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Chamber presents FY27 DMO plan; council presses to preserve ecotourism language in contract pillars
Summary
The Hilton Head Island‑Bluffton Chamber presented its FY26–27 DMO marketing plan that reallocates 30% ATAX funds toward digital media, photography, group sales and local event support; council members pressed the Chamber to show explicit alignment between the plan and contract pillars (including ecotourism) and requested clearer, readable materials and mapping between strategy and tactics.
Representatives from the Hilton Head Island‑Bluffton Chamber presented the DMO marketing plan and a proposed allocation of 30% ATAX funds for FY27, emphasizing a shift from large media buys to digital promotion, destination photography and a stronger research program. "This is our first year in partnership using a new form," Ariana Pernice told the committee, summarizing the Chamber's accounting and explaining why year‑to‑date spend and the 30% budget columns are not directly comparable.
Pernice and research manager Chase O'Dell walked the committee through seven funding categories and explained line‑item nuances: the Chamber intends to allocate $240,000 for targeted media buys from the 30% funds (while other print and paid efforts are funded from non‑30% lines) and $100,000 to a Lowcountry golf partnership to support microsite RFPs for group leads. They also proposed a $2,000 supplemental promotional allocation to support qualifying local events and described a multi‑platform research approach (Zardeco, Placer, College of Charleston economic studies) to measure visits and event attendance.
Councilwoman Bryson raised a sustained objection to what she described as a divergence between the Chamber’s outward 'tactical' pillars and the contract's required strategic 'core values,' particularly the prominence of ecotourism and conservation in prior plans. She cited Article 6 (Roman numeral I) of the contract and several prior meetings and called for explicit language preserving conservation and heritage priorities. Pernice and other presenters said the shared values remain in the full marketing plan and that the presentation's reimagined outward pillars still map back to those values; council members requested clearer pages and blown‑up slides for future materials.
Members of the committee asked for additional detail about accounting reconciliations (why a 2026 budget column appears smaller than total spend in the middle column), how creative and destination photography budgets rose, and how event and microsite partnerships avoid duplication. The Chamber said some overages in year‑to‑date spend are covered by additional fund lines and that a move to 30%‑to‑30% reporting will reduce future confusion.
No formal action was taken at this meeting; staff and the Chamber will return with clarified materials to the full council at the scheduled June hearing. Public commenters at the meeting also used the DMO presentation as a prompt to demand greater financial transparency from organizations that receive ATAX funds.
