As senior vice president of marketing, public relations and communications for Dallas Convention Visitors Bureau, Lakewood resident ROSS CRUSEMANN is essentially selling Dallas to the world. Luckily, Crusemann says he’s peddling a prime product.
Is it fair to say your job is basically selling Dallas?
Yes, my job is to promote the city of Dallas, to provide an image of the city that makes people and companies want to visit. There are so many components that make Dallas appealing — sports, arts, film, dining, history — I have to develop a strategy that will ensure we communicate to people the many different ways Dallas is fun.
What are some of Dallas’ biggest selling points?
The number one reason people come to Dallas is for the shopping. We have NorthPark, the Galleria, and Highland Park Village is a big attraction because it was the first shopping center in the , built by the same guy who built (Beverly Hills’) Rodeo Drive. That’s another attraction … the architecture here. We have many buildings built by award-winning architects … even a Frank Lloyd Wright-built theater (Dallas Theater Center). After shopping, people come here for the food. We are a world-class dining destination with tons of renowned restaurants and chefs, and chef-owned restaurants.
Is our neighborhood home to any special attractions?
Dallas has these small distinctive neighborhoods within, like Lakewood, West Village, Deep Ellum and the Bishop Arts District. There are wonderful restaurants here in East Dallas — Matt’s (Rancho Martinez), Scalini’s [Pizza & Pasta]. And, of course, you have White Rock Lake, the largest body of water inside the city of Dallas.
What’s your personal favorite place/restaurant/thing?
Well, I am a Tex-Mex junkie, so Matt’s is one of my favorites. I love the old El Fenix in Casa Linda, and for steak I like Kirby’s on Greenville … and Times Ten Cellars in Lakewood. Our museums and theaters are incredible, too … the Nasher Sculpture Center, Crow Collection of Asian Art, for example.
What developments in our foreseeable future will affect tourism?
We have been blessed with the redevelopment of downtown — its revitalization is generating a lot of interest in Dallas as a destination. We have so much going on here … we are building so many things. There are, right now, 29 cranes in downtown Dallas! The Center for Performing Arts [will open in 2009]. This will be huge for everyone in all parts of the city. We are keeping a close eye on the progress of the Downtown Convention Center Hotel. We are one of the only cities that doesn’t have one, and it is very important that we are able to build one — essential to Dallas’ $3 billion tourism industry … more than 10 percent of jobs in this city rely on tourism. Hopefully by June, we will be able to go forward with that project [the issue is currently under Dallas City Council consideration]. We have a major initiative underway with D/FW International Airport and the City of Fort Worth to get Dallas/Fort Worth back into the international market — something we haven’t been able to do since 9-11. We’ve been able to launch a $5 million advertising campaign to reach Asia, Latin America and Europe — D/FW now offers service to Amsterdam, which also brought in a new airline, KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), to D/FW airport.
Will increasing travel expenses hurt tourism?
Naturally, we’re concerned with what will happen this summer. People may not want to travel long distances … but Dallas is the number one visitor destination in Texas, so we should still see people from all over the state, as well as Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico coming to our city.
