Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau

What Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau does

Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau is a 501C6 non-profit Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) headquartered at 200 Piasa Street in Alton, Illinois, founded in 1985 as the Alton Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau and rebranded to its current name in 2018. It serves as the regional tourism promotion agency for 39 communities across six Southwest Illinois counties (Madison, Macoupin, Montgomery, Jersey, Calhoun, Greene) plus the City of East St. Louis, marketing the only U.S. location where Route 66 and the Great River Road converge alongside the confluence of the Mississippi, Illinois, and Missouri rivers.

The organization operates a content-and-events platform rather than a technology product: its core surface is riversandroutes.com, a content-marketing website with trip-planning tools, an itinerary widget, a ticket marketplace for regional attractions, visitor guide downloads, and directories for lodging, dining, and activities. Distribution is reinforced by two fixed visitor centers (Alton and Grafton), a mobile visitor center, an email newsletter, social media campaigns under the #RIVERSANDROUTES hashtag, signature annual events (Alton Powerboat Nationals, Javapalooza, Craft Beverage Festival), and formal partnerships with Enjoy Illinois, Visit The USA, America's Byways, Illinois Route 66, the Illinois Great River Road, Looking for Lincoln, the Illinois Destination Association, and the National Audubon Society.

The business model is non-commercial in structure but revenue-bearing in practice: recurring membership dues from local hotels, motels, B&Bs, restaurants, attractions, and municipalities fund the core mission, supplemented by transaction-based revenue from event ticket sales and a small set of paid experience products. Visitor information services are provided free of charge; paid items include event tickets and unit-priced experiences such as a $65 stained glass class and a $150-$200 four-day kids' art camp. The organization has been Destinations International (DI) accredited and holds no patents, no subsidiaries, no funding rounds, and no parent company.

Name

Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau

Legal name

Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau

Website

https://riversandroutes.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau is a 501C6 non-profit Destination Marketing Organization that promotes Southwest Illinois tourism across 39 communities and six counties, marketing the Route 66 / Great River Road / three-river confluence region to leisure visitors, meeting planners, wedding parties, and sports organizers via content, events, and visitor services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Alton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: As a 501C6 non-profit Destination Marketing Organization, the bureau is funded through membership dues from local businesses, communities, and tourism-related entities in the six-county region.
2. Tourism Services and Bookings: Revenue generated from ticket sales for events like Alton Powerboat Nationals, and potentially commission or fees from the visitor guide and trip planning services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels8 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau promotes Southwest Illinois as a tourism destination through its riversandroutes.com website, trip-planning tools, visitor guides, and physical visitor centers. It also sells tickets to regional attractions through the Great Rivers & Routes Marketplace and runs dedicated Meetings & Groups, Weddings, and Sports Tourism programs that connect planners with member venues and services across 39 communities.

Product overview

Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau operates a regional destination marketing website for Southwest Illinois covering Madison, Macoupin, Montgomery, Jersey, Calhoun, and Greene counties. The organization's digital presence includes a trip planning platform with a 'Plan My Visit' widget, a ticket marketplace for purchasing attraction passes, visitor guides and maps, an email newsletter subscription service, and information portals for accommodations, dining, outdoor recreation, and cultural attractions including Route 66 and the Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Great Rivers & Routes Marketplace (Attraction Tickets)
• Alton Powerboat Nationals
• Javapalooza Annual craft coffee and culinary event held in the Great Rivers & Routes region and promoted through the bureau's events calendar to attract regional visitors.
• Craft Beverage Festival Annual craft beverage festival in the Great Rivers & Routes region featuring regional breweries, distilleries, and wineries; promoted and ticketed through the bureau.
• Meetings & Groups Program Dedicated service for meeting planners and group organizers providing venue sourcing, accommodation coordination, and itinerary planning for corporate meetings, conferences, conventions, and group tours in Southwest Illinois.
• Weddings Program Wedding planning service offering a venue directory of scenic riverfront and historic venues, vendor coordination, and accommodation options for couples and wedding planners.
• Sports Tourism Services Service for sports tournament organizers and athletic groups, providing facilities, lodging coordination, and logistics support for sporting events in the region.
• Destination Visitor Guide Print and digital visitor guide covering attractions, events, dining, and accommodations across 39 communities; distributed through visitor centers and available for download on the website.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 200 miles of managed hiking and biking trails in the region
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• National Audubon SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership between National Audubon Society and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to operate the Audubon Center at Riverlands, a 3,700-acre nature sanctuary at the confluence of major rivers with a mission to connect people to the Mississippi River and inspire conservation.
• Enjoy IllinoisflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerOfficial state tourism partner promoting Illinois destinations through state-wide marketing initiatives and traveler resources.
• Visit The USAflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerNational tourism marketing initiative promoting American destinations to international and domestic travelers.
• America's BywaysflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerFederal Highway Administration program promoting scenic byways including the Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway in the region.
• Illinois Great River RoadflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerRegional scenic byway partnership promoting the Great River Road corridor through Illinois along the Mississippi River.
• Looking for LincolnminorGTM or Marketing PartnerIllinois heritage tourism initiative promoting Lincoln historical sites and connections in the region.
• Illinois Route 66flagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerState association promoting Route 66 tourism including the Last 100 Miles of Route 66 in Illinois.
• Illinois Destination AssociationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerState association of Illinois destination marketing organizations for industry collaboration and best practices.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Kentucky Department of Tourism: State tourism office for neighboring Kentucky with a comparable mission of promoting regional attractions and supporting local DMOs. Strong overlap in river-corridor and heritage tourism positioning.
• Visit Missouri: State DMO serving Missouri, the neighboring state across the Mississippi. Operates a comparable destination marketing model and competes for visitors on the same river-corridor geography.
• Indiana Destination Development Corporation: Indiana's state tourism organization, adjacent geographically to Illinois and operating a similar DMO playbook. Comparable in how it bundles attractions, events, and regional itineraries under one brand.
• Iowa Tourism Office: State tourism office for Iowa, sitting across the Mississippi from Great Rivers & Routes' territory. Comparable in mission and scope, especially for heritage and river-based tourism.
• Tennessee Department of Tourist Development: State tourism organization for Tennessee, comparable in operating model (statewide DMO, partnership-funded, event-driven marketing). Less geographically overlapping but a useful peer for operating benchmarks.

Broad incumbents

• Travel Wisconsin: Midwestern state DMO with a comparable structure (state-funded tourism promotion, partnership network, content publishing). Useful benchmark for how a regional DMO could scale into a statewide brand.
• Pure Michigan: State-level DMO widely considered a benchmark for destination marketing in the U.S. Highly comparable in operating model (statewide promotion, partnership-driven, content-rich website) though at much larger scale.
• Explore Illinois: State-level destination marketing organization for Illinois and Great Rivers & Routes' flagship state tourism partner. Operates as a broader incumbent that the regional bureau ladders up to, with overlapping marketing goals but much wider scope.

Direct peers

• Explore St. Louis (formerly St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission): Neighboring regional DMO serving the St. Louis metro on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. Directly comparable in function (convention/visitor promotion, member-funded), overlapping visitor base, and competing for the same regional tourism wallet.

Others

• Destinations International: Global industry trade association for DMOs that has DI-Accredited Great Rivers & Routes. Not a competitor but the membership body that defines professional standards for destination marketing organizations of this type.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/GreatRiversAndRoutes
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/great-rivers-routes-tourism-bureau

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau