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Trumbull County tourism bureau cites marketing gains, seeks to turn day-trippers into overnight guests
Summary
Beth Carmichael told county commissioners the tourism bureau’s 2025 marketing pushed visitor spending up and that the bureau will focus on converting day trips into overnight stays to increase lodging-tax revenue; she outlined digital, streaming and influencer campaigns and warned short-term-rental tracking needs legal follow-up.
Beth Carmichael, a representative of the Trumbull County Tourism Bureau, told the Board of Commissioners on Thursday that the bureau’s 2025 marketing efforts produced measurable gains and that the office will prioritize converting day visits into overnight stays to capture lodging-tax revenue.
“Lodging tax is collected at our properties that have five or more rooms…we receive 2% of that, and that equals about $550,000 a year,” Carmichael said, describing the bureau’s operating budget and how funds are distributed. She said the bureau uses streaming video, Google and social media advertising, an email program and partnerships such as Ohio Road Trips and New Day Cleveland to promote the county.
Carmichael told commissioners the bureau contracts third-party research to measure ad influence and uses Placer AI to track visitor movement in target markets. “For every $1 of lodging tax that we invest in marketing on behalf of Trumbull County, [we are] returning $286 in direct visitor spending,” she said, quoting the vendor’s ad-influence analysis. She added that Placer AI showed Trumbull County’s visitor spending rose about 5.2% year-over-year within the bureau’s competitive set.
The presentation included digital benchmarks: Carmichael said the bureau’s Google Ads cost per click is about $0.32 compared with a travel-industry benchmark of $1.53, and that the bureau’s streaming ads had a very high completion rate. She also described recent campaign highlights: social media growth driven by Facebook reels and TikTok repurposing, an influencer visit that delivered roughly 294,000 impressions, and a widely shared “60-mile yard sale” post.
Carmichael listed staff and programs that support promotion: three full-time employees and one part-time staff member, marketing managers Samantha Emzinger and new hire Haley Simche, walking-tour materials focused on historic districts, and an Italian Food Trail passport program that included partnered paid listings by local businesses.
Commissioners asked whether many visitors are day-trippers who do not stay overnight; Carmichael said the bureau is studying “leakage” and developing packages and hotel promotions to encourage overnight stays. When asked whether the bureau tracks short-term rentals for lodging-tax collection, she said some townships already collect tax on short-term rentals, that tracking platforms require subscription, and that pursuing countywide STR collection would require legal and administrative follow-up. “Between you guys and attorney Danzo, you can talk about how we can get that moving forward,” she said.
The bureau also said it is preparing for AI-powered search and plans website restructuring and content work so Trumbull County appears prominently in AI-driven trip planning.
The presentation closed with commissioners thanking the bureau for its work and the board moved on to its formal agenda.
