Haywood tourism authority to hire new position
The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority plans to grow its staff to five as it dives into reviewing applications for a new group sales manager.
The goal for the position, Executive Director Lynn Collins said, is to actively court groups who want to host family reunions, destination weddings, motorcycle conventions, dog shows — or any other kind of group event — in Haywood County.
“The TDA has always focused on leisure travel, and we’re just branching out to focus on another market,” Collins said.
The new person would be starting the program from the ground up, building relationships with trip planners, working with local partners such as Lake Junaluska and the Waynesville Inn Golf Resort and Spa and determining specific ways to market to different types of groups.
“This is a long-term thing,” Collins said. “In our strategic plan, we say group destination sales is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to develop relationships that are necessary for success.”
Most trip planners, Collins said, book two to four years in advance, so it could be a while before Haywood County reaps the fruits of the new position.
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Still, she believes that the position will pay off in the end, putting more heads in beds to produce more income for businesspeople in the region and, in turn, creating greater revenue from the 4-cent room tax that funds the TDA’s budget.
“Anytime you can bring more folks in and fill up more rooms and have more people shopping and eating in our restaurants — and once you bring them here in that capacity maybe they want to bring their family back,” Collins said.
Collins said the TDA is still sifting through incoming applications but hopes to make a hire within the next month. Pay will depend on qualifications, Collins said, but she expects the position will command a salary between $40,000 and $50,000.
She’s looking forward to the increased staffing that will allow the TDA to be more proactive about going after the group market than it has in the past.
“When people have contacted us, we have certainly gone out and helped them and gotten them booked, but we have not had the staff to go out and solicit the business to date,” she said.
