New PRT Director Focuses on Heads in Beds, Jobs in State
Saving a golf tournament while putting "heads in beds" and preserving and protecting one of South Carolina's largest industries and employers along with more than 80,000 acres of woods, lakes and picnic grounds.
That's the challenge Duane Parrish took on when the veteran Charleston hotelier agreed to be the new director of the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism.
Parrish comes to PRT from Premier Hospitality Group, the hotel development and management firm he opened in 2000. During his 25 years in the business, he also has held management positions with Holiday Inn and Ramada and has opened, renovated or operated nearly 20 properties, including the iconic 260-room Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston.
Parrish also has been a manager with the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and served as chair of the South Carolina Hospitality Association.
Parrish's long list of credentials was cited by Gov. Nikki Haley when she selected him to succeed Myrtle Beach businessman Chad Prosser in the post and she commented after his Senate confirmation: "Duane knows that tourism drives our state's economic development engine and he's ready to work around the clock to ensure our state is a premier destination for tourists from around the country and around the world."
"We couldn't be more excited that Duane can get to work."
He has his work cut out for him. Budget cuts have halved PRT's spending the past few years while the economy languished overall. And tourism is big business, especially on the coast but all around the state because of the accommodations and sales tax revenue it generates. Right now, tourism generates an estimated $18.4 billion in annual economic impact in South Carolina and is responsible for one in 10 jobs, PRT says.
Going forward, Parrish says, job number one was to secure a new sponsor for the Heritage golf tournament at Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island. Long a prestigious stop on the PGA tour, the tournament has been in danger of collapsing since Verizon pulled its sponsorship.
Haley tasked Parrish with helping locals save the tournament, a major generator of tourism dollars each year, by, among other things, finding a new corporate sponsor. And without state dollars, because the tournament needs to become self-sufficient, a mantra PRT knows well.
"We're close and we're confident," Parrish said of the Heritage situation. As for self-sufficiency, the S.C. State Park Service, now under Parrish's direction, is a good place to look for inspiration.
The 46-park system is one of the nation's most self-sufficient, generating about 80 percent of the revenue it lives on through rentals and fees. "We're going for 100 percent," Parrish says. "It's a big part of what a wonderful state we live in, and that's going to be part of our marketing message, to our own people, that this is a stay-cation state. People from Greenville can go to the beach and Lowcountry people can go to the mountains and never leave South Carolina."
That's one of the marketing messages Parrish says he intends to push. He also has another he says he needs to take to his boss. "We need to find a way to get all our welcome centers open every day again," Parrish says. Only one of the centers now is – the Santee center on Interstate 95 now operated by the Charleston CVB.
Other centers have been closed two days a week because of budget cuts, something Parrish says he would like to remediate. "That's our front door," he says. "We're going to work on social media and smart phones and all the other new ways of reaching consumers, but nothing beats the personal contact people get at those welcome centers."
State appropriations to PRT have dropped by 50 percent since 2008-2009, from $34 million to $17 million. Staff also has been slashed, with nearly 200 jobs out of a high of 550 or so lost in the past decade. There now are approximately 70 in the central office and 300 in the field.
"The people we have are efficient and work hard," Parrish said. "We're going to be smart with what we have and we're going to work with our partners."
That includes his own fellow cabinet member, Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt. "Bobby and I meet weekly with the governor to make sure our strategies are in alignment. Economic development and tourism have a lot in common. Most business people who decide to relocate to our state come here first as tourists, after all."
Reaching those tourists involves a mix of traditional and new media outreach. This year, PRT has about $8.2 million to spend in its marketing plan. That includes about $4.1 million on paid media, $1.1 million in Tourism Partnership Fund grants to local entities, and $550,000 for the S.C. Association of Tourism Regions, 11 separate direct marketing organizations.
"Our website also is very important and so are the electronic newsletters we produce," Parrish says. "We're also going to put a high emphasis on public relations."
Parrish says he plans to draw on the experience of his staff and his own. "I have a private business background and I know from my work with the CVB how government also can work to help promote tourism. We're going to work hard to put heads in beds and keep creating tourism jobs in South Carolina."