By the start of April, Buncombe County in Asheville, North Carolina saw its lodging sales regain the ground lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority now seeks to fan the flames of recovery with its biggest-ever annual marketing spend: more than $15 million (+55% from current budget). This marketing spend would be broken up into three main categories: advertising buys (at least $10.6 million), production of new content (just over $3 million) and research.

“We want to work on increasing length of stay, so that will reduce the wear and tear on infrastructure,” Isley said about the TDA’s advertising goals. “We want to work on influencing visitor behavior and dispersal, creating itineraries and experiences to motivate them to move throughout the county so that their physical attendance in our community — as well as their dollars represented — will be dispersed throughout the community better.”

Read more.