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New roadmap for local tourism unveiled

By Wesley LeBlanc
Posted 8/29/18

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – If fully put in place, a new strategic plan for the local tourism sector is set to take Clay County to new heights.

Nashville-based North Star Destination Strategies …

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New roadmap for local tourism unveiled


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – If fully put in place, a new strategic plan for the local tourism sector is set to take Clay County to new heights.

Nashville-based North Star Destination Strategies presented the plan Aug. 22 at a Tourist Development Council.

Over the summer, John Whisenant of North Star Destination Strategies conducted several community-outreach meetings where interested parties and residents met and discussed the aspects of Clay County that currently makes it unique. Some of the most popular responses included the area’s access to the St. Johns River, the county’s ecosystem-based activities such as hiking and overall and the small-town USA feel.

“I took all of the information back, crunched all of that information, crunched all of the research provided to me by [Clay County Director of Tourism Kimberly Morgan]...and everything within the strategic plan is based on that research,” Whisenant said.

After conducting his tour around the county, Whisenant returned home to review what he had learned, with the goal to return later with a strategic plan based on his findings.

Whisenant’s 75-page report first broke down Clay County’s weaknesses, the greatest opportunities within and the largest looming threats.

The weaknesses were traffic and infrastructure, as well as the lack of public transportation. Of those, he found the lack of public transportation, especially for visitors, to be the most glaring weakness. According to Whisenant, an area’s tourism can end at that point, especially if visitors don’t have a way to get around easily, they might not ever return.

Despite that lack of public transportation, Whisenant said Clay County is primed to expand its tourism industry with the completion of the First Coast Expressway, which will not only lessen the impact of the weaknesses in the county’s infrastructure and resulting traffic but will give passersby an easy way to get here.

Whisenant said that the county should consider exploring a sports complex of sorts, akin to something like that found in Lake City or Disney’s Wide World of Sports. Whisenant said these complexes can bring in hundreds of people in that not only are the athletes going to be coming to the county, but they’ll bring their friends and families to watch as well.

“...and all of those people need a place to eat and to sleep,” Whisenant said.

Whisenant said a threat is the possible loss of the small-town feel and how that could happen if the county doesn’t work to preserve it.

“People need to see reasons to actually stop in Clay County instead of just passing by,” Whisenant said.

From here, Whisenant spent the next two hours dissecting the moves he believes Clay County’s tourism sector needs to make to elevate itself as a viable sector of the area’s economy. He first began by reading a proposed Clay County destination vision statement, which Whisenant believed best summed up what the area’s tourism should stand for.

“Clay County is the destination of choice for visitors seeking a unique Florida experience: charming small towns, abundant natural and cultural resources, outstanding recreational opportunities, and welcoming and friendly people,” the proposed vision statement read.

“That’s what you want Clay County to be in the visitor’s mind,” Whisenant said. “It also explains that you are a destination of choice. You’re not just an add-on, not just a, ‘well, we’re on our way from Jacksonville to St. Augustine so we might as well drive through Clay County,’. You want to be a destination of choice.”

To bring the plan to life, Whisenant presented actions to make it all happen. The first step is to acquire the services of an agency of record, or basically, marketers. Instead of relying internally to get the word out, Whisenant said the TDC needs to hire a dedicated set of people who will work to market Clay County as a destination for people to visit. Alongside that, Whisenant said the TDC needs a comprehensive and annual marketing plan to not only keep the county’s tourism marketing in check and focused, but also to ensure that yearly goals are being met. And finally, Whisenant said the TDC simply needs to spend more money on advertising.

Aside from marketing, Whisenant gave the TDC some goals he believes they need to hit. The first is more staff. Currently, it’s essentially just Morgan working full-time on area tourism. With added help, naturally, more can get done. From there, the county’s tourism sector needs to work more closely with media and influencers, according to Whisenant.

Along with this, he said the county needs a greater social media presence and should adopt something along the lines of an electronic newsletter to let people outside of Clay County know what’s happening here.

“All of these things work together to get the word out about Clay County,” Whisenant said.

TDC Chairman, County Commissioner Mike Cella first asked if Clay County even has enough to market, to which Whisenant responded with a resounding yes. From there, members of the TDC, such as Orange Park Council Member Connie Thomas, suggested things Clay County could add to advance its tourism sector. She suggested the creation of an Old Florida tour that would take guests from Clay County to St. Augustine and all the way to Winter Park.

“We really are the gateway for that entire scenic tour,” Thomas said. “We need to meet with neighboring communities and say, “I think we have a brand here that together, we can really develop.’”

Whisenant responded by saying that in Tennessee, there’s a tour just like the one Thomas mentioned and it is a major driving force for tourists to visit. The conversation took a turn when TDC member Bob Olson asked Whisenant if Clay County’s tourism is tourist-driven or visitor-driven. Whisenant and everyone else on the TDC agreed that the county is visitor-driven and because of that, needs to appeal to those passing through.

“They need hooks to keep them here for some time,” Whisenant said.

When the discussion ended, the council decided that instead of voting to approve the draft at the meeting, they would spend the next few months – the next TDC meeting is in October – reading through the massive strategic plan draft and come back at a later time to decide officially what to do with it.