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County hears tourism, visitor-center and air-service reports; officials point to early digital gains
Summary
Representatives from the Elizabeth Chamber and Northeast Tennessee Tourism reported early marketing wins — social reach, ad clicks and two grants — and discussed air-service growth at the Carter County Commission meeting.
Veronica Ala, director at the Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce and visitor center overseer, told the commission the visitor center has focused on organizational cleanup and partnerships, and has seen rising in-person engagement and local vendor participation.
“These people when they come into the visitor center, I want them to leave with a smile,” Ala said, describing new vendor collaborations and an artist exhibit now on display.
Alicia Belts of Northeast Tennessee Tourism gave a quarterly update on work funded in part by county lodging taxes and described early digital advertising results. She said the newly renamed “Hey Carter County” social accounts produced more than 51,000 people reached, 100,000-plus impressions and roughly 300 new followers, and that a one-month digital snapshot yielded nearly 9,000 ad clicks with about 3,500 users visiting a Carter County website.
“These results are telling us that folks want to visit,” Alicia said, noting early campaign interest from drive markets including Charlotte and Knoxville and unexpectedly from Little Rock.
Alicia also said the partnership secured two grants: one to access short-term rental data (platform occupancy and revenue trends) and another to fund coordinated digital photography for lodging and outdoor-recreation assets.
County and tourism staff highlighted tangible short-term rental data presented in the meeting packet: between January and May, Carter County reported 236 short-term rental bookings with an average nightly rate of $149, average length of stay about 4.5 days, and about 72% of guests from outside Tennessee — metrics officials said support continued marketing investment.
Mr. Rose, the commission’s air-service presenter, told the panel the regional air-service committee has expanded membership and has seen organic growth on key routes. He said American and United plan new Chicago service starting in October and that the Orlando route is exceeding expectations.
“We see continued growth,” Mr. Rose said, describing the role of limited incentives such as minimum revenue guarantees (MRGs) to help carriers reach an 18-month threshold to establish markets.
What it means: Commissioners said the early digital metrics and grant-funded data give the county a stronger baseline to convert awareness into overnight stays and sales-tax revenue. Staff said the photography grant will supply images for future campaigns and partner promotions.
Next steps: Tourism staff will continue monthly campaign monitoring, distribute the photography to partners, and report back to the commission on ad performance and follow-up grant activity.
