Georgia Focus - Senate Tourism

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark on the Georgia
and Use Network. Tourism in Georgia has become increasingly popular
now it's the number two industry in Georgia. The Georgia
Senate is beginning a study of tourism in Georgia to
establish a shared vision deep in the understanding of tourism
and connecting tourism to local impact. Katie Gray taught with
Senator Drew Echols on the Senate Study Committee on making
Georgia in the number one state for Tourism.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Okay, so Drew, tell me about the initiatives that are
going to be planned on focusing on the impacts of tourism.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to go back
to kind of why interest me and then I'll get
into that. I think so. My father in law, he
previously he owned the thirty eight charter buses and they
hauled people all over the Southeast, all over the country,
really some tours up into Canada. Kelley and I got

(01:00):
a taste of of tourism and traveling that. Shelley owned
a student travel company and I on a farm myself,
my father and my uncle. Will we bought my granddad out.
We own a farm in North Georgia and we have
a huge roadside marketing. For years and years, you know,
I kind of prided myself in being a farmer, but

(01:22):
I started realizing, you know, the more more tags you
look at out in the parking lot. Our farm truly
has over the past fifteen years or so, become a destination.
And from my experienced personal experience there with the farm,
we were look people were already visiting Georgia prior to

(01:43):
twenty twenty. I'm I'm not naive to that, but I
do think when Governor Kemp opened us up, you know,
before any anyone else opened our state up, more people came.
They and they found us, so to speak, and they
loved Georgia. They love our coasts, they lower our mountains,
our rivers, our farms, and and all of our sports teams,

(02:04):
just all the different things. So I feel like it's
been a while since the state legislature has looked into
tourism as an industry. It is the the number two
industry in the state of Georgiana. So not hardly as
sexy as a big Hyundai UH factory or something like that,

(02:27):
but but it is it is worth noting, And I
think the Study Committee is gonna that's what we're gonna
try to do. We're gonna try to help the industry
in a way.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Too, as the goal is to really be able to
pinpoint all of those elements on you know, peace that
you're talking about, you know, being able to impact it
and see a difference in the short term and the
long term.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, I think so, I feel like that tourism, you know,
I'm I'm a I'm a farmer and a and a senator.
So I don't have all the the data right in
front of me. We're working on it right now as
we speak to kick off this study committee. But I
feel like that the money that the State of Georgia

(03:09):
invests in marketing for tourism or invest in parks and
things like that, it's some of the I'm not going
to say it's the easiest money to track, but it is.
We can track it faster than we can you know,
is it a positive, is it a negative? Is the

(03:30):
ROI bigger than a factory or or something like that.
So I do think that you know, marketing tourism and
any kind of incentives that we can give that industry.
I think that it is a shot in the arm
to the economy, and I personally, I think we see

(03:51):
it quickly and I feel like that's one of the
things that the study committee is going to find out
over the next couple of weeks of months.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
It's also interesting, I want to circle back. I was
taking notes as you were speaking. I thought it was
really interesting how you mentioned, you know, in the last
couple of years us seeing more of maybe a boost
in certain areas than others. Because I will say also
as a Georgian and you know, you when you think
tourism and you think certain destinations, like certain highlights in
the state kind of come to mind, do you think

(04:22):
that this initiative in the study could also show so
many other places that a lot of people that maybe
you know, if they're not from here, they don't know about,
and that we can kind of put on the map
and you know, show so much more of the aspects
of how much more Georgia has to offer.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well, we're definitely we're going to put the spotlight on
the state of Georgia. But I think I think you're right.
I think some of the treasures, the rural treasures, the
urban treasures out here all over the state that are
typically not looked at. I think I feel like I've
given this example to some folks here in the past
couple of weeks with this Tourism Study Committee. I feel

(05:01):
like I'm out on a deep sea fishing trip and
I've got my fish fishing rod, i got the hook
thrown out on the water, and I've got a hold
of something and I'm trying to ridle it in and
it's so big it's moving. The bait. Communities from all
over the state have reached out. Unfortunately, we can't have
but four meetings. You know, I would love to be
able to go to every single corner of the state

(05:22):
of Georgia and visit every single county, but I cannot
believe the overwhelming support for this study committee. Thomasville wanted
to host Lagrange Noon, and but there again, we can't
go to all of these places, so we had to
narrow it down, get sort of somewhat regional in our planning.

