In 2013, VisitGreenvilleSC set out to solve a marketing conundrum centuries in the making.
More than 30 cities, towns and census designated places across the U.S. bear the name Greenville, or some close derivation — north and south, coast to coast. VisitGreenvilleSC, a nonprofit that exists to drive tourism, visitation and hospitality in the city and county, needed to separate South Carolina’s version from the pack.
It chose “Yeah, THAT Greenville” and leaned into the branding.
Much has changed since that moment. The cultural center of the Upstate now regularly appears on heady lists of best towns to visit or great places to eat. The surrounding region — bounded by the Blue Ridge mountains and big lakes — is booming as visitors and new residents alike pour into an area that has become increasingly fashionable for a range of reasons.
Homonymous headaches have faded. The top Google search return for Greenville is no longer in doubt. These days, it’s more “the” Greenville than “that.”
Ten years later, the time has come for a different tactic.
Research and revenue
“When we say Greenville today, there’s hardly ever a question of which Greenville,” said Heath Dillard, president and CEO of VisitGreenvilleSC. “It’s, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that Greenville. You guys have a lot going on.’”
On Sept. 28, during its annual meeting, the organization plans to announce an evolution of its brand, the details of which have been closely guarded. Dillard joined the organization in November 2022, but said the impending change in marketing and messaging doesn’t have anything to do with him being the new occupant in the brick-walled office on River Street.
“The research says now is the right time,” Dillard said. “It says the marketing campaign we’ve been deploying has been wildly successful. It was created at a time when Greenville was trying to stand out.”
The underlying numbers back the assertion.
While the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 disrupted tourism far and wide, current employment and revenue figures for the city and county reflect the long-term upward trend. The past fiscal year saw record numbers for hotel occupancy. Revenue from hotel rooms reached $314 million, a nearly 16% increase over the prior year. The hospitality industry in Greenville County employed about 50,700 as of June 2023, a 6.3% increase over the same month in 2022. More than 5.5 million visitors annually spend roughly $1.39 billion dollars.
The area has matured, Dillard said. The messaging should mature, too.
Organization
VisitGreenvilleSC was once known as the Greenville Convention and Visitors Bureau. It is funded primarily through state and local accommodations taxes and the city of Greenville. Led for 24 years by Chris Stone, who retired at the end of 2020, it turned 10 months ago to a new leader to capitalize on the current momentum and drive future potential.
Dillard is a Spartanburg native. He graduated from Broome High School, east of the city. His undergraduate degree is from the College of Charleston, and he has an MBA from UNC Charlotte. Prior to his return to the Upstate, he was director of insights for the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. In his 10 years there, he was involved with strategic planning, goal setting and sales. He also led customer experience strategy at the Charlotte Convention Center and NASCAR Hall of Fame.
His early career included five years working in minor league baseball with the Charlotte Knights, a Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. The “do anything and everything” approach stuck with him.
“I’ve been on sales calls trying to sell advertising, and I’ve had to hang the phone up and roll the tarp out to protect the dirt before a coming rainstorm,” Dillard said. “It was really good practice about every area of a small business.”
Greenville is one of the few places that could have lured him away from Charlotte. His wife, a teacher, is also from Spartanburg. They have three boys — a 10-year-old and twin 6-year-olds — and moving closer to their grandparents was a selling point.
“From my point of view,” Dillard said, “it’s been a match made in heaven.”
Beth Paul is general manager of Bon Secours Wellness Arena in downtown Greenville, among the region’s largest entertainment and tourism draws. She also chairs the VisitGreenvilleSC board of directors’ executive committee. Her assessment of the last 10 months matches Dillard’s.
“He has a passion for Greenville, a passion for the employees of VGSC,” Paul said. “He has a grand vision of what the organization can do both in the short term and long term, and I think he is just what the organization needed to be successful.”
Missing pieces
Part of that grand vision includes a clear view of what remains missing in the Greenville area.
