion, Ward said, is in the park’s existing gift shops. He cited the example of the Kentucky Horse Park, which is near Berea. He expects to have a shelf or two in the gift shop at the horse park filled with Kentucky Crafted arts and crafts from Berea, as well as brochures and information about other local shops and attractions. Likewise, he hopes Berea will offer horse park items in its gift shop. The same type of retail cooperation will be encouraged between every local park and the community its serves, Ward said.

According to Randy Fiveash, commissioner of travel for the State of Kentucky, more of the state’s marketing money is going to be funneled to local tourism districts. The state is currently divided into eight distinct marketing districts. Each district has its own board of directors, composed of local business owners, who decide how the area’s marketing budget will be used.

“Most of the time, the dollars are used not for ads or for building projects, but are given out as grants to tourism-based businesses who want booth displays for travel shows, or who want to produce some brochures which can be used at welcome centers and the like. This program has been in place for a while, but now I expect there will be a lot more direct involvement by the Commerce Cabinet, and a lot more promotion among local businesses,” Fiveash said.

Adding services
Most state parks have the reputation for being rather Spartan. But in at least 11 of Kentucky’s finest state park resorts, visitors will now be able to enjoy Starbuck’s coffee, Arrezzio Pizza and Sunday Skillet Fried Chicken. The new products will be made available in either the lobbies or existing restaurants at the resorts.

Bids are now being taken, Ward said, for private developers to build lodges and restaurants at Green River Park, Mineral Mound and Kentucky Horse Park. Otherwise, there are no new buildings planned.

Recently four new golf courses have been added at Kentucky State Parks, increasing the number of state parks with upscale golf offerings. Ward said these finer courses, located at Dale Hollow Lake, Grayson Lake, Mineral Mound, Yatesville Lake, Wasioto Wind and Kentucky Dam Village, will now be referred to as Kentucky’s “signature series” courses. Not only will they be grouped together and aggressively promoted inside and outside the state, but they will eliminate confusing pricing packages by having one set price, year round, including the cart.

State parks already offer a wide variety of activities from digital photography to ballroom dancing. “There’s no reason why we can’t do more of these,” Ward said. “We are planning to partner with local colleges and universities to have more comprehensive activity packages that are designed to draw in large groups of people to do things like birdwatching or writer’s workshops. The opportunities are there,” he said.

Many of these new services, like the gourmet coffee, are more marketing than revenue generators. For instance, Starbuck’s coffee is only expected to bring in about $4,000 a week for the state. But the presence of it sends a message about quality to visitors.

“Most people don’t realize how important accommodations at our state parks really are,” said Jim Simpson, COO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. “In many parts of the state, state parks are the only place to stay overnight. If you are trying to recruit new businesses to locate to one of those areas, I can’t think of a better place to put them than the state parks. If we can show off the natural beauty of the state, and the service experience is good, that makes an important first impression. If we can update and improve the facilities there, it will be important for the whole state,” he said.

Raising fees
A recent survey of comparable attractions in other states and locally, conducted by the Department of Commerce, reveals that the prices state parks were charging for lodging, greens fees and other activities were below market rates. This presented a problem not just for revenue generation at the park, but it also created a situation where the parks were undercutting nearby independently owned and operated hotels and businesses.

So by 2005, park visitors can expect to pay a little more for their services at the park. For instance, miniature golf prices will increase $1, from $3 to $4. A night in a lodge suite will go up $20 during peak season to $205. Greens fees will rise $1, up to $31 at peak times. An additional $3 to $13 will be added on to the costs of cottage rentals.

According to a recent story in the Louisville Courier Journal, Commerce Secretary Jim Host said Gov. Fletcher wants to create jobs. One way to do that is to help small businesses in remote areas grow by bringing more people to them, something he said the parks are poised to do. Revenue increases will bring the parks on par with others around it, and onto a more level playing field with local competing hotels and attractions, he said.

Trimming waste
While efforts to identify and eliminate waste are still ongoing, Ward said he has been surprised at the big examples of inefficiencies he’s found.

“When I came in here, I found out the state was paying more than $17,000 in auto insurance premiums on state park vehicles that were so broken down, they were up on blocks behind the sheds. In one park, there were more than 100 charges by state employees at the local Wal-Mart. It was clear there was no central system for tracking expenses,” Ward said. Ward is now limiting credit card use to just one or two people per park and implementing strict purchasing procedures.

Other initiatives, like safety education for state park employees, will be designed to curb the department’s unusually high number of workplace injuries. Measures like these will trim an estimated 10 percent of the park’s overhead expenses, he added.

Consolidation of the state Park Guide and the state Getaway Guide publications will also help trim expenses…something echoed by state marketing efforts in general. In fact, the commerce department is consolidating all advertising for the state under one firm – a move that the state hopes will help avoid duplications and wasteful spending. Bids are now being solicited by the state for one ad agency to manage the state’s $1.8 million advertising budget, of which the parks will be a partial beneficiary.

Building a reputation
Making the changes proposed now in state government, many agree, will make it a national role model for other state park systems. But many think that honor has already been achieved.

“I don’t think people realize this, but Kentucky’s state parks are already a national model,” said Sparrow. “Did you know that Kentucky has one of the largest park systems in the nation, and we are the only state to actually manage it ourselves? Most other states have contractors or concessionaires running their properties. The resources and priorities we give to our park systems really are extraordinary, and an incredible asset to the state,” she added.

Showing off those assets will be one of the primary responsibilities of a new concession venture for the state park system. In the new state government building, the parks system will run the building’s cafeteria, showcasing some of the great food available in the state park system and touting the parks’ events and locations to more than 5,000 state employees who are expected to eat and work there every day, Ward said.

But according to Sparrow, the responsibility for keeping the state parks vibrant lies not just with the state government, but the state’s residents. “We have a whole generation of children in this state who have never been to places like My Old Kentucky Home, Constitution Square or Ft. Harrod’s State Park. Attendance at our day parks and historic attractions, in particular, are declining. When we’re planning an outing, we need to start thinking of Kentucky attractions first, before you just automatically go to other states. Our surrounding states may have three times the marketing budget, but Kentucky has three times the actual offerings. And with the renovation efforts that the state is making, we believe the opportunities for enjoying our state parks in the future are really limitless,” she said.

 

Susan Gosselin is a staff writer for The Lane Report.
editorial@lanereport.com