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Summit discusses leisure tourism for Clay

Jesse Hollett
Posted 5/24/17

FLEMING ISLAND – Ask a non-resident to draw a picture of Clay County and 10 times out of nine, they’ll draw a blank.

Tourism officials want to change that perception, but it’s going to take …

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Summit discusses leisure tourism for Clay


Posted

FLEMING ISLAND – Ask a non-resident to draw a picture of Clay County and 10 times out of nine, they’ll draw a blank.

Tourism officials want to change that perception, but it’s going to take a bold entrance onto the regional and national stage and a concerted effort to give the county a face.

“We have no unified identity…I don’t even know that the consumer has a perception of us because we haven’t been out in the marketplace, and I think that’s the bigger opportunity,” said Kimberly Morgan, tourism director for Clay County.

To facilitate this, the county is currently engaged in a number of projects designed to break the ice between the county and the consumers the county wants to lure here.

“This is not an effort to make us something we’re not, but to tell people who we are and how do we want to be perceived,” she said.

Morgan held a tourism summit last Friday morning at the Thrasher-Horne Conference Center with local business leaders to help start a conversation on how best to adapt to the coming efforts.

Among the efforts is the finalization and presentation of the county’s new brand, a process that began last year through the Board of County Commissioners and the Clay Economic Development Corporation’s five-year plan to boost economic growth.

Jacksonville-based marketing agency Burdette Ketchum will present the results of its rebranding recommendations to the BCC next month, and with it, tourism officials hope will come the start of an influx of changes intended to capitalize on the county’s main draws.

Though the proposal is broad, the agency is tasked with imagining a logo for the county that encapsulates the county identity, identifying core audiences to draw and developing a marketing strategy that draws that audience.

The county is also looking to hire a full-time social media manager to implement a portion of these marketing efforts.

Morgan also hopes to increase the tourism department’s budget over time with a three percent bed tax hike and ramp up marketing spending by nearly 20 percent by next year. Of course, she conceded, that is her dream budget.

The tourism council is also working on a visitor profile. The idea is that if officials know who is coming into the county for events and leisure activities, then they can target that audience better. Morgan is also reaching out to businesses to create a monthly calendar of events so businesses can better plan their events and residents can better plan their weekends. Currently, the county’s calendar contains mainly library events and annual and county sponsored events.

“I think first our residents have to believe there are things to see and do here, and then secondly it’s really my job to make sure that the rest of the world knows what those things are,” Morgan said.