Despite being a self-proclaimed introvert, Gathan Borden has been drawn to a career in marketing ever since college, when he found himself impressed by the challenges of working in communications before the dawn of social media.
“As the president of my fraternity, I taught myself how to code as I built our chapter a website on Geocities, if anyone remembers that,” he said with a chuckle, referring to the now-defunct Yahoo! web-hosting service. He also used to design and distribute fraternity event and party flyers, and was active on early social media platforms like Black Planet and College Club, “before anyone knew what Facebook was.”
That long-running experience with social media has served Borden well – today, he has repeatedly been recognized on a national level for his social media presence, and has been invited to present on the topic of social media at a number of high profile conferences and events. In 2007, he applied for a marketing manager job at the Louisville Tourism office (formerly Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau) on a “whim and a prayer,” he said, despite his limited experience at the time. He stayed with that office for seven years before interviewing with newly minted VisitLex president Mary Quinn Ramer in 2015.
Ramer found Borden to be a born marketer – “creative at heart, with a seemingly endless supply of inspiration and content,” she said. She hired him to join the VisitLex team as vice president of marketing, a position that Borden has held ever since. Ramer says Borden has largely been responsible for elevating VisitLex’s brand and expanding the organization’s footprint in the destination travel landscape over the past five years.
Borden is a sought-after speaker at tourism industry events, where he regularly presents on topics like social media and marketing. Photo furnished
Borden exudes a passion for the position, which he calls his dream job.
“We have one of the best products to promote,” Borden said of Lexington. While he was referring largely to the natural beauty of the region’s landscape, he’s quick to point out that the natural landscape isn’t the only thing that makes Lexington a standout destination.
“When you add up our unique draws, like Keeneland, the bourbon distilleries and other assets — like our vibrant creative community, great restaurants, the friendly people and, of course, basketball and our great sports — Lexington is a very special place,” he said.
The roots of VisitLex (formerly called the Convention and Visitors Bureau) can be traced back to 1974, when the organization was created to promote the Bluegrass region as a tourism destination. VisitLex had a great year in 2019, with the city having seen a significant boon in increased tourism and hotel room revenue — money that is then invested back into the community and that also funds VisitLex.. The organization’s social media presence exploded in recent years, with the popular #ShareTheLex hashtag, and the VisitLex office helped the city garner over a billion media impressions last year alone in media outlets that include USA Today, the New York Times, Southern Living, Rolling Stone magazine and NBC’s The Today Show.
But then, as we are all too aware, a pandemic happened. Even with all the confidence that Borden has in the organization’s ability to sell a place like Lexington, no one could have predicted the game changer that we would come to know as COVID-19. None of the volatility or changes in our economy from recent decades compares to the havoc the virus has wreaked worldwide over the past two months, and tourism has arguably been one of the sectors hit the hardest. Food and hospitality industries, as well as the airlines and other transportation carriers, have been devastated. With travel at a standstill, and shops, venues and restaurants shuttered, tourism – typically one of Lexington’s strongest economic drivers – was more or less instantly paralyzed when the pandemic hit the city in mid-March.
“This virus has created a situation where we all have to rethink the way we do pretty much everything going forward,” Borden said. “Some of that creativity and innovative change is coming easy, and we are adapting, but some things will take a long time to retool and we are working to develop new strategies.”
Despite unprecedented challenges, Borden emphasizes the importance of thinking positive, and working together to get through this next step.
“Two of the top three reasons people travel are to visit family and friends, so locals will be instrumental in our recovery and a crucial part of us welcoming visitors back to Lexington,” he said. “It’s a really scary time, but we have to figure out safe ways to restart and turn this around in a meaningful way.”
Borden (far left) has a built-in passion for one of the Bluegrass region’s leading products: bourbon. Here he is pictured with other board members of the Kentucky Black Bourbon Guild, an organization of which he is a founding member. Photo furnished
Chevy Chaser writer Celeste Lewis had an opportunity to chat with Gathan Borden (via email and telephone) recently about the future of Lexington’s tourism industry.
