With the release of the Fiscal Year 2014-15 marketing plan for Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau Wednesday, Sept. 17, the regional tourism development agency set the course for its strategy to utilize its $4 million budget.
Kim Hufham, Wilmington and Beaches CVB President and CEO, said tourism accounted for $477.7 million in economic impact for New Hanover County from July 2013-June 2014 and more than 5,460 tourism related jobs. Furthermore, Hufham said Room Occupancy Tax collections for Fiscal Year 2013-14 were up nearly 7 percent, double the ROT collection increase for the previous fiscal year.
Hufham said two things that could account for the increased ROT collection are economic conditions and the area’s average hotel rates.
“We are gradually seeing, as we look at the numbers, that the economy has gotten better,” Hufham said during a Wednesday, Sept. 24 phone interview. “Also we really haven’t seen a big jump in our hotels’ Average Daily Rates so we are seeing more people come in.”
This year’s marketing creative ads will feature a tweak in the call to action phrase, from heeding the call of the area’s waters, to “Go with the flow and see where the water takes you.”
The theme will be expressed in digital, print and billboard formats.
“Of course we are still focusing on water because our biggest two assets are the river and the beaches,” Hufham said. “This year we are going for more of a spontaneous feel for the area and there is such a variety of things that can be done here.”
Social media will continue to be a large component of the CVB’s plan with refining MomentFeed feature, which integrates all posts made on social media apps onto the CVB website when visitors use specific hash tags.
“People love to see actual experience pictures and it also encourages interaction on social media,” Hufham said. “There is no better way to sell than through firsthand experience.”
Hufham said the CVB is continuing to rely more on social media, online advertising and earned media by issuing targeted press releases to get more out of its budget given the growing concern for more ROT dollars needed for coastal storm damage reduction projects.
“Being a coastal community and having some of the unique issues like beach renourishment, we are pretty much at a standstill on how our budget is going to grow,” she said. “The best thing we can do is do our jobs well and hope we continue to see the collection percentage grow overall, which helps feed our budget.”
While the CVB issued a formal plan for the budget, Hufham said it remains fluid to address changing trends like how the region’s film tourism could be affected by uncertainty about North Carolina’s film incentives.
“It has been very difficult to track,” she said. “We have asked the hotels to let us know what they are seeing but it is early to see what the effects will be right now.”
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