Greater Kokomo

What Greater Kokomo does

Greater Kokomo operates the Visit Kokomo destination marketing platform (visitkokomo.org), the official visitor promotion body for Kokomo and Howard County, Indiana. The organization is incorporated as the Howard County Convention and Visitors Commission, Inc., a 501(c)(6) nonprofit established on April 3, 1996 and operated as a division of the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance. Since January 1, 2014, its statutory mandate has been executed by the Howard County Conventions, Visitors and Tourism Commission (CVT), which administers innkeepers tax revenues under Indiana Code Section 6-9-18-1 to fund tourism promotion. The platform serves leisure visitors, sports event organizers, meeting planners, group tour operators, and seasonal travelers planning trips to the region located 50 miles north of Indianapolis in north central Indiana.

The product surface centers on a digital destination portal — the Visit Kokomo website and connected directory and events platforms — that aggregates attractions, lodging, dining, festivals, an online event calendar, downloadable maps and guides, and trip-planning resources, paired with two staffed physical visitor centers (Inventrek Technology Park and Downtown Kokomo Library). Service offerings include free meeting and sports tournament planning support, print and digital visitor guide distribution, vacation rental coordination (Airbnb, VRBO, Heritage Farm alpaca farm stays, Mabel & Harry's, Springhill Campground), transportation information services, and the seasonal Koko-Go free bike share program (24 adult bikes, 4 children's, 2 tag-along, 1 tandem). The organization has no proprietary mobile app, no public API, no documented SDK, and no AI or machine learning components disclosed; its technology stack is effectively a content-marketing website plus directory and event-calendar platforms. A flagship expansion, the 55,000 sq ft Kokomo Conference Center connected to Hilton Garden Inn (capacity up to 1,000 guests, three floors, in-house catering), is scheduled to open summer 2026.

Revenue is not generated through software or service sales. The bureau is funded by innkeepers tax revenues administered by the Howard County CVT, and the bureau's services to planners and visitors are offered free of charge to drive destination-level economic activity. Distribution runs through three primary channels: self-serve digital (website, directory, event calendar), enterprise event/conference sales (meeting and sports planner outreach), and physical visitor centers. The customer base splits into a long tail of individual leisure visitors (primary), enterprise sports event organizers (e.g., Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference), corporate meeting planners, group tour operators, and seasonal event attendees. Pricing is essentially freemium: free visitor services at the top of the funnel, with paid experiences (events, attraction admissions, future conference center bookings) flowing through partner venues rather than the bureau itself.

Name

Greater Kokomo

Legal name

Greater Kokomo Visitors Bureau

Website

https://visitkokomo.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The Greater Kokomo Visitors Bureau (Visit Kokomo) is a nonprofit destination marketing organization promoting Kokomo and Howard County, Indiana. It serves leisure tourists, sports event organizers, and meeting planners through visitor guides, event calendars, planning services, and physical visitor centers funded by innkeepers tax.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

NAICS

Convention and Visitors Bureaus (561591)

SIC

Hotels, Rooming Houses, Camps & Other Lodging Places (7000)

akta.pro primary industry

Permitting, Reservations & Visitor Information Services (Passes, Booking, Visitor Centers) (THAAAGAD)

Keywords

• Tourism promotion services
• Destination marketing
• Visitor information
• Convention planning
• Sports tournament hosting

Headquarters

HQ city

Kokomo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Tourism Promotion & Marketing Services: The Greater Kokomo Visitors Bureau operates as a nonprofit organization funded primarily through innkeepers tax revenues administered by the Howard County Conventions, Visitors and Tourism Commission. Revenue supports promotion of conventions, visitor services, and tourism industry development in Howard County.
2. Visitor Guide & Materials Distribution: Distribution of visitor guides, maps, and promotional materials to attract tourists. The organization produces visitor guides available digitally and by mail request.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Greater Kokomo operates the Visit Kokomo Visitors Bureau, a nonprofit destination marketing organization that promotes tourism, conventions, and sporting events in Kokomo and Howard County, Indiana. It provides digital and printed visitor guides, an event calendar, downloadable maps, free meeting and sports tournament planning services, vacation rental coordination, and operates the Koko-Go Free Ride bike share program.

