Tim Brady, President & CEO of the Charleston WV Convention & Visitors Bureau, is ready to stop talking about the big economic impact number.
“People don’t understand it. It’s very nebulous,” he tells a room full of destination leaders at U.S. Travel’s annual ESTO conference. “It looks good on paper, but it raises a lot of questions. I don’t like it, and I want to stop talking about it.”
According to Tim, the strongest indicator of success in 2024 was not a big number of any kind — it was a 22% drop in the share of visitor mobile devices observed in West Virginia’s capital city.
Keep reading to find out how this seemingly contradictory statistic tells a rich story of community impact amid strategic destination promotion.
Economic impact is a victim of its own success. Designed to capture the economic value of an event or initiative, it offers a tidy, tax-focused figure to share with stakeholders and policymakers. It attempts to capture tangible, data-driven ROI in an industry that for decades has struggled with the lack of a cash register.
But as this metric has become an industry standard, it has all too often been decoupled from the broader data story. Economic impact numbers become little more than vanity metrics, splashed across headlines without context or nuance.
Instead of being a conversation starter, they cut the conversation short, purporting to say all they need to say in a number that “speaks for itself.” In communities where overtourism is a concern, reporting big success metrics can backfire quickly, alarming locals and leaving leaders to defend their budgets and investment decisions.
Community leaders in Charleston have come to expect this number, but Tim is eager to change the discourse.
“We are very event-driven,” he says. “Until recently, we absolutely have been addicted to the big economic impact number, to the point where we have trained our local media to ask: What was the economic impact of that event? When will you have the economic impact data? When can we talk about the economic impact?”
“I’m ready to blow it up,” he says.
The tipping point for Tim arrived in May 2024 when Charleston hosted USA Cycling’s Pro Road National Championships. At this premier annual road race, USA Cycling crowns multiple national champions — men, women, juniors, elites — in several disciplines. It’s a large six-day event with complex logistical needs.
The event was a wild success. And although the CVB calculated an economic impact of $4.6 million, Tim is shifting the focus to metrics that tell a stronger story. He used the Zartico Destination Operating System® (ZDOS®) to measure a 21.5% lift in total visitor spending and a 16.6% lift in average visitor spending. Hotel occupancy increased 8%, and short-term vacation rental occupancy jumped a whopping 50% during the event dates.
20% of restaurant and retail spending during the six-day event was contributed by visitors — a metric that matters to small business owners.
“Don’t count heads,” Tim says. “Talk about what people are doing in your destination and where you’re making a difference.”
These impact metrics point beyond the volume of visits generated and instead focus on the quality of those visits. Visitors who stay overnight, travel to multiple regions within the destination, and spend money at local businesses contribute value to the community that outweighs the costs.
But what about that 22% drop in visitor share of total observed devices?
“This number right here is our greatest indicator of success,” Tim says. He goes on to explain that Charleston’s visitation is largely driven by travelers visiting friends and relatives. The CVB deliberately focuses on placemaking and quality of life as strategies to grow tourism organically. By creating happier residents and a more appealing destination, more locals will invite their friends and family to visit.
“What this number tells me is that while we increased visitation — which we know from the lift in spending — we also engaged our local community to the point that they came out in such numbers that they drowned out the increase in visitation,” Tim says, noting that locals were out in force during the races, cheering, ringing cowbells, and volunteering to support the event.
Leaders are encouraged by this level of engagement and expect it to pave the way for easier volunteer recruitment, sponsorship sales, and community support as Charleston hosts the championships for the next four years.
Tim still gets the questions about economic impact, which he answers briefly — then turns the conversation to community impact.
Three examples from the USA Cycling event, offer what he sees as better measures of success.
“That’s real impact,” Tim says. “That is success.”
Among the winners at the Pro Road championships was Kristin Faulkner (pictured above), who became the women’s elite road race champion on May 19th. Less than three months later, Faulkner stood atop the Olympic podium in Paris, the first American woman to win a road racing gold medal in 40 years.
The win turned up the spotlight on U.S. cycling, which could mean more eyes on Charleston’s event next spring. But the CVB is ready, with engaged residents, a plan for community involvement, and ZDOS® — poised to help the team capture insights that communicate the bigger picture of this valuable event.
Tim is ready, too, for the inevitable questions about economic impact. Enticing media and stakeholders to focus on new impact metrics is a gradual process, he says, but it’s well worth the investment.
“There’s much more value in talking about spending and movement, rather than just counting heads and throwing out a big number,” he tells his fellow destination leaders. “We control the narrative.”
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