Jan. 08—By all accounts, 2014 was a banner year for Golden Isles tourism.
In fact, it was the best and busiest year ever.
The 2014 fiscal year—which ended July 31—saw an additional 190,000 visitors than the previous all-time recent record, set just one year prior, in 2013.
Overall, 2.4 million visitors flocked to the area this year, creating an economic impact of $1.1 billion.
“Lodging tax for fiscal year 2014 was 11 percent ahead of 2013’s all-time record,” said Scott McQuade, president and chief executive officer of the Golden Isles Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The continuous positive momentum also has McQuade excited about what the new year holds. And it’s easy to see why. In the 2015 fiscal year, which began July 1, lodging taxes have surpassed last year’s all-time monthly records.
“We are currently 16 percent ahead of pace,” he said.
Several factors could have influenced the uptick, including the overall national economy, which has been on the mend. It also could have been the dip in gas prices, prompting more families to take to the road.
It may have even been the stepped up marketing effort by McQuade and his team, or a combination of all of three.
McQuade feels the consolidated effort put forth by community officials and those in the hospitality industry has made the difference.
“The greatest contributor to these wonderful gains is teamwork. I can’t say enough about our partners and the tourism community’s willingness to work together. The first layer of that teamwork is the five communities of the Golden Isles working in lockstep,” he said.
“We have hotels and resorts from every local area participating in our cooperative marketing efforts. In addition, we are now seeing the restaurant and retail segment also participate in a very large way. This allows us to go out into the national marketplace with one voice promoting the Golden Isles as a whole.”
This unified front, he says, has changed the landscape as far as competition against other tourist destinations.
Taking advantage of new ways of reaching out to potential visitors has also helped.
“Suddenly the Golden Isles as a region is out-marketing larger destinations and with more financial resources. The 35-page feature and cover story in the US Airways publication was the pinnacle of this partnership and demonstrates what our true potential is when we work together,” he said.
“As a result over 3.5 million readers were introduced to our area in a significant way. The CVB will continue to be the catalyst of cooperation and working together.”
He hopes to see the same cooperation in 2015. That’s especially true when it comes to managing the growth Glynn County is seeing in the hospitality industry. Among others, there will be two new hotels on Jekyll Island in the spring, as well as a new hotel at the St. Simons Island Airport.
One of McQuade’s focuses is how to bring all of these new businesses into the collective tourism fold.
“Many of our future goals will need to address the new hotels coming online and all the additional restaurants and retail shops and how to fill them. At some point, we need to increase the CVB’s overall budget to ensure the businesses who have put a stake in the community receive a good return,” he said.
Reporter Lindsey Adkison writes about business and other local topics. Contact her at ladkison@thebrunswicknews.com on Facebook or at 265-8320 ext. 346.