Hendricks County is a beautiful place to live and a wonderful destination to visit. No one knows that more than the group over at Visit Hendricks County, a team whose sole focus is to demonstrate to others that the county is a visit-worthy destination. They also strive to make sure that Hendricks County residents are happy and thriving. That’s exactly what they’re hard at work doing with their bold new strategic plan.
An organization with roots dating back to 1998, Visit Hendricks County is solely funded by a pass-through visitor tax. The group is given funds from a hotel tax enacted in 1996, creating a model specifically designed to keep visitors funneling into Hendricks County. But mostly, the group’s love of Hendricks County drives their passion for bringing people in to see what the county has to offer.
Longtime employees Jaime Bohler Smith, executive director and CEO, Josh Duke, senior communications manager, and the rest of the staff spend their days strategically planning how they will bring tourists into Hendricks County and help support local businesses and residents.
“We are heavily invested in locally owned businesses that need support,” Duke says. “Everything we do is geared towards helping those businesses thrive and giving them what they need to succeed.”
A recent overhaul of the organization’s strategic plan includes four new areas of focus, based on community feedback, staff and industry input, and — for the first time — resident sentiment. Those include organizational excellence, destination development, awareness and marketing, and connectivity of industry and community. This roadmap means Visit Hendricks County has some exciting new things coming in the new year.
“Our goal is to bring value to our community, vitalize the places that we live and enhance the visit for anyone traveling to see us,” Smith says.
The resident sentiment data revealed that the top key priorities were fun, connectivity, inclusivity and managed growth. Residents indicated they want more events, outdoor experiences and a broader culinary scene. Visit Hendricks County is developing programs to support those initiatives.
The group also plans to provide enhanced support for local businesses, helping boost their marketing efforts and connecting them to affordable resources. Strides in destination development have also been made through additional investments such as accessibility — in partnership with Wheel the World — to make it easier for visitors and residents to get around Hendricks County.
“We’re evaluating the physical accessibility of locations and will provide recommendations for how businesses can make improvements, not just for wheelchairs, but also for moms with strollers and those with sight, hearing or sensory issues,” Smith says.
To help bring all of these new initiatives to life, the group has expanded its team to add three new roles, including a director of destination development, a senior research and data manager, and a partner services coordinator, bringing its total team to 11.
“We’re transforming what it means to be a destination leadership organization,” Smith adds. “We’ve been Visit Hendricks County for 14 years, but we really wanted to put some weight to those words and provide more value. Now, instead of just marketing to visitors, we have new initiatives to communicate locally and keep residents informed of what’s going on. We really want to lean into our residents and help improve their quality of life by bringing in more tourism.”
The group is certainly a leader in the destination industry. Over time, they turned what was originally a trifold brochure into a robust 40-page magazine that outlines all Hendricks County has to offer. This magazine won them the award for Best Visitors Guide in 2024. As a result of their hard work, visitor spending has risen from $228.9M in 2013 to $370.3M in 2023 — a nearly $150M increase over a decade.
Alongside those efforts, Duke devotes much of his time to the Insider blog, an undertaking that has been wildly successful and a resource for those inside and outside Hendricks County.
Insider blogs are written by residents, for residents, and serve as a forum for communicating about local events, restaurants, new attractions and upcoming things to know. All contributors are local and many have businesses or work full time within the community. The Insider program has since expanded to include short-form video, and five new Insiders joined the team in December.
“The Insider has been extremely successful,” Duke says. “We’ve found that people don’t want to watch videos or hear from Visit Hendricks County. They want organic, authentic people talking about where they live.”
The groundbreaking Insider blog has even led to speaking engagements for Duke and has helped set the standard for Midwest tourism blogging.
In addition to these new initiatives, Visit Hendricks County also distributes a holiday gift guide, summer and fall campaigns with things to do, and two monthly newsletters — one for visitors and locals and another for industry partners to keep everyone keyed into what’s going on and upcoming opportunities.
To further sharpen their focus on the community, the organization is undergoing a rebrand scheduled to launch in February 2026. Smith and the team are highly engaged in that project and excited to unveil an all-new look for Visit Hendricks County that demonstrates their reinvigorated dedication to the area.
“I’m excited about the future and where we’re headed,” Duke says. “Jaime and the leadership team found all the right people to fit what was needed to make our strategic plan a success. It’s like all the pieces to a puzzle. We all complement each other really well and play to our strengths and weaknesses. It’s going to be an exciting year.”
To learn more, email the team at info@visithendrickscounty.com or visit them online at visithendrickscounty.com.
