BusinessTN

One of the key behind-the-scenes tasks being carried out by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development is working with counties across Tennessee to unearth (and later help market) indigenous local attributes or strengths that can help distinguish a county in the eyes of prospective new business or industry.

Cumberland County hasn’t needed much help in that effort.

Marketing itself as the “Golf Capital of Tennessee” over the past decade has paid off for Cumberland County, which estimates a $30.1 million economic impact each year from course expenditures.

That figure includes the economic ripple of visiting tourists dining in local restaurants, staying in local hotels and utilizing other local amenities. And the number is rising. Just in 2001, the economic impact from golfing was estimated at $20.1 million, according to a recent five-year development plan for Crossville and Cumberland County.

Officials started to promote Cumberland County as Tennessee’s golf capital in the mid-1990s, but didn’t develop an official marketing strategy around the slogan until about 1997, says County Mayor Brock Hill. A tourism task force equipped with $20,000 allocated from local hotel-motel taxes formally launched the initiative.

“We developed a logo and a full-fledged marketing campaign with a Web site built around the golf capital concept,” Hill says. “We contacted all the local golf courses and put out a golf guide that we’re featured in and started running ads in the Tennessee tourism travel guide.”

In addition, Cumberland County offered trivia winners among the massive listening audience of the UT Volunteer’s football pre-game radio broadcasts a weekend package at one of their resorts. The idea was a home run.

Ace in the Hole
As a result, Cumberland County is steadily encroaching on the flow of business into golf trip destinations such as Myrtle Beach, says Mary Helen McHugh, owner of Tennessee Mountain Golfing, a golf trip package company. McHugh says visitor numbers, especially from northerners who want to enjoy early spring golf weekends, have jumped in the past few years.

In all, Cumberland County is home to 11 golf courses. In 2005, about 2% of Tennessee’s 47 million visitors were interested in golf, according to Phyllis Qualls-Brooks, assistant commissioner of the Department of Tourist Development.

“In 2004, Cumberland County ranked 14th of the 95 counties as it relates to impact of travel on Tennessee by tourism expenditure,” Qualls-Brooks says, adding that the Cumberland County Playhouse is regularly ranked as one of the top-ranking tourist destinations in the state.

And in fact, a 31% increase in the hotel/motel tax receipts over the past five years suggests that the county’s overall focus as a tourist destination—golfing included—is paying off. Hotel/motel tax receipts jumped from roughly $345,500 in 2001 to $464,800 in 2006, with steady yearly increases of between 5% and 7%.

“We grew tourism in Cumberland County from about a $48 million business [in 1997] to about $87 million,” Hill says.

The most recent numbers available from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development show that Cumberland County’s tourism revenues in 2005 were $87.86 million, up from $81.34 million in 2004.

The 19th Hole
But increasingly, Cumberland County is being viewed as more than just a good place for vacationing retirees interested in a golf trip or a weekend show. For instance, in the January/February 2007 issue of Where to Retire magazine, Crossville was named among the top five retirement destinations in the entire United States. Given that estimates that over the next 18 years about 400,000 baby boomers—with an average of $320,000 to spend on new homes—will retire beyond their state borders, Cumberland County appears to be in the catbird’s seat regarding the retirement industry.

Census data from 1995–2000 reveals that Tennessee was seventh nationally in attracting migrating retirees. During that span, nearly 10,500 more people age 65 and older moved into the state than moved out of it.

According to the Institute for Public Service at the UT-Knoxville, Cumberland County is already home to around 11,000 “in-migrant retirees,” a full 21.5% of the county’s total population. The Institute recently completed an economic impact study of retirees for Cumberland County, concluding that among the numerous positive changes stemming from the arrival of so many retirees were an increase in the number and variety of employment opportunities; a higher average income for local households; a large fiscal surplus for Cumberland County and the city of Crossville allowing for increased spending on government services and lower property tax rates; and growth in the health care industry, providing job opportunities and increasing the availability of specialized services. (Increased traffic congestion was pegged as the most detrimental impact of “migrants” on the area.) Respondents also noted that land and housing prices have increased, employment has shifted from manufacturing to retail and service sectors, and social values have changed, but expressed mixed feelings about whether or not these changes should be construed as good or bad.

Not Puttering Along
Golfing greens aside, Cumberland County wants to be more than merely a tourist or retirement destination. The county’s population grew from 20,000 in 1970 to slightly over 50,000 by 2004 at an average annual growth rate of 2.6%. That’s about double the growth rate of peer counties. And according to Beth Alexander, CEO and president of the Crossville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce, Cumberland County attracts plenty of young business people and families.

“We’re building elementary schools right and left and just finished a high school,” Alexander says. “Our major challenge at this point is providing quality jobs for our citizens.”

Managing county growth both fleeting and permanent will be the challenge for Cumberland County going forward. As retirees relocate and tourists visit, one might have to book tee times at one of the eleven courses a little sooner.