Home / Business and Economy / Haywood Recovers: Tourism Campaign Saves Summer
Haywood Recovers: Tourism Campaign Saves Summer
11 Dec
Summary
- Tourism collapse averted by a swift, three-month campaign.
- Campaign spent $70,000, generating $532,000 in lodging revenue.
- Haywood saw a larger positive tourism swing than other WNC counties.
Faced with concerning booking trends for the 2025 summer tourism season, Haywood County's tourism leaders initiated an aggressive, last-minute campaign to salvage the season. Six months after a significant storm, potential visitors still perceived the area as closed for business, leading to a projected 20% drop in overnight bookings compared to the previous year. This decline was particularly alarming as Haywood was pacing behind its neighboring counties.
The "Open skies. Open roads. Open Haywood." campaign was conceived and launched in under a month. It featured a specially commissioned song by bluegrass musician Buddy Melton, a rewards program called "Elk Bucks" incentivizing longer stays, and a substantial $70,000 investment in targeted advertising across major platforms. This concerted effort aimed to capture late bookings from drive-market visitors.
Results from the campaign were positive, with $532,000 in lodging revenue attributed to the initiative and over 4.2 million people reached. While overall tourism for the first nine months of 2025 remained slightly below pre-pandemic levels, Haywood experienced a more significant positive swing in visitation data than other Western North Carolina counties, indicating a successful recovery effort.
