EP 72: Dreaming Big in Small Towns
Cities and towns so good that vacations become permanent stays. On this episode of Municipal Equation, we talk with VisitNC, the state's promotional and tourism outfit, about its Dream Big in Small Town NC initiative, which aims to connect travelers with the state's alluring small towns -- places so great they're hard to leave, and that's the idea.
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Transcript
This episode of Municipal Equation is brought to you by MedCost. MedCost balances the care of your employees with the financial health of your local government by offering flexible administration, best in class care management, cost containment strategies, health and wellness programs, access to a broad provider network, and exceptional customer service. MedCost. This is Municipal Equation from the North Carolina League of Municipalities. Welcome to another episode of Municipal Equation, the podcast from the North Carolina League of Municipalities focusing on cities and towns adapting to change. And you'll recall in the last episode, we heard from Mayor Cradle of the small town of Weldon, North Carolina, on that town's efforts to bring in tourism and new residents. A river touches the community of Weldon, and that's a natural asset that can be tied in with local visitorship. Well, on this episode, we're expanding on that with a look at a state level effort to give this kind of thing a framework, bringing people in, visitors with spending money, specifically in communities that have lost population. And looking at the census data from 2020, that's occurred in rural communities that do have a lot to offer. Let me read something real quick. Quote, scenic views, paths less traveled, charming communities, local favorites. There's a reason you seek out hidden gems for vacations and North Carolina has some of the best. But why stop at vacation? With more flexibility and live work options these days, your favorite getaway can become your everyday. Come experience small town NC life, and you might just want to extend your visit permanently. What I read right there is off the website of visit n c, which promotes North Carolina and its varied communities and regions, mountains to the coast. And what they've got going on right now is a special project called dream big in small town n c. Dream big in small town n c. And that's to specifically connect people with small town North Carolina, places like Weldon, to get people to see the real potential, visit it, enjoy, and maybe fall in love with it. A place again, for example, like Weldon, which VisitNC is helping to promote specifically as a place to check out. The idea is, or part of the idea anyway, is if people see the town and enjoy it that much and experience it, they can realize the twenty first century potential of enjoying the advantages of a beautiful small town while, where high speed internet is available, you can work from there too. Speaking in the context of what a lot of people do these days, you know, your job is in the big city, but remote working potential makes it so that you can enjoy small town n c as your environment for that work, just for example. And I know these are things we think about already, but what visit NC has done with this dream big and small town NC initiative is actually partner with Airbnb to award lucky winners prizes that make the visit a pretty good deal. Like a thousand dollar Airbnb stay voucher for the winner to use to experience a small town stay. They've got other prizes as well, like spending money for travel and to buy things at local shops and attractions. This is how Visit NC wants to get people thinking. They say, quote, when you can live and work from anywhere, every trip can be a test drive, end quote. You might just find the town you fall in love with and wanna call home one day. People can enter this contest at visitnc.com/dreambig. Again, visitnc.com/dreambig, where there's also information about the program. But rather than just read it to you, I want to have a conversation with visit n c and learn more about it all.
So I am Whit Tuttle. I am the VP of tourism for the economic development partnership in North Carolina, and our branch of that partnership is called Visit NC. It's the state's tourism promotion office, and I direct those efforts. Could you maybe explain a little bit more about what Visit NC does? Is this,
an historic organization, or what what are some of the basic functions of VisitNC?
Yeah. So VisitNC, we're the state's tourism promotion office. We used to be the part of the Department of Commerce, part of state government. We were privatized about eight years ago, and we now are a private nonprofit, part of the Economic Development Partnership in North Carolina, and we contract with the Department of Commerce to essentially do the same role we did before, which is, trying to encourage tourism to the state. So just about every county in the state has a local tourism office, either a tourism development authority. Typically, they're convention and visitors bureaus. Mhmm. Sometimes that's run by the Chamber of Commerce. They collect an occupancy tax on commercial lodgings, and that's used to try and get visitors to come here. So we try and help them to get more visitors to come here, particularly ones from out of state, because visitors come and they spend money and they, bring money into our economy, and that helps us all get jobs and keep North Carolinians employed.
