Each year the Bureau attends trade shows and marketplaces, conducts sales blitzes, prints large quantities of brochures and maps, mails thousands of information packets to potential visitors, answers numerous phone calls, greets visitors to the Sunny Side and flies the Bureau's hot air balloon in various events in an effort to attract visitors to the Sunny Side. The Bureau has successfully accomplished its mission of economic development through visitor spending. By actively promoting the Sunny Side, groups host their conventions in the Sunny Side, tour buses visit the local area and leisure vacationers make the Sunny Side their destination. The Bureau has continued to be devoted to the development of tourist attractions to enhance the quality of life and the local economy in Southern Indiana. For many years only large communities offfered the services of a convention and visitors bureau however, today the importance of tourism on the local economy is recognized.
Tourism is the third largest industry in Indiana.
This curiousty calls to visitors to enter the building where they learn about the many activities and attractions that Southern Indiana has to offer. The answer is the architect of the Visitor Center felt the design of the 1930's Administration Building was very crisp, complete and should not be in competition with an adjacent structure. The design of the Visitor Center contains Indiana limestone walls in a pattern similar to the bridge building, an edge profile reflecting the two pillars at the end of the bridge and an exposed steel structure in the gallery that is a reflection of the bridge framework. The orientation and circulation of the building serve as a symbolic welcome to Southern Indiana. The Visitor Center, funded directly by tourism dollars generated via a local lodging tax, is open 7 days a week.