(05:47):
And I do I think you're right. I think we're
gonna uncover some gems that are off the beaten path,
so to speak. I think it's a great way. Tourism
is a phenomenal way for these local communities. It's a
it's a great industry for them to embrace because it's
not the it's not the largest drain on infrastructure. I mean,

(06:09):
people come in, they visit, they do the activities or
or whatever it is, They visit the parks, whatever, the hotels,
and then they leave. So it's a great way to
to raise tax revenue. It's a great way for citizens
to be able to the citizens of a local county

(06:32):
or city to be able to reap the benefits of
folks coming in haveing roads, building schools or whatever, but
they're leaving and they're not really a drain on that infrastructure.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Well, okay, so then you're right. You're obviously trying to
uncover so many elements and you can only have four meetings.
Can you tell me about obviously the planning of this
first this first meeting that's coming up. Is there specific
things that you as you were looking at the planning
of this that you were kind of surprised on working
into that structured what you're looking to make sure is

(07:11):
included in this first.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
Meeting, Well, the first meeting, I did you know, being
the chairman of the study committee, I wanted to bring
the folks up to my hometown, to Gainswelle Hall County.
But we're doing some great things. I'm gonna touch on
a couple of things with you there. We're doing some
great things, but we also need some help with a
lot too, and I wanted my committee to be able
to hear the needs. I wanted the committee that people

(07:34):
testifying to be able to share with that committee got
a local friend of mine speaking. He's a former eye
surgeon and he's been a developer, but he has seen
the Jeff pain is his name, doctor Jeff Payne. And
Jeff retired from the medical field, and he learned a

(07:54):
lot while he was developing property. But he's gotten into
the he's doing hotels now. Now he's contemplating a resort
up in our area. That you know. The example that
Jeff and I talk about all the time is when
you make those investments, you actually get to sell that product,
that same product to this person and the next person

(08:16):
and the next person. It's not like they really take
something home with them. You're selling them an experience, either
as simple as a hotel experience, or it could be
a ticketed event or something like that. But Jeff's topic
is going to be He's going to be speaking about
the difficulties navigating from community to community. Some communities are

(08:42):
sea hotels is very favorable, right, and some communities push
back a little bit. Some people some communities they don't
want a hotel period. So it's there. I don't think
there should be a one size fits all. I believe
very much in local control, but I think that I

(09:03):
think that leaders in different communities need to hear where
it's easier to do business, where it's harder to do business.
I'm not here to put my opinion in. I just
want folks to be able to hear it. Get that,
get those discussions out there on the record from a
business own owner's perspective. So that's gonna I think that's

(09:25):
gonna be cool. We've got We've also got another local
guy up there, Matthew Bowling. Matthew and his family, his granddad,
Virgil Williams, run Lake Lanear Islands. Late landar Islands is
there's the Late Land Near Islands Authority and it's set
up by the State of Georgia. There's an appointed board

(09:48):
to the authority. The the water park and hotels and
all they lease the land from the authority, and I
wanted Matthew to talk to us about that relationship, how
it is, because how it is working under an authority

(10:08):
like that. You know, Matthew was telling me, you know,
some of it's difficult. Sometimes it's difficult, sometimes it's it's fun.
Sometimes there's great ideas that come from the authority, and
that these are the folks sitting on the authority. These
are these are all people who have been appointed, like

(10:29):
I said, by the governor or lieutenant governor some somewhere
along the lines. They're all business people. So there's good
ideas that come from the authority as well. So I guess,
you know, for Matthew, they're the reason I wanted to
get Matthew in front of people. Does the State of
Georgia do we need more authorities? Do we need less
authorities some of our other parks? Should we set up

(10:52):
authorities for public private partnerships like that? Because again, the
vast majority of people who visit Lakeland near Islands are
from out of town. But I can tell you, as
a father of a twenty one year old and a
seventeen year old, my kids love it down there, and
it's only you know, a little twenty five minute drive.
So if lake Lander Islands was one hundred percent dependent

(11:16):
on the folks who live in Hall County or a
neighboring county, it wouldn't be able to exist. Pulling in
from all over. Everybody benefits from it being there, the
gas stations, the restaurants, the hotels and so on. So
I just want to get that conversation going. And I
don't know what the industry is. Again, We're going in
this to uncover treasure. That's what we're going to do

(11:38):
is try to uncovered treasure, you know, and take advice
from people who are inside the industry the needs and
the wants of the industry.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
And it sounds like with the initiative behind this move
is to make sure that you're being able to highlight
those places, see the opportunities, but also take a lot
of input from the communities themselves on how they would
want that to be implemented.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
Absolutely, absolutely, We've got another speaker, Tyler, and I unfortunately
I can't remember Tyler's last name. On that agenda, Tyler's
going to speak to investments from Originally was going to
talk about the investments from the state versus you know
other states what they're doing. But as you know, listen,

(12:26):
funding I don't want to get into that funding debate
because Florida funds things different than Georgia does. There's different
formulas South Carolina, Alabama, California, everybody does things differently. That's
what makes us, you know, everybody great, right, But I want,
you know, I kind of want Tyler to get back
onto that ROI you know, the return on investment from