Product overview

Greater Kokomo operates as a visitor's bureau providing a unified platform of tourism services centered around the Visit Kokomo website. The offering includes digital and print visitor guides, seasonal activity guides, festival information, downloadable maps, transportation resources, meeting and event planning services, sports tournament hosting support, a free bike share program (Koko-Go Free Ride), and vacation rental coordination. These services work together to attract visitors, support group tours, promote local festivals and events, and facilitate economic development through tourism promotion for Kokomo and Howard County.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• HCAC 2026 Baseball and Softball Championships hosting 6 college teams per sport over 4 days
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• City of KokomocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-sponsor of the Kokomo Summer Concert Series, providing support for free live music events at the Kokomo Performing Arts Pavilion in Foster Park
• City of Kokomo Parks DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-sponsor of Summer Concert Series and operator of Foster Park venue where performances are held
• The CoterieminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSponsor of Summer Concert Series; restaurant providing food and beverage service at Riverwalk Concert Series events
• Coca ColaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of Summer Concert Series
• Hilton Garden Inn (Kokomo)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerConnected to the new Kokomo Conference Center opening summer 2026, providing integrated hotel and event space for meetings and conferences
• Greater Kokomo Economic Development AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Greater Kokomo Visitors Bureau is a division of the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance, working together to attract economic development through visitor travel
• Howard County Conventions, Visitors and Tourism CommissioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdministers innkeepers tax revenues and promotes the development and growth of the convention, visitor and tourism industry in Howard County
• Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosting NCAA Division III conference baseball and softball championships May 7-10, 2026 at Kokomo Municipal Stadium and Kokomo HS Softball Stadium
• AirbnbminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorVacation rental platform recommended for visitors seeking accommodations in the Kokomo area
• VRBOminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorVacation rental platform recommended for visitors seeking accommodations in the Kokomo area

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Destination DC: Washington, DC's destination marketing organization — established lodging-tax-funded DMO operating event promotion, meetings sales, and visitor services at major-city scale.
• Choose Chicago: Chicago's metropolitan DMO — a much larger incumbent operating the same DMO model (lodging-tax funded, convention/meetings focus, festival/event marketing) but at city-scale and significantly larger budget.

Direct peers

• Visit Indy: The Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association — the same-state DMO for Indiana's capital. Functionally identical (tax-funded CVB promoting events, meetings, and tourism) but operating at much larger scale, offering a benchmark for Greater Kokomo's go-to-market.
• Experience Columbus: Ohio's capital-city DMO — a benchmark mid-sized CVB demonstrating the operating model of a city tourism board serving leisure, group tours, and conventions at a similar budget profile.
• Visit Fort Wayne: Northeast Indiana CVB serving Fort Wayne/Allen County. A comparable mid-market Indiana DMO running sports tournaments, conventions, and leisure marketing with similar funding and operating model.
• Visit Bloomington: Monroe County CVB. Direct Indiana peer of similar size running event-driven tourism marketing with comparable budget structure and collegiate/visitor composition.
• Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette: Tippecanoe County CVB (Greater Lafayette). Comparable scale Indiana DMO promoting events, sports tournaments, and college-driven tourism using a similar innkeepers-tax-style funding model.
• Visit South Bend Mishawaka: St. Joseph County CVB in northern Indiana. Comparable DMO running sports-event bidding, festival promotion, and meeting/convention sales in the same state tourism ecosystem.

Others

• Destinations International: The trade association for destination marketing organizations (CVBs) globally. Not a competitor but a direct ecosystem peer providing advocacy, education, and accreditation standards for DMO operators like Greater Kokomo.
• Simpleview: A leading CRM/content platform built specifically for destination marketing organizations and CVBs. A technology enabler for peer CVBs operating similar visitor-guide and event-calendar platforms to visitkokomo.org.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/VisitKokomo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Greater Kokomo