Greenville County is short on facilities that can accommodate large-scale youth-sports events. Dillard termed the sports tourism sector as relatively recession-proof. The year-round nature of sports can keep hotels full during times when traditional visitation is in a lull.
Young athletes often travel with entire families for the full weekend. Put another way: “My sons are only going to be 6 and 10 once,” Dillard said.
Another gap is the long-considered downtown conference center proposed for a vacant piece of land bordered by River and Academy streets, though other sites have been discussed. The state has already allocated $24 million toward a future facility, which would be supplemented by city and county funding.
However, what was once considered a primarily public venture is more likely to travel the path of a public-private partnership.
“What we really need in Greenville to get the scale right is a conference center hotel concept, and put more of the onus on the private sector,” Mayor Knox White said recently during a Greenville Chamber event. “Let it be privately managed.”
The Greenville Convention Center, located near the Greenville Downtown Airport along North Pleasantburg Drive, can host large events but is a few miles away from the city center and its abundant hotel and dining options. The city is on the cusp of reviewing a significant new plan for the surrounding Airport District to address amenities, improve the sense of community and better connect it to downtown.
Dillard sees both the existing convention center and the proposed downtown conference center as essential to future success.
“I don’t see them as competitive. I see them as additive,” he said. “It gives us another opportunity to add to the travel profile of Greenville.”
Culture vs. logistics
Additive isn’t just a buzzword. Assets play a major role in landing clients. Dillard said attracting large conferences to Charlotte was the inverse of Greenville.
Charlotte leaned into its ability to provide abundant travel options and large blocks of rooms in individual hotels. However, it wasn’t as easy to convince event planners their attendees would have a great time.
Greenville offers the opposite. The visitor experience is the selling point, while the logistics can be more challenging. The area has few hotels with 200 rooms or more. Large conferences might need to make deals with several hotels, which carries additional risk and complication.
Dillard accepts the trade-off.
“The culinary here, despite being much smaller than Charlotte, is as good as anybody we can show our clients,” Dillard said. “It’s phenomenal to have such a high number, in a concentrated area, of locally owned, diverse culinary options. That surprises a lot of people when we get them here.”
He also pointed to the cultural scene as a draw and applauded the work of the Metropolitan Arts Council in supporting a robust collection of artists and performers. Major concert and sports venues — the Peace Center, Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Fluor Field — are downtown and in easy walking distance of hotels and restaurants. Add the natural wonders to the north, and it’s a package heavy on experiences.
According to Dillard, the conversion rate on sales efforts more than doubles when planners and decision-makers come for site visits.
“The hardest part of our job is taking the essence of what Greenville is and succinctly describing it to people,” he said.
What’s next
The annual meeting for members, partners and officials Sept. 28 carries with it the feel of a next chapter for the people tasked with selling Greenville.
Whatever the branding, Dillard sees the role of VisitGreenvilleSC as more than pitching planners and packing hotels.
“I really do believe that tourism can be the front porch for broader economic development,” Dillard said. “Broad economic growth. Broader quality of life, if it’s leveraged that way.”
By the numbers
50.7K — Employees in the hospitality industry in Greenville County as of June 2023.
$314M — Hotel room revenue generated during the 2023 fiscal year.
2.7M — Hotel rooms sold during the 2023 fiscal year.
11% — Increase in spending across Greenville County this year, according to hospitality tax data collected through May.
Source: VisitGreenvilleSC
Annual visitation
1.39B in visitor spending
5.5 million visitors
Source: VisitGreenvilleSC, Greenville Chamber
VisitGreenvilleSC goals and objectives
As listed on visitgreenvillesc.com, they are to:
- Lead and foster the growth and sustainability of Greenville’s travel and tourism industry
- Increase demand and revenues on behalf of Greenville area hotels, restaurants, retail, airports, attractions, recreational amenities, festivals and more
- Increase occupancy rates for Greenville area accommodations
- Increase visitor spending throughout the greater Greenville area
Source: VisitGreenvilleSC
