City council discusses local tourism revenue
Published Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at 4:55 p.m.
Mayor Lee Kinnamon (left) presents a proclamation honoring Alice Mercer (center), who was elected honorary city council member for June, with Council Member Nicole Smith at right. Photo by Ken Gustafson.
On Tuesday, June 18, the Americus City Council held one of its two monthly meetings. During the meeting, Americus Tourism Board President Summer Murray gave an update on how local tourism is impacting the city of Americus.
Before Mr Murray spoke, it was announced that Alice Mercer had been elected Honorary Councillor for the month of June.
In her opening remarks, Murray said the city’s hotel and motel tax revenue will be less than $500,000 at the end of 2023. “Since the separation of the Main Street and tourism departments, the difference in revenue the departments bring in is $190,757,” Murray said. “Every year, that number gets higher and higher. The number of visitors to traditional tourist destinations such as Rylander National Park in 2023 was 159,723,” Murray said. “Media impressions in 2023 were 15,734,014,060 digital impressions.” Murray further said that media impressions in 2023 were 15,734,014,060 digital impressions. She added that with 224 publications from the Visit Americus team’s efforts, the estimated total will be about $146 million. “We collect this data through our Cision news monitoring platform,” Murray told ACC. “Many of the bloggers we work with are now syndicated on MSN and have high media impressions measured in monthly unique visitors to their online outlets, exceeding 1 million impressions per article.” Murray further stated that the high estimates are measured when applied to the media impressions methodology. “MSN, along with Yahoo, are news aggregator websites that bring fresh content from around the world to provide high-quality content to users every day,” Murray said. “Big media outlets such as Thrillist Southern Living, US News and World Report contribute to these tools. Being featured by these outlets is great for our destination and traction, so we always include them in our reports,” Murray said. She further stated that in 2024, the Visit Americus Tourism Board will have already garnered a total of 1.187 billion media impressions, valued at almost $11 million. “For a city the size of Americus, this is incredible,” Murray said. She went on to say that this was earned media, which is media that has been publicly acquired through promotional efforts outside of paid advertising. “It takes time, talent and connections to make this happen,” Murray said. “Unlike paid media, where you’re paid directly for space or airtime, earned media comes from organic coverage.”
Murray further stated that the 2024 hotel motel tax has a report due in May and is at $189,510. “This is just the marketing portion of Visit Americus, with regards to the regional tourist bureau,” Murray said. She added that the Americus tourist bureau hosted multiple events last year, such as First Friday. “This is an opportunity to introduce the friendly people who operate on the first floor of City Hall to the local residents and visitors,” Murray said. She also spoke about the multicultural theme of the 2023 Corn, where the tourist bureau team represented France. In 2024, they represented Japan. “This will include food, drinks and activities for the kids,” Murray said. Murray added that in the Downtown Goes Disney celebration a year ago, the tourist bureau team represented Aladdin. She added that the Mexican heritage-themed film “Remember Me” will be shown during Hispanic Heritage Month. Murray also reflected on past events and mentioned some upcoming events, such as Flashback Friday, Halloween and Christmas.
This is a photo of the sinkhole on Russell Street in Americus.
Photo: Josh Windass
After the meeting, the Americus Times Recorder spoke with George Allen, newly appointed director of public works for the City of Americus, about the sinkhole at the intersection of Bessie Mays Circle and Bill Cross Street, as well as the Russell Street sinkhole. “We don’t currently have any contracts for sinkholes,” Allen said. “We’re repairing some in-house and we’re still working on what’s the best route to take for the rest.” Allen went on to say there is a contract for Russell Street and the city is evaluating whether it’s feasible.
Allen added that there are sewer issues on Russell Street and stormwater issues on Bessie Mays Circle. “We are looking to repair the Bessie Mays issue in-house in the near future, and as for the Russell Street sewer situation, we are looking to assess the feasibility of completing it,” Allen said.
