Celebrate Visit Indiana Week with Radius Indiana

BEDFORD, Ind. (May 2, 2019) — Radius Indiana is continuing its support of its tourism initiative ‘Discover Southern Indiana’ by joining the State of Indiana and the Indiana Office of Tourism Development in celebrating Visit Indiana Week May 5-11.

Visit Indiana Week is an annual celebration of tourism in the state in conjunction with National Tourism Week.  Each day of the week is meant to celebrate a different aspect of tourism:

• State Parks Sunday: Free admission to the 51 DNR properties throughout the state
• Get Moving Monday: Enjoy the great outdoors, from hiking to yoga outside
• Tasty Tuesday: Treat your taste buds at a locally owned restaurant
• Wayback Wednesday: Visit one of the historic sites Indiana is home to
• Thirsty Thursday: Support the hundreds of wineries and breweries Indiana has to offer
• Family Fun Friday: Get the family involved by spending the day at your favorite Indiana spot
• Sweet Saturday: Celebrate the end of the week with your favorite dessert

Indiana State Parks Deputy Director Ginger Murphy sees this week as a great opportunity to remind Hoosiers that state parks are already open and that great things are going on year-round, not just when summer rolls around.

“Visit Indiana Week helps us connect with the communities near our state parks. Those who visit us also visit and spend money in nearby towns and helps guests know what’s available in those communities,” said Murphy. “Through State Park Sunday, when it is free for everyone to visit us, we give those who may not have been to a state park a chance to go for a hike, picnic, nature center visit, bike ride or other outdoor experience for the first time.”

‘Discover Southern Indiana’ invites you to visit their website to see what each county in the region has to offer during Visit Indiana Week.

“Tourism is such an important part of our local economy and we are honored to get to celebrate it for a week,” said Blaine Parker, Radius’ Director of Tourism and Quality of Place. “Our region has so much to offer and ‘Discover Southern Indiana’ allows us to tell our story of what is here in our backyard that we want other people to come enjoy and experience.”

‘Discover Southern Indiana’ is a region-wide tourism driver and is the first of its kind for the area and gives an identity to the opportunities the Radius region has to offer to its visitors. To learn more about ‘Discover Southern Indiana’, visit www.discoversouthernindiana.com.

In 2018, Indiana welcomed 80 million visitors, a 1.3 percent increase from 2017, according to the IOTD. The tourism industry is responsible for 5 percent of all Indiana jobs and saves Indiana residents an average of $561 in state and local taxes per household.

According to Rockport Analytics, tourism is one of the leading industries in the Radius region, accounting for $290.4 million in tourism spending and providing 3,930 jobs in 2017. With such a level of economic impact on the region, tourism serves as a large economic driver for jobs and quality of place initiatives.

IOTD aims to foster a spirit of partnership among the Office of Tourism Development, local Convention & Visitors Bureaus, attractions, and Indiana communities through innovative programs and effective initiatives that grow the statewide industry, increase economic impact, and create jobs.

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ABOUT RADIUS INDIANA: Radius Indiana is a regional economic development partnership representing eight counties in Southern Indiana: Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Orange, and Washington. Formed in 2009, Radius Indiana also serves as a point of contact in Indiana for Naval Support Activity Crane and leads regional collaboration by leveraging the diverse assets of Southwest Central Indiana to drive attraction, retention and expansion of business, thereby increasing employment and investment opportunities and quality of life within the region.