CAMPAIGNS AND PROGRAMMING
SPORT TOURISM OBJECTIVE: To lead and assist the local community by establishing Florence/Lauderdale County and the Shoals area as a sport tourism and recreation destination. The Florence/Lauderdale CVB serves as a vehicle to support the creation, promotion and delivery of sport events for visitors, participants, partners and residents.
MARKET OVERVIEW/STRATEGY: The 2021 season for elite bass tournaments proved to be a strong year. Our team hosted 9 tournaments with some record revenue events including the Bassmaster Elite and the Alabama North Regional Softball Tournament. Our priority will still be placed on the creation of new, non-traditional sporting events including pickle ball, disc golf, corn hole and more outdoor oriented events. Working with the City of Florence to develop a tournament-size pickle ball complex has been a focus over 2021 and will continue in 2022. An increased effort will be placed upon working with event rights holders to direct more stays to Lauderdale County to ensure that partners see a ROI. Tournament hosting fees average $200,000 to $250,000 annually. According to the National Association of Sport Commission’s (NASC) annual study in 2017, sport tourism was responsible for $11.4 billion in direct spending nationwide.
2022 TARGETS: Establish a benchmark of 50 new qualified leads Make three (3) bids on future sporting events. One being a non-traditional sporting event Increase the economic impact of events by 25% to $5,000,000.00 through tournaments. Increase the total number of room nights booked by 7.5% to 7,000 through our sales efforts
Lead: Sales Manager, Travel Trade + Sport
