Last week, I had the privilege of joining thousands of tourism industry professionals from around the country at the Destination International Annual Conference in Chicago. This is a conference our small destination wouldn’t usually attend, but being so close to home, it was a great opportunity to meet and learn from a much wider group.
The people were amazing, education was great, and speakers inspiring. But one keynote presentation from Caroline Strand, deputy CEO of Stockholm Business Region, Sweden struck me. You can see her slide below with the highlighted text in the upper right corner.
“Being perceived as an attractive destination is today the second most important factor of a strong and stable economy.”
Her presentation focused on how Stockholm used the positive energy of “Swifties” for the Taylor Swift concert last summer to increase the pride their own residents felt about Stockholm. Imagine that – people visiting Stockholm for a concert had a more positive perception of the community than the residents did themselves! Geez, I guess our problems back home aren’t much different than big, worldwide destinations, after all!
The staff of the Partnership see this same sentiment in Freeport and Stephenson County often. When we speak with new residents, visitors, and new business owners, they see the potential in what our region has to offer in the friendliness of our people, the resources offered, and the readiness of services to help. These new people aren’t blind to problems that we may have, but coming from other communities and different experiences, they understand that EVERY community has their issues, but Freeport and Stephenson County’s strengths outweigh the challenges.
I’m not suggesting we should be naïve to problems but realize there are people and programs working diligently every day to try to make things better. The generations of immigrants that settled here a century ago worked hard to build what we now call home. It will take that same collaborative work to build each other up, and in turn our community.
The perception of our community by its own residents is as strong of an indicator of our future economic success as is the physical infrastructure that we can offer to new businesses.
How can you positively impact your perception? If you need positive reinforcement, just look at the Partnership’s social media feeds. We have plenty of reasons to prove wonderful people continue to do great things for the betterment of Freeport and Stephenson County.
