Hilton Head Island DMO reports higher economic impact despite fewer visitors; ATAX committee votes to recommend marketing plan to council

Ariana Pernice, vice president of the visitor and convention bureau for the Hilton Head Island–Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, told the Accommodation Tax Advisory Committee on April 3 that the destination marketing organization(DMO) attracted more web traffic and secured higher per-visitor spending in 2024, even as overall visitation fell.

Pernice said the DMOwebsite HiltonHeadIsland.org received more than 3,300,000 visits in 2024 and produced about 1,500,000 partner referrals. "Visits to the website were up 3% to the prior year," she said, and links out to members and community partners were "up 25%." Pernice summarized lodging metrics as "occupancy was down by 4%" and average daily rate "was up by 1%"; she said RevPAR was down and that, overall, the DMO was attracting visitors who spent more per trip.

The committee heard the DMOreport that total visitation fell about 4.6% to roughly 2.84 million visitors but that the estimated economic impact of visitors rose about 17% year over year. Pernice attributed the gap to a smaller number of visitors paying higher rates and spending more on restaurants, recreation and retail.

The chamber framed its marketing approach around five pillarsecotourism; history and culture (including Gullah-related coverage); arts; recreation and wellness; and culinary/passion-driven traveland described a funnel strategy to drive awareness, intent and conversion. Pernice said the DMO relies on a mix of digital advertising, social media, PR and group/meeting sales to target households with annual incomes in a range the organization described as its priority visitor.

Charlie Clark, who handles public relations for the destination, said earned and broadcast coverage can produce large swings in "media impressions" depending on placement and platform. "Media impressions can range in years. They can fluctuate greatly based on what the media is," Clark said, noting broadcast and social amplifications as factors.

Other data presented: a printed "coffee-table" destination book was fulfilled 58,000 times in 2024 (about an 18% decline from the prior year); the DMO reported a modest increase in organic social following from 2023 to 2024; and the organization said it is piloting new data tools (including Placer) and plans AI-enabled, conversational features for HiltonHeadIsland.org with an implementation target tied to the next fiscal year starting July 1.

After the presentation and a Q&A with committee members about group travel, PR breakdowns, and how the DMO measures economic impact (the group uses the College of Charleston tourism analysis for annual estimates), the committee moved to recommend the marketing plan and associated budget to Town Council. The motion carried after members voted "all in favor" by raised hands; the committee did not announce a roll-call tally on the record.

The DMO said its measurement work draws on multiple data sources, including the College of Charleston visitor profile study, ATAX data and third-party audience tools such as Placer and the PR firm Weber Shandwick. Pernice told the committee she will provide a corrected fiscal-year budget slide (the presentation accidentally showed the prior-year budget) and that a corrected marketing plan will be distributed to committee members.

The committee's recommendation sends the DMO marketing plan to Town Council, which will consider the request under the town's normal budget and ATAX-review process.