A Rosy Future
business, chamber, economy, members, tyler,
The Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce works to ensure a rosy future for the community known as the Rose Capital of America.
With the nationally celebrated Rose Festival the chamber-sponsored spring Azalea and Spring Flower Trail, the chamber’s active sports council and convention business, Tyler is a popular East Texas destination. And that’s good for business, says Henry Bell, chamber chief operating officer.
“We have two large tourist times in the year – in the spring and fall – with our azalea and rose festivals,” Bell says. “And sports tourism attracts people here for a long period of time.”
All of that tourist activity has grown a burgeoning hotel and restaurant industry, with five new hotels scheduled to open within the next year. “That’s not bad in a down economy,” Bell says.
SPORTyler was created through the chamber in the 1990s to take advantage of the community’s excellent array of sports venues by attracting sports tournaments to the community.
“Because we have the university and junior college here, plus our school districts, we have some fine facilities and venues to host sports events,” Bell says. “We host the national men’s junior college soccer finals and the junior college baseball world series here, to name a couple.”
The chamber’s hands-on approach to business support and addressing the needs of the community has led to the creation of a new Hispanic business office.
“We did a research project with UT Tyler and were able to build a database of the Hispanic businesses here,” says Bell, who notes that Tyler’s Hispanic population exceeds 15 percent. “We have taken that information and called on them to see what they need to grow their businesses and then point them in the right direction. We offer one-on-one counseling.”
The annual January Business Expo, a one-day event drawing 12,000 visitors, puts businesses together to keep dollars local.
“Every other year, we put together purchasing managers from large companies with smaller businesses, so they can see that they can purchase their items locally,” Bell says. “That’s where the rubber meets the road.”
The chamber also holds several networking opportunities, including business after hours, small business breakfasts, quarterly membership luncheons, a golf tournament and – new for 2009 – a skeet-shooting tournament.
“We’re an aggressive and inclusive chamber, and we try to help the community grow,” Bell says. “That’s what we’re all about. Sometimes chambers get hung up on doing things exclusively for members, but the way I look at it, the whole population either is a member or a potential member. We all want to work together, to make Tyler a better place to live and do business.”
Story by Betsy Williams
Photo by Antony Boshier
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