More than 3,600 individuals in the county are ambassadors for our community

As you and some of our 5.3 million visitors enjoy dinner at one of the many wonderful restaurants in St. Joseph County, you are likely greeted by a kind, hard-working and talented individual who is there to serve you dinner or drinks. Behind the servers are even more staff prepping the kitchen, preparing the food and paying the bills all to make sure your experience is enjoyable and hopefully memorable.

Although many of our monthly stories have focused on the brick-and-mortar projects we are working to create in St. Joseph County, those amenities are largely successful because of the faces of tourism who make them as much.

There are more than 3,600 individuals in the county who are ambassadors for our community and working in the arts, entertainment and recreation space. Just think for a moment of the scope of our 54 hotels with 5,400 rooms and the number of dedicated individuals that it takes to ensure your stay is seamless from the moment you park to the moment you depart.

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We were proud to recognize six such individuals last year who work in a variety of capacities throughout St. Joseph County as the “Faces of Tourism” for 2023. The six selfless contributors included Viridiana Amaya (server at the Inn at Saint Mary’s), Esmeralda Cervantes Leal (front office supervisor at the Aloft), Maria Drevet (program & outreach manager at the Studebaker National Museum), Joe Giczi (visitor services associate at The History Museum), Lillie Magers-Pershing (visitor services associate at The History Museum), and Marc Rossetti (executive chef at Century Center). Amaya was even recognized downstate by Lt. Gov. Crouch for her contributions.

The tourism segment in our county contributed more than $1.2 billion in 2021. An additional 11,777 jobs resulted from the hospitality sector by those traveling to our communities. We have seen 4.5% growth in these positions since 2018.

Like other markets, many of the positions within the tourism industry fall into the gig economy, which means the positions may be part time and/or temporary. For example, a luncheon at Century Center for 1,100 people may require more than 70 servers for a single day but there is not another luncheon scheduled for the same week, so the server may seek another opportunity, or gig, elsewhere.

When the gig economy in St. Joseph County is factored in, the number of positions in this space swells to nearly 8,400. Think of all the activity and festivity that took place during the Ohio State and Notre Dame football weekend. Every hotel room was full. There were 80,000 people in the stands and thousands more filled Eddy Street commons and other area bars and restaurants.

These 8,400 individuals are truly the faces of tourism in St. Joseph County and are some of the best ambassadors who share valuable information with those who ask. We hope you will join us in saying thanks and offering your appreciation for what they do every day. From the staff at Potawatomi Zoo to the team at Four Winds Field, every attraction, hotel, restaurant and meeting facility in St. Joseph County is full of these incredible ambassadors. And to all those who make St. Joseph County special, we say, THANK YOU!

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If you want to nominate a special "face of tourism" from your own experiences in St. Joseph County, we invite you to do so by telling us about that individual on our website in the "about us" section.

Visit South Bend Mishawaka is here to help tell our story, highlight our incredible experiences, and bring the best to The Bend. Here are just a few exciting and upcoming events. To see more, head to visitsouthbend.com.

■ May 2-4: Around the Bend (Model Railroad) at Century Center

■ May 10: 51st Annual Fischoff Competition at Notre Dame

■ May 10-12: NGA Gymnastics Competition at Compton Family Ice Arena

■ May 25-26: Brick Fest at Century Center

Jeff Jarnecke is the executive director of Visit South Bend Mishawaka (jjarnecke@visitsouthbend.com).

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Faces of St. Joseph County tourism