VisitGreenvilleSC rebrands, refocuses with new destination message

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A nonprofit organization focused on maximizing Greenville’s visitor economic growth while enhancing the quality of life for residents has decided to shift gears by embracing a rebrand.

VisitGreenvilleSC’s mission is to maximize the city’s visitor economy by developing and promoting “exceptional visitor experiences to elevate the quality of life and prosperity for the community.” To fulfill that mission, community partners are regularly testing and measuring performance to ensure continued success for the industry and the Greenville community.

In late 2022, the organization commissioned brand effectiveness research with its target audience — both leisure visitors and meeting planners. The research findings concluded that the messaging of "Yeah, THAT Greenville," which began in 2013, has been successful in differentiating Greenville from other Greenvilles, but there was a future opportunity to shift the position from which Greenville to why this Greenville.

In the last fiscal year, there were 213,000 engaged social media followers across all VisitGreenvilleSC platforms with the #yeahthatgreenville hashtag used more than 2.8 million times on Instagram alone.

Launching in the first quarter of 2024, the destination brand for Greenville will be evolving to align with the exponential growth the community has seen over the past decade to represent the current visitor experience. In the new brand anthem video, which was shared at the organization’s recent annual meeting, you can get a glimpse of the evolved look and feel of the new brand in addition to what makes Greenville a desirable destination for visitors.

“Our community is deeply rooted and forever down-to-Earth. We believe in protecting what’s special, embracing what’s new, and having fun along the way. So come taste it, hear it, feel it,” the narrator of the video said.

Not only has South Carolina seen all-time high hospitality and tourism growth, but specifically the Upstate has made a staggering economic impact locally in fiscal year 2023.

From July 2022 through June 2023, approximately seven million people visited Greenville, spending $1.5 billion in hotels, restaurants, shops, and other local businesses — a record high.

Heath Dillard, president and CEO of VisitGreenvilleSC said, “When people show up here they realize it’s not just a great place to visit but also a great place to live and it becomes an opportunity to attract talent in a wide variety of spaces. A great place to live is a great place to work, and when we have a great place to work, it’s a place that businesses will have to be. If it’s a place that businesses have to be, that will generate travel and tourism.”

He said they want to continue to grow tourism to continue to enhance the quality of life and prosperity of the community.

“We really do believe that going forward the work of the sales team aligns with the economy of the city, driving the right kind of leisure into the market,” said Dillard. “There are nearly 11,000 hotel rooms in Greenville on a nightly basis, so we want to continue to attract people in way that can sustain this level of business while growing in a way that is responsible to the needs of our community as well.”