Brian Eason

IndyStar

Despite a turbulent year that sparked fears of an exodus of headline events, Indianapolis posted new records for convention sales in 2015, securing an estimated $1 billion in future economic impact for Indiana's capital city.

In his annual address at the Indiana Convention Center on Thursday, Visit Indy President and CEO Leonard Hoops described a resilient tourism industry that set all-time highs in future hotel nights booked.

"That is, frankly, unbelievable given what we went through last year," Hoops said.

But that growth, he said, was stunted by the fallout from last year's Religious Freedom Restoration Act controversy.

By one industry measure, summer leisure hotel nights, tourism in Indianapolis grew by 1 percent. But nationally, summer tourism was up 2.9 percent, Hoops said.

"We actually lost market share in our record year," Hoops said. "You could argue that we achieved only a third of what we could have done."

Still, there was a lot to like for the industry in 2015:

A Rockport Analytics study found that 27.4 million visitors in 2015 generated $4.5 billion in total economic impact.

Visit Indy booked 904,717 future convention hotel room-nights, breaking 2014's booking record of 880,552 room-nights.

This year's bookings will bring in an estimated $994 million in future economic impact, according to Visit Indy.

RFRA and its subsequent fix pitted religious freedom against the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, sparking a national firestorm and a short-lived movement to boycott Indiana. From March, when the law was signed, to December, convention bookings were down 95,430 room-nights vs. the same period in 2014. Among out-of-state organizations, the numbers look even worse: down 182,437 room-nights — or 28 percent.

Prior to March, bookings were up overall by 119,595 room-nights year-over-year.

Most of the damage was done in the second quarter: overall bookings dropped by 43 percent.

"At some point, we think planners started to think we were the only state without these (LGBT) protections," Hoops said. "There are 28 of them."

Hoops credited the so-called "fix," and Indianapolis' human rights ordinance with salvaging Indy's reputation among meeting planners in the following months. Convention sales rebounded after July 1, ticking up 31 percent year-over-year, but even the rebound came with caveats. Much of it was thanks to the National FFA agreeing to extend its stay by six years, after the state dangled a $4.5 million incentive package to keep them.

In his own remarks, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett credited the tourism industry and business community for combating the backlash with its "Indy Welcomes All" campaign. The catchphrase became Indy's rallying cry in the wake of RFRA.

"Now that the world is aware that ‘Indy Welcomes All,’ we need to tell people that ‘Indy Welcomes All – Again,' " Hogsett said, a nod to the ongoing debate at the Statehouse over gay rights.

The timing of Visit Indy's address adds a new wrinkle into what has been a heated debate over whether the state should extend civil rights protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. Social conservatives have long doubted on the extent of the damage that the RFRA firestorm did to the state's reputation, creating a rift with the business community, which has played up economic arguments in support of extending protections.

The mixed message of Thursday's report will do little to bridge that divide.

In closing, Hoops left the crowd with a vision of continued growth, setting a goal of 31 million annual visitors and $5.6 billion in economic impact by 2025.

But again, there was a caveat. Hoops predicted the industry would contract before it gets bigger.

This year, Visit Indy's staff has 1,156,829 hotel room-nights in their pipeline, a measure that captures the potential impact of the conventions Indy is in the running for. That's down from 1,244,457 in 2015 and 1,479,353 in 2016.

Pok�mon Championship leaving Indy for Ohio

Call IndyStar reporter Brian Eason at (317) 444-6129. Follow him on Twitter: @brianeason.