Tourism leaders say they're cautiously optimistic about Cobb's rebound. Here's why

Jun. 24—CUMBERLAND — It's more good news for Cobb's tourism industry, as tax revenue continues to climb and residents increasingly head out to ball games, restaurants and hotels, the county's hospitality leaders reported this week.

The county's fiscal year-to-date hotel/motel tax revenues are still lagging more than 31% behind what they were last year — the fiscal year runs from September to August — but rapid improvements in recent months illustrate the rebound the local hospitality industry is seeing, Holly Quinlan, president and CEO of Cobb Travel & Tourism, told her board Tuesday.

Quinlan was greeted with a round of applause when she announced that hotel/motel tax collections for May were up nearly 284% over the same time in 2020, when hospitality revenues tanked due to the pandemic.

Collections of just over $1 million for the April/May period in fiscal 2021 also far exceeded projections of about $492,000, according to Quinlan's report.

The April/May period was only the second of fiscal year 2021 to see positive hotel/motel growth over the previous year's period. Collections were $961,000 in April, a nearly 39% gain. May was the first time since February/March 2020 that collections rose over $1 million.

April/May 2020 collections totaled just over $269,000. April/May 2019 collections totaled more than $1.6 million.

"We still have a ways to go, but (I'm) still really pleased with the continued growth ... for May," she said, adding that she looks forward to seeing June numbers, which she hoped would continue to grow as families on summer vacation ventured out for entertainment and travel.

Overall, tourism officials say leisure and sports are leading the county's recovery as the industry waits for business travel to return. Quinlan expects business travel will see a marked return in 2022.

A recent matchup between the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox at Truist Park led to a busy weekday at the Atlanta Marriott Northwest, as well as others in the area, according to the hotel's general manager, Roger Fleming.

Fleming said that Tuesday/Wednesday period was the first time his hotel sold out since the start of the pandemic.

Fleming told the MDJ there had also been 71 corporate travelers on a Wednesday, compared to the 20 to 30 that had become standard during the pandemic. The improvement is still far behind the roughly 180 corporate travelers that would have been seen on a similar day in 2019, but "it's coming back," Fleming said.

By September, he added, "we do expect business travel to really improve."

"A lot of the companies, that's when they're targeting and telling us they're going to send their people back out on the road," Fleming said.

John Hill, the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority's marketing director, said July bookings continue to be "a little slow" for properties owned by his organization — the Cobb Galleria and Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre — in the first half of July. That, tourism officials say, is one of the consequences of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game being moved from Truist Park.

But, Hill said, the Cobb Galleria convention center is beginning to see its own rebound in bookings. And the first event back at the Performing Arts Centre, although private, has been booked for Aug. 10 to Aug. 12. From Oct. 10 on, the Performing Arts Centre is "solid" for events, Hill said.

"We're very excited about that," he said.

Meantime, Cobb Travel & Tourism has launched marketing campaigns and partnerships to mitigate local losses.

It recently received a $100,000 grant from Explore Georgia, the tourism division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, which will help pay for advertising on the web and video platforms, purchase of billboards and print advertisements. Half of that grant will pay for a six-month extension of another of the organization's efforts — a partnership with online travel shopping company Expedia Group.

The partnership, which features Cobb County more prominently on Expedia's website, began in August 2020 as part of the first phase of Cobb Travel's reopening campaign, said Lindsey Burruss, spokeswoman for the organization.

To date, the Expedia campaign has generated more than 5.3 million impressions and almost 22,000 booked nights at local hotels, Burruss said. These results show increasing confidence in leisure travel.

Cobb Travel's board unanimously approved Tuesday the $50,000 extension of the campaign (from July to December).

Follow Thomas Hartwell on Twitter at twitter.com/MDJThomas.