In an effort to get all on the same page, the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau presented some background at the recent Kiawah Island Town Council meeting on May 2.
Chris Campbell, VP of Strategy and External Affairs for the CVB, led the presentation. He started out introducing the CVB and summarizing their relationship with Kiawah Island specifically. Out of the 847 CVB members, 27 of those are Town of Kiawah Island businesses. Kiawah Island Town Council Member Bradley Belt is a part of their 32-member board of governors.
The CVB unifies and leads the local travel industry in promoting the community. They also create the highest yield visit for the community, and they support responsible development through tourism and related strategies.
Campbell stressed that they work to identify shared values to enhance a sense of place and quality of life, which makes them a destination marketing and management organization, not just marketing.
“What that means is that we recognize our efforts are equally important in promotion as they are in management in today’s world,” he said. “If we can’t focus effectively on sustainability, livability, preservation and workforce development, we won’t be able to protect this place we call home or this destination that is an important component of our economy.”
Campbell noted that visitors who spend the night on the island in either a vacation rental or a hotel will pay multiple taxes. These taxes are collected at the state, county and local level. “Kiawah Island will benefit from all of these,” he said.
The CVB helps to drive business and create a return and to generate the taxes. The CVB has a total budget of $26.1 million. Campbell said that 31% of that is from the state, 32% is from business investments and 37% is from accommodations taxes.
“All the work we do helps to build and sustain the tourism economy and destination promotion through a strategy of assessing opportunities, both from a regional lens, as well as from a local mindset,” Campbell said. “Our promotion efforts generate revenue for the economy on a local level. The return on investment for the community is driven through marketing, media and group sales.”
He identified six pillars that resonate most with visitors:
• History
• Culinary
• Family
• Outdoor
• Arts and Culture
• Shopping
He said that history and culinary are always rounding out the top of the list year after year. The CVB also employs a visitor planner on Kiawah Island, Nay Middleton, whom he described as a “great asset.” He also mentioned that Kiawah Island vacation rental performance is high. “We are doing better than many leading destinations, in not only the United States but in the world.”
Belt is the liaison to the CVB for the town. He explained that the state ATAX money they collect actually is required to go to the CVB.
“I want to make it clear that the state ATAX money we collect has to be spent within a period of time and has to go into one of four different categories under state law, and one of those is 30% into a special fund directed to a third party organization, if one exists like a chamber of commerce or a CVB,” he said. “So that is why we send the money to the CVB. It’s an obligation under state law.”
He added that he would like conversations with the CVB to continue. “I think there is an opportunity to have better information exchange between the CVB and the Town of Kiawah Island, particularly to benefit Kiawah residents. In some respects, Kiawah residents are tourists to the Charleston area when they spend their dollars there and there are a lot of events and programs that the CVB promotes that don’t always get communicated to us out here.”
The 2024 budget for the CVB was approved unanimously by Kiawah Island Town Council.