The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority is in the midst of overhauling its old marketing strategy and developing a new plan including a brand image to attract tourists, but some TDA board members are questioning whether the new process is working.

“We don’t have direction. We need to know we are developing tourism and travel and are moving forward in some direction rather than just running ads in publications and printing brochures,” said Wade Reece, a TDA member and owner of Quality Inn in Maggie Valley. “We have no marketing plan to hang our hat on that says ‘this is how we should spend our money.’”

The TDA collected $621,000 in room tax dollars last fiscal year and is charged with spending those dollars to attract more tourists.

Meanwhile, Reece is also questioning the money being spent on an ad agency hired to develop a new marketing plan. The TDA typically buys $185,000 of advertising a year in magazines. This year, they are only buying $110,000 worth of ads and are instead spending more on branding, marketing strategy and research.

“That’s a slap in the face of every hotel owner in town,” Reece said of the small amount spent advertising.

TDA director Scotty Ellis said the board voted to hire the ad agency and invest in the marketing process, even if it meant spending less on actual ads this year.

“You have to have branding, you have to have a marketing plan, and in order to do that you have to have research. They (the ad agency) believe you have to follow a process to get to an end,” said Ellis. “Folks within the tourism industry and community wanted a marketing plan and wanted to see if we were doing research that directed how we made these decisions. So the board liked this process.”

Dale Walksler, a TDA member and owner of Wheels Through Time museum in Maggie Valley, questioned whether the process has been productive, however.

“Personally I feel like it was less than a fulfilling experience,” Walksler said of the half-day brainstorming workshop intended to develop a brand for Haywood County. Walksler said the TDA has done a cursory job at best in identifying its target market, witnessed by the lack of emphasis on the motorcycle sector.

Who gets a say?

Asheville’s tourism authority recently spent 18 months and more than $100,000 developing a brand. Their process included several public input sessions.

“We invited people to the table that represented a broad range of the tourism industry — restaurants, accommodations, attractions and people who are impacted by tourism. They also provided a lot of input when it came to what Asheville is about in their eyes,” said Marla Tambellini, assistant vice president of the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is part of their Tourism Development Authority. “We wanted to ensure we got broad representation and participation.”

In contrast, Haywood County’s TDA currently has no plans to invite other tourism stakeholders to help develop a new direction for attracting more tourists. Some board members said they were hesitant about extending invitations to certain tourism operators and not everyone.

“How would you do that and not piss everybody off?” Reece said. Reece said the best strategy is to have a standing invitation.

When the TDA board held a half-day brainstorming exercise, they did not announce the workshop to the tourism community or invite key players in the tourism industry to help come up with a brand image of Haywood County.

“It’s not that they aren’t invited,” said Sonja Michaels, TDA member and lodging owner in Maggie Valley. Michaels said all the TDA’s meetings are open and anyone can participate anytime.

Ellis said it is not too late to involve other tourism operators in developing a new strategy.

“You must have the buy-in of those you represent. I think we should make an effort to involve other stakeholders,” Ellis said.

Walksler said it is a mixed bag.

“Dealing with stakeholders has some value, but there are a lot of ‘if’s’ involved. The biggest if is who the stakeholders should be,” Walksler said.

Out of the nine TDA members, seven run hotels, motels or represent the lodging industry. Seven of the nine are from Maggie Valley. None are from downtown Waynesville or within Waynesville’s town limits.

“The county commissioners are the ones that set the mix of this board,” said Ken Stahl, owner of Motel 8 and one of the two TDA members not from Maggie Valley. “The board is not perfect in its total representation of the county.”

The make up of the TDA board is currently set at six lodging representatives and three tourism-related business representatives. But when the Haywood County commissioners made their appointments earlier this year, they appointed Reece, owner of Quality Inn in Maggie Valley, to one of the seats reserved for a tourism-related business representative. Reece also owns Smoky Mountain Living magazine.

But some lodging owners feel since their industry has a greater role and sacrifice in collecting the tax, they are more entitled to a voice.

“It is time the board stepped up and became accountable for all the money being given to it by the hotels and motels in the county,” Reece said. “If I wasn’t paying it to the TDA, I could keep that three percent.” Reece said he could raise his rates if it weren’t for the 3 percent tax.