20 People to Know – Tourism & Hospitality: Rose Zimmerman Caple
Rose Zimmerman Caple, tourism sales manager, niche and affinity, Louisville Tourism, is one of our 20 People to Know in Tourism/Hospitality. Rose Zimmerman Caple, author of 20 People to Know – Tourism & Hospitality – has shared her thoughts on the city's biggest challenge in attracting both convention and leisure visitors. She highlighted the need for a large inventory of hotels as a key draw for conventions, as well as leisure travelers who are unaware of Louisville's unique attractions like the Kentucky International Convention Center and Kentucky Exposition Center. Caple predicts an increase in hotels and meeting space in Greater Louisville in the next decade, with increased growth of hotels, connectivity between neighborhoods, expansion of “Bourbon City” culture, and continued growth in multicultural and LGBTQ+ leisure travel. She also anticipates more direct flights to Louisville and visitor information touchpoints.
Published : 4 weeks ago by Amy Higgs in Business Travel
What is Greater Louisville’s biggest challenge in attracting both convention and leisure visitors? Its greatest opportunity?
Louisville’s biggest challenge in attracting conventions is their need for a large inventory of hotels. Louisville is at least 4,000 to 8,000 rooms under our comparable set of destinations, like Memphis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Columbus. For leisure travelers, I believe that are still not wholly aware of our one-of-a-kind attractions or that we are the home of Muhammad Ali and the Kentucky Derby. Our greatest opportunities for our conventioneers are having the Kentucky International Convention Center and Kentucky Exposition Center. For leisure travelers, Louisville has something for everyone, from bourbon, horses and museums to Southern culinary delights.
You have a guest in town for one day. Where do you take them/what do you do?
If you were my guest in Louisville for a day, we would grab a big breakfast and share a Hot Brown at the Brown Hotel. Then we would walk to West Main Street’s Museum Row to visit the museums and take in a trolley tour to cover more ground and see Old Louisville, the Kentucky Derby Museum, Churchill Downs and more. We would have lunch in NuLu and grab a bourbon slushy before walking to the Big Four Bridge to enjoy the view. After dinner, we would enjoy one of the local bourbon bars or speakeasies.
Where do you see Greater Louisville’s tourism/hospitality industry headed in the next 10 years?
In the next 10 years, I see Greater Louisville’s tourism and hospitality industry with an increased growth of hotels and meeting space, greater connectivity between our neighborhoods, focus and expansion of “Bourbon City” culture, and a continued growth in multicultural and LGBTQ+ leisure travel. Based upon how Louisville Tourism is invested in the visitor and local experience of Louisville, I also foresee more direct flights to Louisville and visitor information touchpoints to assist the influx of visitors.
What's one thing most people would find surprising to learn about you?
Many people do not know that I’m adopted from Bangladesh. My parents are Caucasian, and I am Bengali. They taught me that love and family were more than skin deep and that the answer was always to be welcoming and inclusive of all people. They taught me what it was to be a good host and instilled in me a deep sense of helping others through volunteering, donation and adoption.