Inside Perry, Georgia
Inside Perry, Georgia
Tourists Are Spending Millions in Perry & Here’s Why
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In this episode of the Inside Perry Podcast, we’re diving into the surprising impact tourism has on Perry’s economy and community.
Visit Perry Executive Director Anya Turpin joins us to discuss National Travel and Tourism Week and how visitors are spending millions in Perry each year, while supporting much more than hotels and restaurants.
We also talk about Perry’s growing reputation as more than just a stop along I-75, the role Historic Downtown Perry plays in attracting visitors, changing travel trends, hidden gems around the community, and how locals can help tell Perry’s story. Plus, hear about the “We Speak Perry” program, the Welcome Center, and what makes Perry stand out as a welcoming destination in Georgia.
This episode offers a fresh perspective on the community we call home.
Connect with Visit Perry on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Listen to Let's Go: A Visit Perry Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
Learn more at https://www.visitperry.com/
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Visit us at perry-ga.gov.
We hope to see you around in our amazing community...Where Georgia Comes Together.
Welcome Visit Perry And Tourism Week
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the Inside Perry Podcast, where you get an inside look at Perry, Georgia's local government. We're glad you chose Perry, where people make the difference. Whether you stay a few hours or a lifetime, your time in Perry will be rewarding and unforgettable. I'm Tabitha Clark, Communications Director for the City of Perry. And welcome to the Inside Perry podcast. We are talking about something that a lot of people don't really think about with Perry, but we are talking about travel and tourism week. And I have one of my very great friends and colleagues here, Anya Turpin, the executive director of VisitPary. Welcome, Anya. Hey Tabitha. Thanks for having me. So first off, tell me about VisitPary. What what are y'all?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so we are the Perry Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, but obviously that is a mouthful. So we we typically go by VisitPerry, but we are the destination marketing organization for the city of Perry. So we exist to advocate for tourism in Perry, to recruit tourism conventions, meetings, and events, and basically also to service locals too. We talk to a lot of new residents who are looking for things to do in Perry, and we love helping to connect them with all of the different assets, attractions, restaurants, retail shops, special events, and things to do in Perry.
SPEAKER_00And plus, the thing that I have noticed is a lot of the locals that have been here for a while don't know about all the aspects of Perry that you promote.
SPEAKER_02A lot of people do not know everything that's happening in Perry, myself included. There's a lot going on. It is hard to keep track of everything that's happening, especially the growth that we're seeing, not only in businesses, but also new events being added, things that are taking place in in and around the area. So it's it's a lot to keep track of, but we do our best to make sure that everybody stays informed.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. So for those who may not be familiar, what is National Travel and Tourism Week and why is it important to communities like Piri?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so National Travel and Tourism Week takes place in May every year, and it is an opportunity for destination marketing organizations across the country to celebrate the impact that they have on their communities and celebrate all of the people in the tourism and hospitality industry locally who help to make the visitor experience was what it is for people who are visiting. It's an opportunity to celebrate the impact that tourism has. And a lot of people don't realize it. But tourism does not just impact people when they're on vacation. It helps you in your daily life. It offsets taxes that people would pay. It helps to support local businesses and keep businesses afloat. There's a lot of things that people who live in Perry get to enjoy that they may not realize circles back to tourism. So it's an opportunity to advocate, to tell that story, and just to celebrate travel because who doesn't love to take a vacation? Oh, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So, what types of visitors are we typically welcoming to Perry?
SPEAKER_02It really depends. Perry is really fortunate where we are situated. Obviously, if you're not familiar with the geography of Perry, Georgia, we are located very much in the middle of the state. We sit directly off Interstate 75 with four exits, and we have immediate access to downtown. And so for locals, we might take that for granted. But what you don't realize, especially as I have gone and traveled around Georgia or the Southeast, there are a lot of communities who are similar to Perry, but they sit 20, 30, even 45 minutes off of the interstate. Sure. And so people really do have to kind of, you know, strategically go out of their way to find these destinations. Perry is very fortunate in the fact that we have grown immediately off of Interstate 75. Our downtown sits less than a mile off of the Interstate. You can literally take your exit. And even if you're not spending the night in Perry, which we hope that you do, you can still enjoy, you know, a unique meal that you can't get at home, some shopping experiences that you can't get at home. And it is a very easy destination to get to. So we do see a lot of visitors come just as a happenstance from traveling Interstate 75, whether they're on their way to the cruise ships or to visit the mouse down in Orlando or they're going back home to the north, it does make a very easy place for people to stop. We also see a lot of people shopping downtown, dining downtown. Downtown is a huge asset to Perry. We are the only historic downtown in Houston County, and we're very proud of that fact. Uh downtown is growing, it is thriving. And that is also something that when you go to other rural communities throughout the Southeast and probably the nation, you can't say that about every downtown. There's a lot of boarded up windows, there's a lot of vacancies, there's a lot of, you know, just not growth. Right. And so while growth is always a complicated thing, some people love it, some people not so much. We get really excited to see the growth in downtown and to see the sustainability of the businesses. And that does come a lot from the visitors. And then of course the Georgia National Fairgrounds brings a lot of people as well, both, you know, for their local events, but then also for their national and international competitions. So we kind of have a one, two, three punch in terms of tourism. And Perry really does pack a strong tourism role that I think a lot of our locals might not see because we take advantage of it. We see it every day.