Officials say Arkansas’ tourism strategy should play to its outdoors strength

Arkansas should focus on its strengths, particularly its easily accessible and affordable outdoor spaces, the state’s first gentleman said Wednesday (April 24) at Power Up Little Rock, an economic development series presented by Arvest Bank, at the Clinton Presidential Center.

Bryan Sanders, who chairs Gov. Sarah Sanders’ Natural State Advisory Council, said as a political strategist, he looks for his candidates’ unique selling proposition. Arkansas should do the same.

“What is it that makes Arkansas unique? To me, it’s our outdoors,” he said. “You look around us in this region of the country. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana – none of these states have anywhere close to the access to outdoor recreation that we have here in the state of Arkansas.”

Sanders repeated a story he occasionally shares about a fly fishing trip he made to Montana. When the guide found out he was from Arkansas, he asked why he was in Montana when he could have fished in his home state. He said outdoor recreation not only creates tourism opportunities but also helps the state recruit and retain talent for other jobs.

“To me, Arkansas could be a place that a lot of people want to be because of the access we have,” he said. “You can do it here in Arkansas at a fraction of the cost as a state like Colorado or Utah.”

PARK IMPROVEMENTS
Sanders pointed to legislation passed last year that created Natural State Initiative Economic Opportunity Zones at Pinnacle Mountain State Park near Little Rock, Queen Wilhelmina State Park near Mena, Petit Jean State Park near Morrilton, and the still developing elongated Delta Heritage Trail State Park in southeast Arkansas.

The legislation created a pilot program for those four parks that provide tax incentives to outfitters, guide services, restauranteurs and other entrepreneurs to develop amenities.

Sanders said the incentives will help the state recruit an operator for a downhill lift-access mountain bike park at Queen Wilhelmina. He foresees more opportunities at Petit Jean State’s Park for lodging, food and beverages, mountain biking and rock climbing. That park would be a good place for a via ferrata protected rock climbing attraction designed for beginners.

Outfitters, guide services and hunting lodges would be welcome additions to the Delta Heritage Trail State Park, an 80-mile trail connecting communities through the Delta that will open next year. Sanders said the park would probably be the most expensive in state history.

Pinnacle Mountain State Park in Little Rock is being improved. A new visitor center has opened there, and the state is looking for an occupant for the old visitor center. The state has hired Crafton Tull to help it create the Maumelle Pinnacles Conservation Recreation Master Plan. That project will connect downtown Little Rock to Pinnacle Mountain, Lake Maumelle and Lake Sylvia in the Ouachita Mountains. The area encompasses 55,000 acres and will involve hundreds of miles of trails.

OUTDOOR OUTREACH
Sanders said Arkansas has the best state parks system in the country thanks largely to its 1/8th-cent conservation tax. It was passed under the leadership of his father-in-law, Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson created the Office of Outdoor Recreation via executive order in June 2021, making Arkansas the 16th state to have such an office. Director Katherine Andrews said the office’s first couple of years were focused on building its structure. Now, the office is engaged in regional listening tours. It’s also working with other entities like the Department of Economic Development, the Runway Group in Bentonville, founded by Steuart Walton and Tom Walton of the Walton family, the University of Arkansas and others.

The office hosted a reception at the recent Sea Otter Classic Summit, a gathering of outdoor industry leaders in California this month, and also attended the Shot Show hosted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation in Las Vegas in January. In December, it held its inaugural Arkansas Outdoor Economy Summit, which it will hold again in February 2025 in conjunction with the Governor’s Conference on Tourism.

Andrews said outdoor recreation had a $4.1 billion economic impact on Arkansas, equal to 2.5% of the state’s gross domestic product and creating 44,000 jobs. The top contributors in order are boating and fishing, RV-ing, and hunting, shooting and trapping. Through March, Pinnacle Mountain State Park had 148,000 visitors this year, a number that will grow significantly for April because of the solar eclipse. A statewide outdoor recreation economic impact study will be concluded later this year.

She said the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis found outdoor recreation contributed $1.1 trillion to the nation’s economy in 2022, and the numbers will rise for years to come.