Chamber unites with COW for insight on tourism trends
How tourism affects Holmes County’s economic fabric is one of the main reasons the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce has teamed up with The College of Wooster to produce an economic tourism survey.
Finding out how the tourism industry affects the economic landscape of Holmes County could be a useful tool for the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism while also benefiting area businesses that could utilize detailed findings to increase business.
Holmes County Chamber executive director Tiffany Gerber was hopeful to team up with a team from The College of Wooster to create such a survey, and recently that hope turned into a reality.
Gerber is excited to see this survey finally come to fruition because it was something that bubbled to the surface as a possible resource months ago.
“The tourism industry is such a huge part of the economic story of Holmes County,” Gerber said. “We have never been able to tell the entire story because we need to accrue facts and figures to truly understand the economic impact.”
The Holmes County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau has entered into a partnership with The College of Wooster Applied Methods and Research Experience to measure the impact of tourism and hospitality on the Holmes County economy.
The project has been funded, in part, with support from the Holmes County commissioners, Commercial and Savings Bank, Park National Bank, and Killbuck Savings Bank. The Tourism Bureau also is investing in the project.
“The support of our commissioners and financial institutions is a wonderful example of how our community and its leaders recognize tourism as a significant economic driver in our county. It is vital for us to measure the impact and use that information to gauge marketing successes, recognize visitor demographics, identify needs and attract potential future business investments in the area,” Gerber said. “This information can also be used by nonprofit organizations in applying for grants. Hopefully, this survey will give us a greater understanding of the economic impact in our market for our demographics, and we can learn to adapt our market to adjust to that information. It really should give us some clarity.”
Area tourism businesses will be contacted by the program students and asked to complete a simple survey to help gather sales and visitor information. All information gathered will be seen only by the students and program leaders.
“We realize that some people may not like to share confidential information, but we at the chamber will never see the individual information, only the final results,” Gerber said. “The MBA students and two economics professors at COW will be collecting the data, and they have put together a really simple survey that won’t take long to complete. The only eyes that see this information will be those of the students performing the survey. None of our community leaders will have access to that information, but they need to see those numbers to put a dollar amount to it.”
Gerber said she encourages every business that receives a call from the survey to answer the questions and provide the necessary details. Because the more involvement the survey can receive from area businesses, the more accurate the survey becomes.
She said those numbers will significantly affect every aspect of the tourism industry including lodging, dining, attractions, tourism services and more.
The Holmes County Chamber staff and board will only see the complete report with totals and trends. Any business that does participate will be entered into a drawing for a free half-page add in the 2022 official Amish Country Map & Visitors Guide.
Businesses without internet access can complete the survey and return by fax or mail. If a business does not receive the survey but would like to participate, they may call or email Melanie Long, PhD, at 330-263-2387 or mlong@wooster.edu.