You don’t have to be rich, you don’t have to make “cold” calls, you don’t have to be an elected or appointed official, and you don’t have to be the leader of any group to help improve the economy – at least a little bit – in the greater High Point community.

We’ll repeat some advice: If you belong to an organization that holds regional, statewide, national or international meetings, pass along to the High Point Convention & Visitors Bureau the name and contact information for the organization’s event planner.

The High Point CVB this week relaunched its Bring It Home, High Point campaign from a few years ago, and is aiming to stimulate interest in the city as a convenient location for statewide and regionwide – even national and international – meetings and conventions.

Tourism has brought lots of people and millions of dollars annually into North Carolina and the Piedmont Triad in general and into High Point in particular over the last few decades. That has been especially important as, during those same decades, we’ve seen the local textile and furniture industries fade and have much less positive influence on the local economy.

Why the push?

Year-to-date, CVB revenue from the hotel-motel occupancy tax is down 15 percent from the previous year and sales have declined every month his fiscal year, which is evidence of a slowing in convention and tourism visits to High Point. CVB reports a convention dollar turns over three times in the city’s economy before it leaves town, which means tourism’s economic impact on the area’s economy is $23 million a year. So it just makes good sense for the CVB and all of us to try to bring more convention and tourism dollars here.

“We’re not asking for your money,” the Bring it Home High Point brochure says, “just the name of the decision-makers in the groups and organizations to which you belong.” The Bring it Home High Point campaign is about civic pride and how you can help bring folks to High Point, rather than Charlotte, Raleigh or any other city, to spend money at restaurants, hotels and motels, shops, tourist sites and other locations throughout the community.

It’s easy: Just give the group name, group contact (with telephone number and/or e-mail address) and the type of event to the Convention & Visitors Bureau, P.O. Box 2273, High Point, NC 27261 or go to www.bringithomehighpoint.org.