(12:48):
the state and what we can do from a state
perspective there. But you're right, going back to what you said,
I definitely want community input and I want to expose
communities all over the state of Georgia to the good
and bad in tourism happening everywhere.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
Is part of the initiative too, because of of course
we talked about the component about the inputs from the communities.
Is it also trying to pinpoint that if that was
going to be a focus making sure that we know
what the needs would be of that community. I know
that like as an example, I know you mentioned about
like the roads, like if it is harder to get

(13:32):
in and out of that community, if that would need
be a focus from the state to make that an
easier destination spot.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yes, and that so that brings up a great point.
So currently with the hotel motel tax, I mean, there's
a five dollars bed tax that is on each night
in a hotel room. That money goes to the dot.
There's a hotel motel tax that's local. But what you know,

(13:59):
this is an opinion. This is something that I do
I do know or I think that we need to
give our state legislature. We need to give these communities
more flexibility with that hotel motel tax. Currently, when they
charge hotel motel tax, the only two things they can
do with that money is either market tourism or build

(14:19):
something like the boat house in Lake Lanier at Lake
Landeer in the city of Gainsville for a tourism. Currently,
we've got their hands tied. They can't pave a road
with that tax money, they can't build a school with
that tax money. They can't you know, put up a
red light or whatever. So there's communities here in Georgia

(14:45):
who are very flush and with tourists. And if you're
flushed with tourists, then you're flushed with tourism dollars. The
tax that they're paying on the hotel motel tax, and
they're in they're making investments out in their community. There's
other counties who have a hotel motel tax, but there's

(15:08):
really not other activities or attractions there in the county
to market or even invest in, like a boat house.
It's you know, maybe there's ten hotels in the community,
but they're just located in the county, excuse me, and
they're just located maybe on the side of seventy five

(15:29):
and there's nothing else there really other than just overnight
stay between Georgia and Florida. You know what I'm saying,
That people come in there, they stay overnight, and they
travel on to Florida. Those communities are able to take
in that hotel motel tax, but what do they do
with it? Some of them have money, but they really

(15:50):
don't have anywhere to invest it. So if we give
them under the current the way that the law structures
that hotel motel tax, if we give them some flexible
then they can go build a school with the hotel
motile times, or they can go pay a road or
whatever the need is of that specific community. Right.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Do you also think that with these with these meetings,
it's a uh that would be really encouraging for locals,
you know, to want to be more involved in these
meetings and being able to you know, speak up and
being able to share those insights because as you mentioned before,
you know, you're going in as a discovery. You don't
necessarily know what the ins and outs of each one

(16:31):
of these communities. For people to feel like they can
really be a participant in this and make sure that
it's going to benefit their area as much as possible.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
You've got all the best questions. So going back to
what I said earlier about just to pent up demand
for this committee and how many people have reached out
and volunteered their you know, uh to host us. How
many different entities, private and public have Hey we'll sponsor

(17:06):
a lunch. Hey will you come into town the night
before and we'll you know, we want to show you
this park or you know, we know you're only going
to be here, you know, for half a day, but
we would love to be able to show you. It
has been overwhelming. Couple that with the fact that right
now we've already got sixty five people signed up to

(17:27):
be at our first meeting. There'll probably be one hundred
people there. Most folks don't RSVP for a Senate Study Committee.
It's not that cool, you know what I'm saying. But
there is a lot of pent up demand for it.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Does that almost speak volumes over how much when it
comes to this topic, it does, I mean draw people
in because as you mentioned, this is such there's such
a broad range of what tourism can be and how
it can impact our state, but then also specific communities
across the state.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
That's right, that's right. I mean, I use my business,
going back to my business, I use my business as
an example. Listen, we grew up, we grew up poor,
and we were farmers. We grew peaches, and we grew chickens. Okay,
and sometimes we had to uh, we had to charge
our lunch at school because we couldn't afford to pay

(18:22):
for our food. But when the when the public from
all over the state of Georgia and Florida and North Carolina,
when they found us, it elevated me and my family
and you know, from lower class to middle class. And
I think that's what can happen with these communities across
the state of Georgia. We just got to be able

(18:44):
to give them the flexibility and the little you know,
the little nudge be the legislature what we need to
be as their cheerleader. We need to encourage them and
and I think that's what I think, that's what we're
gonna do with this committee.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Okay, So so for people who I want to I
want to make sure that for any listeners, if obviously
they can keep up, they know where the meeting is
going to happen, but maybe it isn't something that is
easy viable to be able to get to in person.
Is what are the best practices on your advice on
being able to still make sure they feel like their

(19:19):
voices are heard and their ideas are being shared with
the committee and the research that's being gathered.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
Okay, So the study Committee is going to be live
streamed every meeting all over the state. Going to be
able to log on and see the work that your
state senators are doing. Also going to be taking written
testimony via the website. It's going to launch in just
the next few days. All the presentations from the committee, uh,

(19:47):
they're going to be after they're done, they're going to
be uploaded and provided for a review on the website.
So people are going to be able to go on
even if they're you know, if you're out of town
for a few weeks and they're going to be able
to go check and see make sure we're doing our
work and hear these great speakers that we're bringing in.
You're gonna be able to communicate through the committee admin.