So what does that kind of outreach look like when you're reaching out to is this TV commercials, magazine advertisements, or how do we reach people?
Yeah. Typically, the the vast majority of our program is cooperative marketing opportunities. So what we try and help the local tourism offices do is is buy those ads in regional or national outlets, and we do it in a cooperative way so that it buys down the cost for a lot of them, to participate. Plus, then we're in sort of a package together that has more emphasis, on the state. And typically, where it's really valuable is things like digital media. A lot of the buys on things like TripAdvisor or or different programs where where our partners want to get, they have minimum spend requirements. And a lot of the smaller areas can't hit those minimums. But if we can go in as a group,
the group will cover the minimums, and then everybody will get will get to participate. See, that that's cool because, you know, one of the things that we, of course, love at the League of Municipalities and what I love personally is connecting with a lot of the, there's there's a lot out there. There's a lot, you know, 540, 550 municipalities. A lot are new to a lot of people, and they have this hidden gem kind of quality. So is is this something that you guys are kind of pointing people toward,
the sort of asset of small towns and natural amenities that we have? Oh, exactly. You know, I think that's what people are really looking for, in a vacation experience these days. They're looking for authenticity. They're looking for uniqueness, distinctness. And a lot of times you find that in a small town. The trouble is the small towns don't have the don't have the, you know, the advertising power to get to these consumers, so So we're trying to help them do that. We try and do every every program we do, we try and make it where anybody in the state can play with us, you know, from the largest tourism destinations, from Asheville, the Outer Banks, those kind of guys, to the smallest. We we wanna we wanna make make it something for everybody.
So, on the last episode of the podcast, we had mayor, Cradle from Weldon, North Carolina, and that's one of the towns I I believe is implicated or participating in what's called the dream big and small town NC initiative.
What is that? Is that part of visit NC, or what what are we talking about with that? Yeah. So that was this is a great pilot program that the North Carolina legislature started, and they enlisted us to to run the program. It's called the rural tourism recovery pilot program, and it was assigned through the Department of Commerce. And the idea there is to to bring visitation and potential workforce to some of these rural counties in North Carolina that have lost population. So it was a really interesting concept that came from the legislature, and they asked us to basically run the program for them. And we thought a rural tourism recovery pilot program was a bit of a mouthful, so as marketing people, we turned it into dream big in small town North Carolina.
And so is this something where the state engages directly with the the leadership
of certain towns, or how does that work? Yeah. So the idea is, they've given us some funding to go out and do a cooperative marketing program, for these 16 counties. They're they're they're 16 counties that have all lost population. They're in rural areas. We've kinda subdivided them into three, three little, divisions. One, we call the scenic North Carolina Mountains, one, we call the Northeast Lakes And Rivers, and the other, we call the Inner Banks. And we're kinda trying to market them together, to, you know, to give you more to see and more to do, more to put into the packages. So we've developed these campaigns that we're running, for those areas, and we're trying to do some outreach and engage, with those partners to find out what's unique, what's distinct, what what things they have there for visitors. And then we're gonna promote them, through marketing and advertising. We've also done a partnership with Airbnb, to get some sweet steaks going and, and try and encourage more people to, to host people through Airbnb and to to get that moving as well.
