Reimagining the Future of Tourism in Chattanooga
Industry: Non-profit
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Tactic: Strategic Planning
Results:
A refreshed 2030 Vision Story articulating the promise of a vibrant, inclusive tourism ecosystem.
A 2025–2026 strategic framework anchored by five initiatives:
Visitor Demand
Visitor Experience
Destination Development
Engagement & Impact
Organizational Excellence
Clearly defined goals, KPIs, and action plans for each initiative.
A mobilization plan to launch the strategy and mature the organizational structure.
The Challenge:
As Chattanooga’s primary tourism organization, the Chattanooga Tourism Company faced a rapidly evolving tourism landscape. With shifting visitor expectations, growing competition from neighboring cities, and an expanding list of community priorities, the organization recognized the need for a bold, forward-looking strategy. Their leadership sought a fresh vision for 2030, an actionable three-year strategic plan, and a revised organizational design to align with their future aspirations.
The Solution:
To address this opportunity, Bridge Innovate partnered with the Chattanooga Tourism Company Sponsors to:
Develop a refreshed long-term vision for Chattanooga’s tourism industry, looking ahead to 2030.
Design a three-year strategic plan built on stakeholder insights and national tourism trends.
Support future-state organizational design to strengthen alignment with strategic goals.
Research & Inspiration:
The first step to prepare their leadership team in defining a new vision and strategy was to engage in research and inspiration gathering. Key activities included:
Conducted a SWOT analysis across seven stakeholder groups (Board, staff, government leaders, foundations, visitor experience, partner agencies, and community members).
Completed external benchmarking of tourism strategies in nine peer cities including Asheville, Charleston, Huntsville, and Savannah.
Integrated findings from three major local studies on the Convention Center, Sports Facility Development, and a new Amphitheater.
Vision & Strategy Design:
The next step was to work with the sponsors to engage a design team of staff, board members, and key stakeholders to participate in a facilitated visioning and strategy design workshop anchored in human centered design methods. The design team developed a vision for the organization’s commitments across community, visitor, partner, and investor promises. With a future vision in mind, teams then engaged in developing customer empathy maps and strategic initiative goals, KPIs, and tactics for visitor demand, visitor experience, destination development, and organizational effectiveness.
Strategy Ready:
The final stage of the strategic planning effort was to engage the sponsors in a prioritization working session to review the strategy design in conjunction with an organizational realignment to ensure success. This additional step to refine the team approach and organizational structure was key to aligning resources to the critical strategy work ahead. A final strategy report and presentation summary was created for the sponsors to share with their Board of Directors.
INVESTOR PROMISE
The result was a cohesive strategy with broad buy-in from board, stakeholders, and staff grounded in key drivers like community engagement, competitive positioning, team alignment, and diversified funding.
The Result:
Bridge Innovate delivered a comprehensive strategic planning package that included:
A refreshed 2030 Vision Story articulating the promise of a vibrant, inclusive tourism ecosystem.
A 2025–2026 strategic framework anchored by five initiatives:
Visitor Demand
Visitor Experience
Destination Development
Engagement & Impact
Organizational Excellence
Clearly defined goals, KPIs, and action plans for each initiative.
A mobilization plan to launch the strategy and mature the organizational structure.
Through this partnership, Chattanooga Tourism Company now moves forward with clarity, confidence, and a roadmap to strengthen its position as a premier tourism destination.
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