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Tourism director: streaming ads and partnerships drove website traffic and visitor spending
Summary
Greater Richland Tourism director Marty Richards told the board that a switch to digital streaming advertising and coordinated room-tax partnerships produced increased website traffic and visitor spending; he cited 15,445 new website visitors year‑to‑date and over 80,000 total views and said streaming advertising spend is about $32,000 this year.
Marty Richards, director for Greater Richland Tourism, told the Richland County Board that the organization’s strategic shift in marketing — including streaming advertising, digital billboards and a redesigned website — has driven measurable growth in interest and visitor spending.
Richards said the tourism office focused county-wide marketing beginning in 2021 and expanded streaming advertising and digital campaigns targeting select urban ZIP codes. He reported that, year‑to‑date in 2024, Greater Richland Tourism recorded 15,445 new visitors to its website and “a little over 80,000” total views; he also said the organization’s streaming ad spend for the current year is roughly $32,000. Richards argued that the investments pay off in visitor spending that benefits local businesses and contributes directly to local sales tax receipts.
He described the organization’s funding model: several townships that adopted a room tax supply marketing revenue, with 30% of the room tax retained by the township and 70% remitted to the county-designated destination marketing organization. Richards said no local general‑fund dollars go to marketing aside from half of his city-paid salary; the goal is to fund tourism work from outside dollars and shared room tax revenue.
Richards emphasized the county’s recreational assets — kayaking, biking, festivals and unique local attractions — as the core message of campaigns. He also described a grants program the commission uses to help event organizers increase the likelihood of overnight stays, and noted concern about short-term rental growth; he said short-term rentals rose from an estimated 11 in 2018 to roughly 60 by 2023, which factors into lodging availability for larger groups.
Board members asked about advertising budgets and geographic targeting; Richards said the tourism entity’s ad budget has doubled over the last three years largely because more municipalities have adopted the room tax and contributed to the marketing pool.
Richards asked board members to consider tourism’s role in economic development and to continue supporting the destination-marketing model.
