David Clark has served as President and CEO of Visit Mobile since 2017. He’s worked in the hospitality and tourism industries for 35 years in coastal Alabama. In addition, Clark is president of the University of South Alabama Hospitality and Tourism Advisory Board and serves on the Southern Rail Commission and the board of the Downtown Mobile Alliance, among other boards.

In the last couple of years, Mobile has seen record numbers of visitors, as the coronavirus pandemic made Mobile (and coastal Alabama) an attractive destination for tourists. In 2020, Mobile was the first city in Alabama to create a Tourism Improvement District (TID), which funnels fee revenue from hotel stays to marketing and capital improvements for tourism. Clark says the creation of the TID is the “single most important thing we’ve done for tourism in Mobile.”

Here, Clark discusses the recent opening of the Africatown Heritage House, the state of tourism and reaching the goal of five million visitors to Mobile.

Questions and answers have been condensed and edited for clarity.

I’ll start with the festivities this past weekend. What was your impression of the opening of the Africatown Heritage House?