Conversations
A Conversation with Miriam Atria, President and CEO of Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board
MidlandsBiz:
What is your background and how did you become involved in the tourism business?
Miriam Atria:
Early in my career, I worked in marketing and training for a large insurance brokerage firm Charlotte, NC. In 1979 I was offered an opportunity to utilize my marketing skills and create a marketing and sales trainee program for BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and worked there for five years. In the early 1980's, I heard about a new organization that the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism (SCPRT) was putting together with a group of local marina owners to help promote tourism in this region and thought it would be a perfect fit for me. To this day, I feel fortunate that I was given the opportunity to lead this organization and to promote this wonderful region of the state.
MidlandsBiz:
What is your mission and how are you funded?
Miriam Atria:
Today we are known as Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board (CCLMC), one of the state's 11 regional tourism offices. Our mission is to develop strategic marketing initiatives to increase tourism and economic growth in Newberry, Saluda, Lexington, and Richland counties. Our focus is primarily on the leisure traveler and vacationing families. We started in 1983 with a $45,000 annual budget; today, we operate a $1.1 M a year organization with 7 employees.
We are funded through an appropriation grant through SC PRT and also apply for accommodation and hospitality tax funds from the four counties we promote. We also raise funds through advertising and membership services and private donations. CCLMC raises over 40% of its budget through tourism related projects and events that the organization has created and/or sponsored.
MidlandsBiz:
What are the region's greatest assets for the leisure traveler?
Miriam Atria:
14 museums, golfing, shopping, fishing, great restaurants, camping, water skiing, the incredible natural phenomena that is the purple martins, a world class zoo and other unique attractions – this region has a wealth of unique assets. Pictures of boating, fishing, water skiing, kayaking and swimming tend to generate the highest number of inquiries for us. Water attracts, and this region boasts not just a beautiful lake, but also three rivers. Events such as the Forrest Wood Cup, the FLW Outdoors fishing tournament that we hosted in August 2008, bring incredible national and international exposure to Columbia. National media coverage exposed Lake Murray to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States when the show aired in 2008. This May, we are hosting the Carolina Team Anglers' Trail with over 600 fishing participants. CCLMC has several other tournament events coming up on their calendar for next year which can not be publically announced which will bring even more national coverage. Lake Murray is putting this region on the map nationally. We just need to be out there – all the time – marketing this region and all it has to offer to our potential customers.
MidlandsBiz:
What are you doing to market this region in 2010?
Miriam Atria:
As South Carolina's tourism industry approaches summer tourist season, the CCLMC's regional tourism program has geared up its marketing efforts to sell visitors on coming to this region for vacations.
In February, at the SC Governor's Conference on Tourism, the SC Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism unveiled its new "South Carolina…Made for Vacation" campaign. The campaign, which launched in March, consists of television and online advertising in markets east of the Mississippi River, including eight targeted spots (New York, Philadelphia, Orlando, Washington, DC, Charlotte, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Chicago).
The Columbia/Lake Murray Country region was given a unique opportunity to partner with the state's tourism marketing efforts. We have committed marketing dollars to this campaign as it provides national television exposure at an affordable rate as well as digital impressions on the CBS affiliated sites. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase Columbia and the Lake Murray Country region as a vacation destination.
In conjunction with the television ad campaign, the state tourism office created an "experiential" marketing presence through a "Vacation Station" at the major malls in Atlanta (Lenox Square Mall), Philadelphia (King of Prussia Mall) and Washington (Pentagon City). The Vacation Station provides consumers with interactive experiences and video airings highlighting the South Carolina Made for Vacation ad as well as destination ads from Charleston and Columbia.
The message in the television ad from Capital City/Lake Murray Country sells the viewer on all that Columbia and the Lake Murray Country region has to offer for vacationing families. The ad also provides a call to action leading visitors to the region's leisure visitor website, www.lakemurraycountry.com. Various vacation packages have been placed on the website to lure visitors to this region.
MidlandsBiz:
What are the challenges that you face in promoting this region?
Miriam Atria:
To some extent, the community's perception is still that Columbia is a government, university and business town, but attitudes have changed tremendously over the past decade. Over 1.3 million people have come to this region to experience the lake; over 30,000 people just to see the purple martins!
There is also a local perception that Lake Murray is exclusively for private residences, but yet, we have over 300 rooms and cabins that people can rent directly on Lake Murray. Spinner's Resort has a great restaurant with outdoor dining, boats that visitors can rent, and five cottages on the lake with access to a sandy beach. There are numerous home sites that people can rent and Dreher Island offers camping and cabins directly on the lake. Many of the islands on the lake are open to the public for basic camping overnight. Lake Murray is not just for those who live on the lake.
Still, the lack of a major resort on the lake is one of the biggest challenges that we face in promoting this region. Building a high end resort was one of the recommendations that came out of a recent SCPRT study that looked to identify the missing links in this region's tourism strategy. A resort would turn us into a premier wedding destination; it would be literally transformative for this region. Locations currently exist where weddings can take place on the lake, but none has access to a full service facility to handle food and lodging for large wedding parties. Can you imagine a resort on the lake that offered a chapel right on the water?
MidlandsBiz:
Are there current plans for a resort?
Miriam Atria:
While I remain confident that we will eventually have a high-end resort on Lake Murray, none is currently in the works. The main obstacle is not a lack of available options for locating a resort, but rather the tight financial markets. When we do build a resort, residents on the lake will be surprised at the positive effect it will have on their property values.
MidlandsBiz:
What other opportunities exist for this region?
Miriam Atria:
We need to take better advantage of the economic engine that retirees represent for economic development. This October, we will be hosting the National Active Retirees Association (NARA) conference, an event that normally goes to Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head Island. This will be a great opportunity for Columbia to showcase all that we have to offer to this growing and important demographic. Retirees have money in their pockets and are proven supporters of a broad range of local activities from the arts to restaurants.
