Warren County tourism director reports largely flat Q1 visitation, outlines Destination Sherpa planning

Evan, the Warren County tourism director, told the Tourism Committee on a phone meeting that first-quarter 2025 visitation and spending were largely flat compared with 2024 and outlined a multi-month strategic planning project called Destination Sherpa that will guide marketing and product priorities.

The report matters because the county uses mobile-device analytics, STR/CoStar data and Visa credit-card spend to set marketing priorities and budget allocations. Evan said those data point to modest year-over-year changes in lodging revenue and a decline in visitor spending from many origin markets, and recommended using the analysis to refine marketing to higher-yield origin markets.

Evan said the Destination Sherpa effort began with a presentation from consultant Josiah Brown and a two-day stakeholder workshop that drew about two dozen participants. "It let us identify what we need to do as a destination," Evan said, adding the project will produce a roadmap that the office will present to the…