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Hilton Head DMO reports flat visits but stronger spending and targeted campaigns in Q1–Q2
Summary
The Hilton Head Island‑Bluffton Chamber’s destination marketing office reported combined FY2025 Q1 and Q2 metrics showing flat visits but higher average daily rate and stronger partner referrals after targeted campaigns; council asked for more consistent quarterly breakdowns and data by lodging type.
Ariana Pernice, vice president of the Hilton Head Island‑Bluffton Chamber’s Visitor and Convention Bureau, presented a combined FY2025 Q1 and Q2 report to the council on March 4, describing a strategy shift to attract higher‑spending visitors and highlighting recent earned‑media placements.
Pernice said the DMO ran a campaign ("America’s Favorite Escapes") aimed at shoulder‑season travel and used targeted channels including streaming and digital partnerships; the presentation noted placement in publications such as Conde Nast Traveler and Vogue and digital reach figures the DMO summarized as over 10 million digital impressions and an X/Twitter audience of about 15 million. The DMO emphasized a strategy to pursue "qualified" visitors — higher household incomes — and said average daily rate (ADR) rose to about $303 even as overall occupancy dipped slightly.
Council members asked for more consistent quarterly reporting and for metrics broken out by hotels, homes and villas so the town can measure how tourism performance affects local businesses. Councilman Alfred and others asked for clarity on visitor pathways (how people discover the destination and where they go once they click through) and on budget allocation between advertising channels; Pernice and her colleagues said they can provide deeper channel‑level and fulfillment data in future reports.
The presentation also described a community water‑bottle initiative tied to sea‑turtle conservation and a planned "quench buggy" this summer; the DMO said the town’s accessibility features (wheelchair beach overlooks, beach mats and rental wheelchairs) and related PR outreach have been emphasized in recent media pitches. Charlie Clark, the DMO’s vice president of communications, said accessibility and those programs are part of the destination messaging to outlets such as AARP and Southbound magazine.
Councilmembers praised the emphasis on destination values (ecotourism, history, arts and culture) and asked staff to produce trend charts over several quarters so the council can better evaluate year‑to‑year performance. Pernice said the DMO will provide a deeper breakdown of metrics and noted the DMO is refining its reporting cadence to show the same core measures every quarter.
