LOGAN — The Hocking Hills Tourism Association (HHTA) discussed its ongoing brand assessment at Tuesday’s monthly board meeting.
Todd Tucker, a board member of the HHTA, gave a presentation on how the organization might best rebrand itself as a destination for not only the Hocking Hills, but the City of Logan as well.
He noted anecdotally that, in conversations with some visitors from outside the area, many were not familiar with Logan at all, a difficult dilemma facing businesses in the historic downtown.
Tucker went on, introducing a slideshow of empty or blighted storefronts, “embarrassing eyesores” along and adjacent to Main Street. He suggested the HHTA might assist Logan in following the example of other cities by decorating or otherwise covering the windows of empty buildings.
That suggestion was among other “low hanging fruit” to improve the experience of visitors to downtown Logan.
Board member Greg Vermillion noted that tourists he does see parking in front of his Main Street business rarely stay for long, suggesting a lack or inadequate advertising of attractions.
Logan has, in recent years, seen an influx of businesses such as Native Mama, SimpliCity Threads Boutique, Hocking Hills Bagel Company, Hocking Hills Children’s Museum, and the Columbus Washboard Company, among several others. It’s no longer a case of people coming downtown only “to renew their driver’s license,” as Executive Director Karen Raymore put it.
However, it was discussed in the meeting that the HHTA places little emphasis on Logan as a destination relative to nearby state parks, something that a re-brand and collaboration with Logan Town Center might do well to amend.
Other options discussed included producing a robust downtown map of Logan and its attractions, and making changes to HHTA’s website, explorehockinghills.com, to make attractions in the city more visible. Another potential change discussed for further in the future was its weekend shuttle service in conjunction with Logan Public Transit, which could bus tourists to state parks from a more central location in the downtown district.
Nonetheless, there remain looming infrastructural concerns such as the lack of parking options for visitors, something decidedly not “low hanging fruit,” as board member Rob Freda put it.
“You’ve gotta be prepared to deliver something if you’re going to market it,” Freda added.
Another snippets from Tuesday’s meeting included the nominating committee’s search for a new board member, as former member Nicole McCabe vacated her position earlier this year.
Without opposition, the board passed a resolution to invite Shamrock Irish Pub owner Shad Mace to join, filling a spot in dining, retail, and venue expertise.
Executive Director Raymore addressed some recent public comments made about the HHTA at public meetings such as the parcel fee hearing earlier this month, saying she’s not sure the association’s public image “could get any worse,” and that there were “several misconceptions and misinformation out there” on the HHTA’s funding.
One resident at the parcel fee hearing, to the agreement of a few others in attendance, accused the association of receiving funding through increased property taxes. The bulk of the HHTA’s funding comes through a 3% lodging excise on short-term visitors to the county. This is the only tax that contributes to the association’s revenue.
Someone else remarked online, Raymore went on, that the HHTA receives $5 million in revenue annually. According to its annual report covered by the Logan Daily News back in March, it received $2.76 million in 2023, with about $2.5 million of that coming through the lodging tax.
Raymore also presented the HHTA’s budget variance report from January to June 2024. Among the major findings of the report was an increase in lodging tax collection, around $155,000 more than expected.
Still, the association operated on a sizable negative net income through each of the first two quarters in 2024, something Raymore noted was “typical for this time of year,” as the peak months for its lodging tax collection (two months behind the actual dates of stays, meaning June lodging tax revenue reflects stays during April) are still to come.
The HHTA spent $29,000 more than expected from January to June under product and event development, partly due to its funding of the Lake Logan Association study, and partly due to going over busget for its adventure guide. Other areas of expense, including destination investment, grants and community support, stewardship, television and radio advertising, and member co-op advertising, came in well below expectation, the report noted, “due to timing.”
Email at rmorris@logandaily.com
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