Black Meetings and Tourism

Sept/Oct 2019

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B M & T ••• September/)ctober 2019 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 26 A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H L E S L I E W H I T L O W G R A V E S BY PATRICE A. KELLY Leslie Whitlow Graves is the new Executive Director of Experience Prince George's, the Prince George's County, Maryland (PGC) conference and visitor's bureau. "As the executive director, I'm responsible for developing the overall strategy for selling and marketing the county," says Graves. "It's my job to coordinate and utilize the key resources and the allies in the government, private sector, and the business sector, and to leverage resources and opportunities to push tourism further in the county," Traditionally a bedroom community, whose residents primarily commute to work in the Washington DC area, hospitality and tourism in PGC has recently grown into a $620 million industry. "The wonderful thing that has happened over the last 15 years or so," says Graves, "is the county has, in and of itself, started to devel- op its own assets so people can come over here." One of those assets is the National Harbor, a 300-acre multiuse waterfront development along the Potomac River. "It will be 10 years old in the next year and it has continued to grow," Graves reports. "In the last three years, we have most recently had the MGM Hotel & Casino set up shop over there. Last month [July] it grossed about 40% of the hotel/casino revenue for the entire state." Another National Harbor asset, the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, has the largest number of hotel rooms in the county. It contains 95 event rooms, 537,430 sq. ft. of meeting space, seven restaurants, and a 20,000-sq. ft. spa, and features an 18- story glass atrium with views of the Potomac River. "Topgolf also set up shop over there about two months ago," Graves adds. The 65,000-sq. ft. Topgolf facility offers a special blend of technology, entertainment, and food and beverage. "We also have College Park, where the University of Maryland is. We have the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, and College Park Aviation Museum over there. We also have a new entertain- ment/supper club called MilkBoy," she says. Just south of College Park is the innovative Hyattsville Gateway Arts District, an arts-based economic development initiative. The area supports arts, business, and residential development. "The county has never seen itself as a tourist destination, never real- ly took hold of that economic development opportunity," Graves remarks. "But when we had County Executive Angela Alsobrooks come in, it was an opportunity she recognized that she could make a priority." This bedroom community's homeowners carry a heavy financial burden, because there is little commercial tax base. Both Graves and Alsobrooks, who have a long-standing work relationship, came to recognize that by the efficient use of the county's assets to bring in tourism dollars, they could reduce the financial burden on county residents. "I worked for her for eight years, I know what her expectations

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