About the Tourism Master Plan

The Fort Wayne / Allen County Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Fort Wayne) is the nonprofit organization whose purpose is to expand Fort Wayne / Allen County's economy by attracting convention and leisure visitors. Each year, millions of dollars from visitor spending generate increased commerce, sustained jobs, and enhancement of Fort Wayne / Allen County's image.

Impact of Tourism in Fort Wayne/Allen County

Fort Wayne / Allen County is a destination on the rise. Currently, our visitor industry welcomes 8.8 million visitors a year, who spend $995 million in our community. More than 13,000 residents rely on jobs supported by the visitor economy to support their families, and every Allen County household is saved $742 in taxes annually, due to visitor spending.

As strong as our visitor industry is, we know that there are big opportunities for Fort Wayne to take our community to the next level, and Visit Fort Wayne is ready to help lead that effort.

This 10-year Tourism Master Plan seeks to grow our already strong industry and support the right projects that will benefit both our residents and our visitors.

Currently, Visit Fort Wayne markets our community for leisure travel, meetings and conventions, sports tournaments and events, and visiting friends and family.

Building the Tourism Master Plan

In partnership with Visit Fort Wayne, the Tourism Master Plan process was facilitated by the Tourism Strategy Practice at CSL International (CSL). Work involved identifying strategic issues and opportunities, benchmarking the destination to competitors, analyzing visitor surveys (671) and resident surveys (2,221), stakeholder conversations and visioning workshops, and prioritizing and drafting recommendations with the steering committee.

VISION

In 2033, Fort Wayne / Allen County will be a standout and sought-after, welcoming, vibrant, thriving, inclusive, and universally accessible mid-sized midwestern destination visited by curious explorers, families, and group visitors who come to Allen County because it offers a wide variety of unique and memorable experiences which makes them feel enriched, inspired, and fulfilled.

REALIZING THE VISION

To realize the vision of the Tourism Master Plan, Visit Fort Wayne needs the support of the community and many partners who will play a role in the recommendations.

We hope this plan empowers the community to think big and creates a sense of ownership, pride, and shared responsibility, ultimately leading to a tourism sector that is reflective of the diverse and authentic experiences our region has to offer.

Let's seize the opportunity to advance Fort Wayne’s quality of life assets for residents and inspire growth for the future using the economic power of tourism. 

Let's build for the tourism of tomorrow!