Fannin Commissioners plan to cut Fannin Chamber Budget – Will they kill the golden goose?

Opinion
Public Budget hearing

Fannin county Board of Commissioners made a decision to reduce the percentage of hotel/motel tax which was allocated for the Fannin County Chamber.  The reduction which will begin in 2018 will change the percentage the Chamber receives to 60% from 70%.  The plan now is for another reduction which will be made again in 2019 making it a 50% / 50% split.  During discussion Fannin County Post Commissioner Earl Johnson said he would like the money to be used for specific earmarked projects.

The Fannin Chamber has been extremely effective in tourism marketing and local merchants and taxpayers have enjoyed the benefits.  In this ever changing climate of small towns and communities vying for the tourists’ dollars we couldn’t help but wonder how will this change impact our area.  Currently Blue Ridge/Fannin County has numerous and varied methods of drawing the crowds including digital marketing, billboards, magazines, and more.

Listening to some people voice opinions on this matter in the past several months, the echoing sentiment seems to be how successful our town of Blue Ridge/Fannin has been in attracting visitors.  Our Fannin Chamber has been very instrumental and successful with putting Blue Ridge/Fannin on the map and maybe some do not realize how this happened.  Our fear and the fear of many, is the reduction in resources to our Chamber will have an impact which may not be easy to reverse.

It may seem to the current Board of Commissioners a good idea to make this reduction, thus giving them what may be considered “newfound funds” but what will be the results of this change in the long run.  It’s not too hard to realize 40% of 1 million is $50,000 less than 30% of 1.5 million, of course these are estimates but the timing seems likely for the drop in tourism to coincide with the marketing decrease which will be a forced change on our local chamber.  Not only does Fannin/Blue Ridge compete with other small towns but add the newly opened Casino and the marketing package it has put in place, along with other areas who aspire to draw similar crowds, could really put our tourism numbers at risk.

The sad news for everyone however may be the effects which could be felt for years to come.  Hopefully the Fannin County Board of Commissioners may review and research the possible outcome and perhaps even reconsider.   FYN did our own research and spoke to some people who have decades of research on tourism.  One of our contacts agreed to let us share his findings on the effects of advertising to small towns.

FYN decided to reach out to Andrew Levine, contributor to Forbes Magazine,  who wrote this article & agreed FYN could have permission to share :

Why Tourism Advertising Is More Powerful Than You Think

Is there a halo effect generated by tourism advertising?

Yes, we can survey consumers and directly see how a state or city’s advertising campaign works in influencing perceptions of a destination’s tourism product and ultimately in motivating travel.  But are there other benefits in boosting the community’s overall image with the same audience?

North Dakota is a case in point.  For the past decade, the state’s “Legendary” campaign has been a successful branding statement connecting the state to potential travelers in an emotional and authentic manner.  The most recent ROI research shows that North Dakota’s U.S. campaign generated over $100 in visitor spending for every dollar spent on advertising.

ND New

North Dakota’s “Legendary” advertising campaign kicked-off in 2005.

But here’s where it gets even more interesting.  Are the same viewers more positive to North Dakota as:

  • A place to live? Yes, up 41%.
  • A place to start a career? Yes, up 100%.
  • A place to start a business? Yes, up 75%.
  • A place to attend college? Yes, up 87%.
  • A place to purchase a second home? Yes, up 113%
  • A place to retire? Yes, up 75%.

Graph

Tourism advertising helped boost the state’s image in unexpected ways.

Longwoods asked the same six questions in assessing the impact of advertising campaigns for a number of other states, including North Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The findings couldn’t have been more consistent.  In each and every case, effective tourism advertising had the same impact, improving consumer perceptions of each state in accidental yet positive ways.  And while tourism marketing has been shown to generate significant economic impact by driving visitation, these results demonstrate the potential long-term benefits for broader economic development.

Edward Thorndike, an early educational psychologist, first coined the term “the halo effect” in a 1920 article titled “A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings.”  Thorndike asked two commanding officers to evaluate their soldiers in terms of physical qualities (neatness, voice, physique, bearing, and energy) and personal qualities (including dependability, loyalty, responsibility, selflessness, and cooperation). He found that if an officer liked one aspect of the soldier, he tended to have a positive predisposition toward everything about him.

Nearly one hundred years later, the same can now be said of tourism advertising.  We’ve known for a long time that effective tourism advertising campaigns build positive feelings toward a travel experience and inspire travel.  But thanks to Bill Siegel and the Longwoods team, we now know that the same campaigns have other benefits that elevate impressions of a destination in an unintended yet positive manner.  Bill Siegel and his firm Longwoods International have been tracking the performance of the advertising campaigns of countries, states and cities for over 25 years.

Mr. Andrew Levine’s bio:  He’s passionate about places and how communities work to attract investment, tourists and talent. For 20+ years, he’s served as President/Chief Creative Officer of Development Counsellors International (or DCI for short). DCI is the leader in marketing places having served over 450 cities, states, regions and countries. It is his belief that place marketing is fundamentally different from consumer marketing (but both practices can learn from each other). A goal in his writing and teaching is to simplify concepts and avoid buzzwords. If you have a high school education, you won’t need a dictionary for anything he’s written.

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