The State Department of Tourism met with Jackson County leaders to examine tourism data and discuss how it can be used to better the county’s industry.
Mayor Randy Heady said that it used real-life examples, such as the results from the Cumberland River Music Festival, to highlight the benefits of tourism.
“That’s really encouraging to be able to go to the county commission who was very supportive of this festival and supportive of building the chamber bigger and making it a tool for us to use to create economic development and I’m going to be able to go to them and tell them ‘Hey look at what this did,’” Heady said. “And that will help with buy-in, and I think it will help with community buy-in.”
Heady said that after the county moved from a distressed status to an at-risk, he wanted to continue that positive growth. He said that the tools provided by the state with this data will aid in that process.
“Next is using those tools,” Heady said. “The concert is already said up for next year, it’s already set for the 8th and 9th of October for next year. Sow ere going to be able to look at that and say, ‘Alright, if we sold 2400 tickets this year, and what if we sold 2800 tickets next year,’ we can actually plug that in, and see the difference that makes not only with our event in our community but regionally. So you know hey, with a little more effort, a little more advertisement, look at what we can do.”
Heady said that one of the most surprising takeaways from the meeting was coming to know just how many people visit Jackson County.
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