(20:09):
And then, going back to what I said earlier, I
appreciate you doing this interview on iHeartRadio, and hopefully this
is not the last interview we do. I hope that
when you check in with us, you know, maybe halfway
through the committee season, and then check in with us
at the end and ask me if I feel victorious

(20:30):
or defeated one or the other.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
I'm going to hold you to that, Okay, Okay. So also,
well let me get your idea and your opinion on this. So,
you know, obviously let's kind of jump forward a little bit.
You have these meetings, you gather so much information. What
is your goal? What are the main things that you
want to be able to propose to the legislature about
making implementing some of this information.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Well, one of the first just simple priorities. I think
I've harped on this one enough is giving those communities
that flexibility that you know, if I can with that,
with that hotel, motel tax, if I can get there
right there, accomplished. Look, I'm high five and everybody right,
But you know, do we need to make more of
an investment from a budgetary standpoint? How going back to

(21:21):
that r O I, how how much money are Georgians
saving by investing in FIFA World Cup or college football
National Championship, whatever those events are. You know, because we
do things for State of Georgia does so we roll

(21:41):
out in the red carpet and I'm glad we have
those events, and it's a kind of a trickle down effect.
But look how much how much is that r O
I exactly where it needs to be. So I think
this is a couple of people. Tell me this may
be a multi year process. Listen, that's over my payer there.

(22:01):
But what we'll do is, you know, once we get
a couple of meetings under our belt, when we start
putting these priorities together. And I'm under no illusion that
I have all the answers right now, because I'm sure
we're going to get a ton of information thrown at us.
So you know, by the end of the second meeting,
we'll start compiling the list and prioritizing things the third meeting.

(22:24):
By the end of the third meeting, we should have
be pretty clear on where we want to go from
a legislative perspective. By the fourth meeting, we've got to
write a report. The committee's got to vote on the report,
and you know then that's going to be up to
the folks who are up. The total poll from me,

(22:47):
you know, is that the Lieutenant Governor is he is he.
I want to make him proud. He went out on
a limb to give us this study committee. I want
to make him proud. I want it to reflect well
on the entire Senate. And uh, we've got a you know,
going back to that, we've got a great group of
bipartisan lawmakers here on this committee, myself, uh, Senator Sonya

(23:10):
Happern Uh, Senator Emmanuel Jones, Senator Russ Goodman. Oh, and yes,
and I'm sorry Senator Frank Gain. So you know, we
want to do the work we want to. I value
those folks opinion. They're from all over the state of Georgia.
Lieutenant Governor was gracious enough to give us this committee
and working with him in his office and then you know,

(23:33):
we're gonna have to sit down and and there's there's
definitely when you get down here to the gold On.
This is my first crack at it, uh, but there's
no It is a team effort. And contrary to what
anybody thinks that they can come down here and be
a one man show, it's not. It's not possible. So
you know, the Lieutenant governors, he'll be the first person

(23:55):
in the conversation. And then I assume that you know,
if we get some good legislation that that we come
up with, we'll talk to the Speaker and his folks
and the governor and his people, and hopefully we can
do make some change, incremental change for the tourism industry.
I don't think we need to go reinventing the wheel.
I don't think. And I've told the folks who are

(24:16):
helping with this committee, we're going to take little swings
at this. We're not gonna swing we're gonna try to
hit singles and doubles. We're not going to try to
hit grand slams every every time we go to one
of these cities. We're going to try to just chip
away at it and come up with some good ideas
that we feel we can grab a hold of and
move forward.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Excellent. Well, I was gonna say, I think you've answered
all my questions, and I'm also excited about the first meeting.
I always ask in all of my interviews, though, is
there anything that maybe we didn't get a chance to
discuss or that you really want to highlight.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
At this time? No, I mean you pretty much read
my mind with every question. Now. I just appreciate the
opportunity and to lead on this. I appreciate the opportunity
to be here and do this interview. I think it
can do a lot of good things for all Georgians

(25:08):
in all communities. So we're gonna work hard and and
see what we come up with.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Well, I appreciate all. Yeah, I appreciate your time, and
I honestly like, I'm really excited to see what comes
of this. So thank you. I'm sure many people are.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
That's Katie Gray talking with Senator Drew Echols about the
Senate Study Committee on making Georgia the Number one state
for tourism. If you have questions your comments on today's program,
you can email me John Clark at Georgeannewsnetwork dot com.
Thanks for listening, I'll talk to you next week right
here in your favorite local radio station. On Georgia Focus