Macon will not be hosting a FIFA World Cup team this summer as local leaders had hoped, but that doesn’t mean the world will pass us by.
A Visit Macon crew will be in Atlanta at the World Congress Center catching international soccer fans before, during and after every match from mid-June to mid-July.
Ads luring people to Macon have appeared in France, Germany, England and Spain and the terminals at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are emblazoned with more advertisements, Visit Macon CEO Gary Wheat told the Downtown Macon Community Association at its monthly meeting Tuesday.
“I wish I could tell you that there will be droves of people coming in, we don’t know,” Wheat said. “But just get your translator app ready on your phone if somebody comes into your business and doesn’t speak English. Just give them a big smile.”
They are not only marketing Macon attractions to visitors, but reaching those metro Atlanta residents wanting to escape while the world comes to town.
“We’ve got two campaigns running — one to target Atlanta, to say, ‘Get out by camp,’ and one to those that will have to travel into Atlanta. So we’re doing both,” Visit Macon Chief Marketing Officer Marisa Rodgers told board members at the April meeting.
Those attending the FIFA Fan Festival who visit Macon’s booth will see a sampling of Allman Brothers memorabilia from The Big House Museum, have a chance to play pickleball, and hear The Creek 100.9 streaming homegrown tunes and airing tantalizing tidbits about the town that already has a global audience.
General Manager Susie Cowan reported nearly a quarter of the Visit Macon radio station’s streaming audience is outside the United States.
“Another cool fact on here,” Cowan said as she displayed The Creek’s marketing plan on the boardroom screen, “Seventy-two percent are from the United States, 10% in Canada, eight in the U.K. and 6% in Germany, so we really are worldwide and that is very cool.” 
Since last year when Macon’s convention and visitor’s bureau acquired The Creek, its airwaves have been a marketing tool that Cowan is using to generate new revenue streams.
In celebration of the station’s 10th anniversary on July 8, Cowan is launching new podcasts as part of a “Stream the Creek” campaign with audio vignettes from local business and restaurant owners, and a public service showcase called “Ripple Makers” where nonprofit leaders can discuss their mission.
Cowan has enlisted local celebrity Mark Ballard to contribute to the effort.
“All of these podcasts are telling the story of the Macon experience from different perspectives. So, who better than Mark Ballard to talk about the Macon experience from an artist perspective?” Cowan asked.
She is working on a video series and a music tourism podcast to feature speakers from other destinations to discuss attractions from their cities and any ties they have to Macon’s music scene.
Archived shows will be available for the online audience.
“Remember, this is going out across the world, so we’re giving them a real clear picture of what to expect when they come to Macon,” Cowan said of out-of-town streamers. “And they’ll know where they want to go eat and what they want to see, and it’s just a really fun way to prop our city up and our businesses up.”
The Creek’s 10th anniversary kicks off with a “good, old-fashioned street party” on June 27.
One stage will be by The Rookery, which marks its 50th anniversary this year, and the second bandstand will be near the Otis Redding Center for the Arts, Cowan said.
Earlier this year, the radio station left its first home, which was next to Dovetail on the second floor of The Rookery annex in the old Thorpe & Sons men’s clothiers.
The Creek is temporarily broadcasting from the American Federal Building on Mulberry Street while their new home is renovated in the old Bibb Theatre on Third Street, which also will house Visit Macon’s Rock Candy Tours.
Red Clay & Roots
International visitors might be able to capitalize on peak peach season with the new Red Clay & Roots tour of local farms and growers.
Visit Macon’s first half-day “experience” catches the agritourism craze with stops for people to get out at Lane Southern Orchards, Skipper Family Farms, Mystic Grove Farm and Field Cut Flowers.
The inaugural tour in late April served as a press junket with participants learning about the history of generational farms, sampling locally grown food, and experiencing smaller venues to pick flowers and feed horses.
Lane has become a peach powerhouse in the summer as part of a conglomerate of growers shipping Georgia peaches off to supermarket chains, and the Skipper family adapted its crops over four generations and embraced growing Christmas trees, pecans and pumpkins.
They both have turned a trip to the farm stand into an immersive agricultural experience for families and tourists seeking respite from the road.
The Red Clay & Roots tour sprang from Visit Macon’s marketing strategy to stretch Cherry Blossom time into a monthslong celebration of Middle Georgia’s growing season.
Rodgers expects to see positive press reports after taking journalists on another tour celebrating Macon roots during the second weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival.
“We planted pine trees. We did a meal with an indigenous chef. It was absolutely incredible,” Rodgers said. “It was magical.”
The chef wanted the guests to realize it was the first time since the Trail of Tears removal that a Muscogee (Creek) prepared a meal using traditional ingredients on their native land.
It’s farm to table with a side of history and significance that Rodgers hopes to continue with an indigenous chef in residence.
Rock Candy Tours offer a variety of options on different subjects for small or large groups.
Van driver and guide Naomi Peterson said these short trips are more than just a tour, but an “experience” where people can leave the vehicle and truly get a feel for the community.
“And then we have the walking tours that we always have that really work out for larger groups, school groups. And then our motor coach step-on guides, where we get on the bus with them and tell them the story and take them to the spots,” Peterson said. “It opens up Macon, because people visit all the time, but they don’t know the locations where something’s really special.”
March revenue from van tours nearly doubled this year over last, and merchandise sales far exceed budget projections.
They come and stay
Visit Macon is looking for ways to cut expenses by 10% and increase revenue after years of budgets padded with COVID-19 relief funds, Wheat said.
The convention and visitors bureau is funded through the county’s hotel-motel tax, so everything they do that puts more “heads in beds” pays off.
“The better that we do as a destination, hotel-motel wise and revenue-wise, then we can expand what we need to, to still be as successful as we have been,” Wheat said.
March tourism numbers are encouraging.
Convention sales and sporting events generated a $2.8 million economic impact, with the GHSA basketball championship bringing in $1.4 million alone, said Director of Sales Charlotte Moody.
Short-term rentals also showed increases over last year with February up 9.5% and March increasing by 31% for the best month ever, nearly $100,000 more than any other month since Visit Macon started tracking non-traditional rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo, said COO Aaron Buzza.
Other research shows the number of trips made by people traveling 50 miles or more to come to Macon is up 57% over last year.
“We’re seeing many more people in the market in the month of March and visitor nights was up 26.4% year over year. So more people are coming, more people staying,” Buzza said.
Visit Macon expects to have good numbers from May, as well.
Last month, Wheat said he spent a whole week trying to find more available rooms for May 7.
With Mercer University graduations, Oak View Group hosting a sales retreat, the Georgia Department of Economic Development meeting in town, an Alabama concert at the Atrium Health Amphitheatre and “The Comeback King” filming downtown, rooms were scarce.
“It’s a good problem to have to struggle to find rooms,” Moody said.
— Peyton Anderson Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
