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Tourism director outlines Destination By Design projects, marketing grants and visitor-center talks
Summary
Tourism staff briefed commissioners on a Destination By Design planning opportunity, a new $12,000 tourism marketing grant, a $50,000 PR contract with Yellow Duck Marketing and a pending contract with Blue Ridge Parkway for the Mineral Museum visitor center.
Kelly Jones, the county’s tourism lead, updated the Mitchell County Board of Commissioners on marketing work and infrastructure planning intended to boost visits and overnight stays.
Jones said the county has engaged with a Destination By Design program (modeled on a Rutherford County effort) to identify three to four infrastructure projects that would improve Mitchell County as a destination. She told commissioners one-third of the tourism budget is directed to infrastructure and that the county hopes to use the process to prioritize projects that will attract visitors and benefit residents.
Jones said the chamber signaled its intent to relinquish management of the North Carolina Mineral Museum Visitor Center and that the Blue Ridge Parkway is expected to terminate its contract with the chamber before discussing a new contract with the county. She said the Parkway’s staff told the county a draft contract could arrive this month.
Jones also announced a new county tourism-marketing grant program with $12,000 available to local events, with preference given to off-season (January–March) activities. She said Yellow Duck Marketing was awarded $50,000 of in-house PR support; that relationship helped place an earlier Spruce Pine festival story on Yahoo News and secured a spot in a national magazine. Jones said staff are exploring visitor kiosks, improved on-site information and data tools (the county uses Zardeco and CrowdRiff) to better capture what visitors do once in the county and to reuse user-generated photos with permission.
The presentation noted plans for a sports-tourism strategy, a Roan Mountain visitor-center presence, and a holiday campaign called “Married in Mitchell” to promote wedding venues and drive overnight stays. Jones asked commissioners to support ongoing marketing and infrastructure investment to convert visitation into longer stays.
