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Week In Pictures
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Most Lexington business owners know the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will be at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2010.
Fewer know that the 37th Ryder Cup begins in Louisville in just 126 days, delivering a $120 million-plus boost to Kentucky's economy.
"We are going to have a big party," Karl Schmitt told the Bluegrass Hospitality Association. "You are probably going to have a big party here, too, though you may not know it yet."
Schmitt, the executive director of The Cup Experience, the Louisville host committee for the Ryder Cup, urged Lexington hotels, restaurants and entertainment sites to go after their share of a tourism bonanza by holding special events and training their staffs to help the tourists.
Louisville hotels are full and Lexington hotels are filling fast for the Sept. 16-21 golf tournament that long ago sold all of its 240,000 tickets, he said.
In addition, all 250 corporate hospitality tents are rented and 40 percent of the occupants are coming from outside of the region.
Major gathering places throughout Louisville -- Fourth Street, the convention center and Churchill Downs -- are reserved for evening events during the tournament.
Schmitt, who worked at Churchill Downs for 20 years, called it "a mini-version of the Kentucky Derby ... This is like 24 Queen Elizabeths being in our state at one time," a reference to the queen's 2007 Derby visit.
With the value of the Euro being high against the dollar, many Europeans are also expected to take advantage of cheap airfares to attend the Ryder Cup, said association President Larry Bell as he introduced speakers during the symposium.
Lalla O'Bryan, director of customer marketing for Sysco Food Services in Louisville, said the Ryder Cup is "a great precursor" to build international and regional tourism for the 16-day World Equestrian Games.
Sysco is working with restaurants to plan for things such as extra food deliveries during Ryder Cup and to make sure they have enough freezer space to handle the food.
She said Sysco also is helping restaurants plan new menu items, order table decorations, get uniforms for staff members and train staffers to interact with foreign visitors.
Tipping, for example, is done differently in other parts of the world and Louisville servers need to know what to expect, O'Bryan said.
In some cases, she said, training will include providing "cheat sheets" about the Ryder Cup and other events occurring in Louisville during the tournament.
"If we roll out that red carpet in the way that's been envisioned, they will come back and bring more people with them," O'Bryan said.
