Tulsa Is Building Momentum As A Music And Film Destination

Tourism brings millions of dollars to Tulsa each year.

The Chamber also says momentum is building toward making Tulsa a music and film destination.

The Chamber credits the assets Tulsa has like Route 66, but especially the people creating new venues, they call tourism entrepreneurs.

Tulsa is attracting tourists to visit, spend the night, and spend money.

The Chamber of Commerce is celebrating $183 million dollars spent by tourists last year.

"It's almost like we've got a new industry popping up here, but tourism obviously has been a key industry," said Mike Neal with the Tulsa Chamber. "It is a thriving industry, but we're seeing this tourism entrepreneurship sort of taking off."

The three people who head the current class of those entrepreneurs are Danny O'Connor with the Outsiders House Museum, Teresa Knox from Church Studio and Mary Beth Babcock from Buck Atoms.

The Chamber's annual celebration of tourism comes after a year that's topped all others when it comes to visits, spending and interest in what's here.

"So this is not just a point of pride for our community, it is having a huge economic impact on our city," said Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum.

The entrepreneurs say Tulsa has a supportive ecosystem of people helping each other.

"We don't have to have a contrived strategic plan to make tourism happen, it's happening anyway," Knox said.

O'Connor came to Tulsa as a fan of the Outsiders movie and ended up buying the house where it was filmed.

"Couldn't believe it was there," O'Connor said. "Took a photo, put it on Facebook, which was a new thing, and the response was overwhelming I knew it was onto something."

The Chamber is encouraging more of that risk-taking on tourism businesses because the Chamber believes there's still untapped demand, especially here along Route 66.