Cultural marketing pays off for Cherokee

This is a press release that raises some interesting questions for what works, and what doesn’t, in terms of how to market tourist destinations. Visitation is down everywhere, but not in Cherokee. Hmmmm…

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – While tourist destinations across the country have experienced a challenging financial year, events and attractions in Cherokee, N.C., are reporting the fourth straight year of gains in sales and attendance. According to John Tissue, Executive Director for the Cherokee Historical Association, Cherokee experienced a 37 percent increase in overall visitation this year, in spite of the decline in travel nationwide. According to the Travel Industry Association, leisure travel across the country was down (-0.2%) in 2008 and is expected to decline modestly in 2009 (-1.3%).

In the South Atlantic region, figures just released from Smith Travel Research, show sales down 4.8 percent, with travel related sales in fall travel Mecca Asheville down 3.6 percent. How does one account for such success, in the wake of the worst year for the travel industry in more than a decade?

“We attribute our growth in part to our focus on cultural heritage marketing,” stated John Tissue. “We have strengthened our sales in almost every area and seen increases of 49 percent in a two-year period, since launching a cultural branding campaign four years ago. It seems to be the catalyst for our success.”

Cultural events and festival attendance were up 3.5 percent and ticket revenues at “Unto These Hills” outdoor drama were up 10.89 percent. The rich culture of Cherokee exposes visitors to the history and traditions of the Cherokee Indians who have lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina for nearly 11,000 years. Last year more than one million people visited the historic travel destination and its cultural venues.

Cherokee’s apparent sales phenomenon comes as no surprise to Jeff Goss, whose firm The Goss Agency created the campaigns that led to the travel destination’s success. The Goss Agency is the agency of record for the Eastern Band of Cherokee. Goss has been using a cultural heritage approach to their messages and developing cultural branding campaigns for more than a decade. Cultural heritage tourism has a nationwide economic impact of $166.2 billion annually, which represents approximately one third of all tourism spending. Statistics show that on average, historic/cultural travelers spend roughly 40 percent more than the average traveler ($623 per trip for the cultural traveler versus $457).