Tell me about the impact of the coronavirus on Lexington business and tourism from your perspective. Coronavirus is decimating the tourism industry – not just here in Lexington, but across the entire country. I think the impact of this pandemic is long-ranging, as it will fundamentally change how we do simple things like go out to eat and visit places for entertainment. It will change the core functions of how businesses operate and how people will travel in the future. In the short-term, we are seeing the negative effects it has on small-business owners [who are unable] to maintain operations or keep staff employed. It is keeping us from gathering in large numbers for meetings and events and is making it difficult to enjoy the company of our friends and family. Long-term, I worry about the mental effects this will have on people who have lost a loved one to this disease, or those who have had to close their businesses, or those who have had to go on unemployment, or those who lost their job and received no unemployment and could be in a dire financial situation. There are so many negative trickle-down effects from this, that it will take years for us to recover.
What are some of the best ways people can support Lexington’s tourism industry in this uncertain time? The best way that people can support right now is to dedicate time each week to support our local small businesses to get them back up and running, and then however you decide to support them, share those new experiences with your family, friends and social networks so that we can increase consumer confidence. Shameless plug here, but we actually have a resource page with this type of information (www.visitlex.com/coronavirus2020/team-kentucky).
What do you think is a strength or quality in our community that will be an asset in our local recovery? I think the strength of Lexington’s community is that it is small and tight-knit, and in recent years there has been a spurt of creativity happening in Lexington where members of the community are not afraid to put their creativity and compassion on display. An example that comes to mind is the creation of Nourish Lexington in the midst of this pandemic. Several community partners and community leaders quickly pivoted and created an organization to utilize unemployed hospitality workers and provide meals to families and children in Lexington. Essentially, creating a nonprofit, which is what Nourish Lexington is, takes years, but these members of the Lexington community were able to figure it out in a matter of weeks – that is the spirit of Lexington.
What are some of the changes you think may be permanent nationally as well as locally? If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that now is a good time to reevaluate how we all do business. You are already starting to see changes. I think you’ll see housekeeping in hotels move from a day-to-day function to a stay-to-stay function, where they will only enter rooms between guests’ stays. In the airline world, I think you’ll finally see a boarding and deplaning process that actually makes logical sense and keeps people from standing on top of each other at the gate or in the aisle. For bars, restaurants, attractions and other entertainment venues, I think it will be hard to maintain these capacity changes in the long run, but I think you’ll see more thought given around how they can creatively keep the inflow and outflow of guests safe and enjoyable. And, as for other professional businesses, I think you’ll see more of them adopt work-from-home policies and other types of flexible scheduling for staff.
What have you missed the most personally during the pandemic? I’m an introvert, so I have actually enjoyed this quarantine time, but I have missed my co-workers at VisitLex, the spring meet at Keeneland, Oaks Day at Churchill Downs and grabbing a bourbon at Zim’s or Whiskey Bear. And I’m going stir-crazy not having any live sports on TV.
How has your family handled self-isolation? We have a daughter, age 12, and a son, age 8. They’re doing a good job remembering hand washing and they are keeping up with their school assignments. They’re doing a great job of keeping in touch with grandparents through phone calls. They understand how important all this is. My wife has had some Zoom meet-ups with friends and they even did a wine tasting online together. We are trying to maintain our normal dinner schedule and routine. I’ve never played video games that much [before], but now I have played A LOT of NBA 2K!
If you had to describe Lexington in three words to someone who had never been here, what words would you use? Horses. Bourbon. Tranquil.
What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received? The best piece of advice I’ve received is one of the quotes that I live by, and that is, “Success occurs when preparation meets opportunity.”
When we are not in the middle of a pandemic, where do you go locally to unwind or recharge? Our office is on Main Street in the renovated Courthouse Square, so to unwind I like to take walks, and there are two routes that I use: one through Gratz Park and the other down to Thoroughbred Park. I put in my AirPods, open up Apple Music and escape the realities of work for a bit. Fitness allows me to unwind and recharge too, so I will be anxious to get back in the gym.
What is a dream project you hope to see happen in Lexington? Lexington has a lot of great assets that already make it a great city, but one project I’d love to see happen is an interactive University of Kentucky sports museum, telling the storied history of UK athletics across all sports. With our need for downtown attractions coupled with the expansion and renovation of Central Bank Center and the overall growth of downtown, this would be an amazing, family-friendly attraction that visitors and locals alike would enjoy.
Race days at Keeneland, grabbing a bourbon at local bars and restaurants and live sports top the list of what Borden has missed the most during the pandemic. Photo furnished