Yeah. See see, that seems like a really important piece because accommodations have to be, you know, kind of part of the equation when it comes to, luring people in and wanting people to stay and spend time and money in your town. You know, they they gotta have a place to stay, and not every small town has, is right off the interstate with the Hampton Inn, for example. So The biggest way to get spend into your county everybody wants to get spend. Right? They want visitors to come and and leave those dollars,
in your economy. And what we see is if you get someone to stay overnight, they're spending vastly increases. So the goal is to get them to stay the night. But, unfortunately, for a lot of these rural areas, they don't have the commercial lodgings. They They don't have the the little hotels, and they're probably not going to get them. It's a chicken and egg thing. They're not gonna the, you know, commercial lodging operators aren't going to invest in those areas unless they see that that business there. But you're not gonna get the business there until there's a place to stay. So we're hoping that, by working with Airbnb and we're doing these, Airbnb academies where we're we're showing people how they can host, how they can do that, we're hoping that we can help expand the amount of lodging available in these little towns and rural areas to get people to come stay the night and therefore spend a lot more in those areas.
So the 16 counties that were identified, was this after the recent
census results? Is is that kind of what figured into some of this? Or Yeah. I think the legislature looked at the census and and looked for counties that specifically had lost population. And so so the idea is to kinda help them economically by by getting visitor spend, but, also, we're trying to encourage people to to come to these areas and think about them as places to to live and work and and stay. You know, it's sort of this idea of come and have a good time, but then maybe stick around.
Yeah. Yeah. So in in collecting information about the sort of unique qualities, assets that, small towns have, it it also seems like, in rural towns, it seems like something that would be kind of like a good self auditing kind of thing too, where it kind of helps us to kind of understand, you know, this is what we've got on the ground right now. Maybe this is what would help us in the future. It seems like a good way to kind of organize the the mind frame of of tourism and visitorship.
Yeah. I think so. And I think, you know, what we've seen throughout the state is what the visitor want is is is what residents want as well. So if you can, you know, identify that, hey. Maybe my community is missing a certain thing, and that would help attract visitors. That's probably also gonna help you attract residents or hold on to the residents you have, you know, and give them those amenities that that they're looking at. Because so many times, tourism is is the first step to to, you know, to people coming and staying, and and the reason people wanna visit a place is is the same reason people wanna live there.
So how far along is, the program at this point? And how are you measuring what the successes are? And I know sometimes success is kind of hard to quantify, but what are you looking for? Doctor. Yeah. So we're still really in the beginning stages of the program. Unfortunately, it was delayed.
The funding that initially was authorized for it was was recovery funding, and there were issues accessing that. So we're really just starting. We've identified the counties. Now we're trying to get everybody together and build up that list of assets so we can market to it. We've enlisted Airbnb as a partner. They've done a great job. We've built some websites to promote the areas, but we really haven't put a lot of that, advertising punch behind it yet. And we don't wanna do that before we get the partners truly engaged, to make sure we're we're promoting what they wanna promote and we've got them on board with it. So we're really just in the beginning stages, but it's it's gonna be an exciting year coming forward. How will we measure the success of the campaign? We have a lot of metrics we can look at. We'll look at the the number of visitors to our website. We're also working with the the local communities to put up job postings on the site as well. So one of the ways things we're gonna measure as a way of success is to see how many people go there and actually, decide to live there and take jobs and apply for jobs there. We'll also since we've got Airbnb as a partner, we can look at how many people are are booking the Airbnbs, coming through the program. So we've got a lot of good metrics that we can decide, how this program works and and look at ways to refine it once we get it going. Well, is there anything I didn't ask about?
There are a lot of things I didn't ask about the program, but is there anything that, that really stands out that that you think is important? Maybe any unique aspects of it?
I think the key for us is that, we want these partners to engage with us and and get them thinking of tourism as economic development. What we found, is that in a lot of cases, the the the tourism efforts aren't really linked with the with the economic development efforts. And so, we're hoping this is gonna help put those together because, you know, as I said, what what the visitor wants is what residents wants as well. And, and that way, it'll help people, get these people to to take the jobs that are available and and help these communities grow. So I think that's probably the most exciting thing about it for us is is getting a chance to to get in there into these communities and and work with them, to unite the the marketing efforts that they're doing.
