“Tourism is good. Nothing about tourism hurts Adair County at all,” said Paige Nickel, executive director of Adair County Tourism and Convention Commission. “The Tourism Commission is fully funded by transient taxes, which are taxes that are collected on short term stays of 29 days or less such as hotels, cabins, and Airbnbs. The money does not come from Adair County residents.”
Nickel was appointed to this position in February 2023 by County Judge Executive Larry Russell Bryant. Prior to that, the position had been vacant for some time. The tourism board, made solely of volunteers, were mainly sponsoring fishing tournaments each year. The money being collected from transient taxes was in a bank account accruing interest.
Nickel also noted that when she was appointed to this position she had no formal training at all. She had to learn on her own how to do the job by networking with other directors and research.
Her main goal coming into the position was to develop sponsored events throughout the community to help attract tourists and funnel money back into the local economy. They sponsor events such as the Outdoor Expo and this year they are sponsoring the big car demolition derby at the Adair County Fair.
Nickel and the tourism commission have been in the spotlight this past week after a Community Voice article reporting that Nickel was looking into the possibility of a restaurant tax within the city limits.
The social media response left Nickel feeling like she was under personal attack, but it has also given her an attentive audience with whom she can share her vision for tourism in Adair County. The tourism industry brought in $17.1 million into Adair County in 2023, creating nearly 85 jobs and having an impact on 122 jobs, according to The Kentucky Department of Tourism.
The tourism commission collected just over $102,000 from transient taxes during the 2023-24 fiscal year and expects to end this fiscal year on June 30 with about the same revenue, in addition to funds they generate from events and sponsorships.
The budget increased by approximately $20,000 last year after a state law went into effect in 2023 to include campgrounds and RV parks as part of the transient tax. This year so far, weather has hindered a lot of tourism and local businesses. The water is still high at Green River Lake, which has significantly affected the number of people visiting the lake and renting places to stay.
To help businesses in the community, Nickel said the tourism commission hosts a yearly informational meeting for short term rentals. During the meeting, owners are educated on how to develop and market their rentals or Airbnbs. They are also given tips and tricks to be successful. A hospitality class is also offered each year.
Michelle Allen from Somerset was the most recent speaker, who gave a training on hospitality for local business owners and an FBLA class. Allen spent a day teaching businesses how to level up hospitality efforts for tourism and how to really focus on making customers feel special so that they want to return to the business.
Lindsey Wilson College is a huge focus for tourism, Nickel said. Students are considered short- or long-term visitors to Columbia. In the future, Nickel plans to speak in the first-year experience class about everything Columbia has to offer.
“I am actually working with Duane Bonifer from Lindsey Wilson about this and we are working on a plan to collaborate,” said Nickel. Lindsey Wilson now has a major in recreation, tourism, and sports management. Students are all fresh sets of eyes and can offer insight into things in Adair County that locals may not think of as a tourist attraction, she noted
One of the key components of tourism is marketing. In order to attract tourists to your area, you must market what your city has to offer.
“Tik Tok is our biggest platform for marketing. We target millennials with families and a median income and those people are on Facebook and Tik Tok based on the analytics that we have,” said Nickel. “The way Tik Tok works is if you want to get to a bigger audience, you have to follow the trends. Trends can be a trend action or a trend sound. When you follow these, it catches the algorithm. If someone stops on our videos even for 10 seconds, our information will then be on their page and then they see the videos we want them to see about our beautiful downtown or Green River Lake. We have to broaden our horizon by following those trends, so that’s why we have to mix it between information and trends.”
Other areas that Nickel has focused on are print materials such as brochures and informational booklets. They had a logo designed to use on all marketing materials. They have also run targeted commercials on Hulu and Tubi. Local people will not see these ads because they are not part of the targeted audience. The advertising agency asks for specific demographics such as location, age, income and they use the information to push the advertisements to those specific people.
Geofencing has been an effective marketing tool as well.
“We geofenced Kentucky Lake. So anyone that went to Kentucky Lake last year started advertisements for Green River Lake,” said Nickel. Geofencing is when a specific area is targeted and when someone enters that area, it sends a signal from their phone that they are in the targeted space and begins pushing advertisements to them.
“We also did 120 counties campaign at the state fair last year and handed out information on Adair County” said Nickel. “Those marketing materials are expensive. We can use a lot of free marketing like social media and get better results.”
In all of the participants of Kentucky Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, Nickel is the lowest paid of the executive directors and has no benefits.
“That’s ok. I am not complaining. I took the position making $32,500 knowing that I was getting paid that amount with no benefits. I knew I could eventually make more as growing the budget, bringing more in, them seeing the value in me. It was a volunteer board. They didn’t know what I was talking about when I came in and said this can be done so much better. I was happy to take the low pay. I’m still happy with it.” She received a raise for the 2024-2025, fiscal year putting her annual salary at $40,625.
Breann Franklin serves as marketing assistant and is a part time employee who works a total of 15 hours a week that is split between the Economic Development Authority, Chamber of Commerce, and Tourism. Franklin is paid an hourly wage of $15.
“A lot of events that I do are voluntary. I am not on the clock or getting paid for them” said Franklin. “I do these things on my own time because I love Adair County.”
By Amy Pike
amy@adairvoice.com
