Tourism director in Jackson County’s future
Jackson County’s Tourism Development Authority will soon launch a search for a tourism director, a milestone for the newly minted countywide tourism agency.
The position will initially be a part-time, contracted position, with the possibility of becoming an in-house employee of the tourism authority down the road.
Whether to hire an executive director to carry out the marketing and promotions has been a lingering question since the countywide tourism authority was created two years ago.
Having someone in charge of executing all the day-to-day responsibilities of the tourism program has become increasingly necessary, said Robert Jumper, board chairman for the TDA. There is more work than the volunteer board members can carry out, and carry out well.
“A lot of those people are entrepreneurs in Jackson County who have hotels, so they’re busiest when we need them the most,” Jumper said.
Currently, the board is working on the person’s job description.
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“At least for the first year as we fine-tune that scope of work, we thought it would be in our best interest to make sure of the person and the job responsibilities before we entertain the possibility of a full-time employee,” explained Jumper.
The current scope of work would task the director with a host of responsibilities, ranging from providing overall vision and direction for the county’s tourism programs to building relationships with other agencies to managing the budget and legal agreements.
The TDA has not decided on a salary range. They have compiled a list of tourism director salaries for about 30 North Carolina counties to get an idea of the going rate and found that salaries are “all over the road.”
“Salary ranges from in the mid-$30,000 range to as high as $75,000,” Jumper said.
Jumper said the responses from applicants will determine in part what they pay.
“We want to see what the market says the work’s worth and then we’ll go from there,” he said.