It it's pretty neat because, I mean, on a a personal note, and I've said this on the podcast in previous episodes, I mean, I I I really enjoy the small towns of North Carolina and discovering them and trying to pick one that I've never been to and just, you know, drive through it, walk through it, see what it looks like, bring my camera, photograph the downtown if you know, just try to pick up on the charm and and and see what it is without the town directly telling me what it is. And and and being able to kinda see that and and and experience the color and kinda pick up a vibe of of of the people, and maybe there's a river going through it. I mean, yeah, you can kinda start to put the pieces in your head and imagine it it has beautiful amenities. It has it has people. There there's industry here, but, but maybe the tourism piece hasn't always flown alongside with the the economic plan. And if you look at a city like Wilmington, you know, it's like the tourism is that's the money. And and, yes, they have the Cape Fear River, but, you know, that that's that's kind of the point is is identifying these these bits of charm that you might have that might bring people and just seems like a fun challenge to kinda sort out.
Yeah. It's it's I think it's a fascinating thing to do. And, you know, I think you're right. North Carolina has so many of these unique little towns. They each have their own story. They each have their own history. They're all really distinct. And I think, you know, if we can bring that out and showcase that to people, they're going to find a lot that they like about these little towns. And, and now as broadband has expanded and there's an ability to work remotely, I think it's a golden time for these communities to really, make themselves known and make themselves attractive to these these next generation of workers that can really will be able to will be able to work from anywhere. And so they can pick where they live, and they're they're gonna pick it because of what the town is and what they're all about, not because of, you know, necessarily the jobs that are there.
That's that's such an important piece. I I personally picked, Smithfield. I I work in Raleigh with the league, but, you know, Smithfield's not too terribly far if I need to drive in. But it's also you know, we have twenty first century access, in a lot of places. You know, broadband isn't, as as far spread as we'd love to see it yet. But once you once you have again, this kinda goes back to identifying maybe what you need to make, to to add a sense of permanency to to people on the outside and, get people thinking, you know, this is a place where I could actually live. It's maybe more affordable to live here, but I still have access to, you know, something down the interstate. And smaller towns are a lot bigger and better than sometimes people, I think, come to on first instinct when they try to think it through. And it's it's exciting to see programs like this that I I think kinda help in, kind of filling in some of those gaps and getting people to kind of imagine here where things go. And, for anybody listening who wants to learn more about the program,
is there a website, or where do people learn more? Yeah. So the best place to go would be visit nc.com/dreambig. You can also just Google dream big in small town NC, and you'll find the Airbnb site there as well.
Well, thank you so much for your time. I mean, this has been a lot of fun to talk about, and again, this is the kind of thing where, you know, it's it's cool to get people involved and get people's, you know, heads kind of thinking. And I I know we're all kind of doing that one way or the other, but seeing an organized effort that does focus on some of the areas that have lost population that, you know, are still very cool, are still, you know, very charming, still have and sometimes, you know, charming kinda seems like a throwaway word, you know, like you kinda have to use that for a rural area. But, I mean, really, these are really cool places, and it's, it's cool to see them get on the map in a new way.
Oh, I definitely think so. I think North Carolina has an amazing amount of really interesting towns that people are gonna love to learn about. We just have to show them the way.
Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Even just from a thinking standpoint, this is a specific program designed to benefit small town NC, but it's also, like we've said, another angle on thinking about how we can rebound, bring in outside money, become a new home for people who really like what our town has to offer. Particularly with this twenty first century advantage where available of having global employment power over the Internet. If you have any feedback on this, I'd love to hear it from you. You can send me, Ben Brown, an email, and that's bbrown@nclm.org. You can also send me your own ideas for episodes of Municipal Equation, the podcast about cities and towns adapting to change. Again, bbrown@nclm.org. NCLM stands for North Carolina League of Municipalities, working as one, advancing all. N cl m dot o r g. And thanks, everyone. We will keep the talk going in the meantime. This is Ben Brown.