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. So what do you think makes Perry a destination rather than just a stop along the way, as you were talking about earlier?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I think one of the things that I love the most about Perry is how simple our community is. It's very easy to navigate, it's not stressful. Free parking, you know, a lot of the events that take place are free. It's a very family-friendly community. Everybody immediately feels when they get off the interstate and they get into Perry, we hear a lot that they can let their guard down. They can kind of take that deep breath of like, I'm here. You know, especially once you've come through Atlanta traffic or you've been on the road for a long time. It's just kind of that breath of fresh air. And so I think that Perry offers a very special place for visitors to stop. And whether they are recharging for the next leg of their trip or they want to spend a couple of days here and really soak in all of the different restaurants and retail shops downtown, pair it with a festival or event and really take their time. There's also a lot of hidden things that you might not realize you can do in Perry. It's very interesting to talk to locals who have lived here for years and have never been to Heritage Oaks Park or have never been to the fairgrounds outside of the Georgia National Fair. So pause, take some time, really like build out what you're gonna do while you're here because there is a lot that's happening and it's very easy to overlook some of those hidden gems.
Hotel Motel Tax And Real Savings
SPEAKER_00Oh, sure. So we talked about how tourism kind of we hit on a little bit about how tourism supports the local economy and small businesses like historic downtown Perry. Can you expand on how the economic impact also furthers that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I brought some numbers with me because I will be the first one to say on record numbers are not my strong point. But I do my best. Uh so one of the things that I really love telling people about, especially whenever it comes to them asking about VisitPerry, is that we are not funded by local resident tax, sales tax, property tax, business taxes. We are funded entirely through something called a hotel-motel tax. So everything that we do at VisitPeri, from our salaries to our operations to our advocacy and marketing projects, all of that is paid from hotel-motel tax, which is collected through the hotels, but it is paid by the visitors. So if you are someone who, let's say you're going from Canada to Florida, you're a snowbird and you stop in Parry overnight, you're gonna pay an 8% sales tax on or a hotel-motel tax on that room that you stay in. And of that 8%, a portion of it goes to us as the destination marketing organization for the city. And so with that money, we are able to place ads, do digital marketing, do all of the different things that we do to advocate for tourism in Perry. But I really want to drive home that that is not the local residents who are paying those taxes, that is not the local businesses who are paying those taxes. And the state of Georgia actually helps us out every year with an economic report that breaks down even further the basically the tourism tax relief that's generated. And so for 2024, because that is the most recent data that we had, every household in Houston County saved approximately$411 in taxes that were generated by tourism economic activity. And so that's substantial. Visitors spent over$57 million in Perry in 2025, and that's a combination of lodging and hotels, restaurants and retail shops, groceries, gas, but all of that money helps to keep our businesses afloat. Every dollar that a visitor is spending here helps our businesses to keep their doors open, to grow, to pay their staff salaries. And so that's a really important factor. It also supports jobs. So there's over 3,500 jobs that are generated through tourism in Houston County. And we love to celebrate our workforce that we have. We've got a lot of great people who work in our restaurants, our hotels, our retail shops. And we are a team of two people at Visit Perry plus our board. There is no way that we can interact with every single visitor who comes through. So we really appreciate the workforce that we have in our hospitality and tourism industry and all that they do to impact the visitor experience.
Promoting Perry On The Road
SPEAKER_00Lovely. So what might surprise people about the work that goes into promoting Perry as a destination?
SPEAKER_02Um, it it is interesting. So we do a lot of trade shows, we do a lot of conventions, and we go and actually set up outside of Perry very frequently. And I do find it funny that regardless of where we are, whether we are in South Florida promoting something or we are, you know, just around the corner in Reynolds, we do typically run into people who live in Houston County or Perry and they'll come up to our booth and be like, what the heck's Perry doing here? Um, but we we think it's very important that we get our message out. The more that people know that Perry exists and that Perry is a perfect choice for people who are traveling along I-75 or looking for a stop to add along their trip, or just want to take a weekend trip, a girls' trip, the more that we advocate for Perry and get that name in people's minds, the more likely it is that they will choose us whenever they're planning their next trip. So I think the most surprising thing that we hear, especially from either locals who've lived here for a long time, or people who visited maybe 20 years ago for a class field trip at the Georgia National Fair, but haven't been back since, is just how much Perry has grown and how much value has been added to the visitor experience here. Uh, I love personally talking to people who have only come to Perry for the Georgia National Fair. And while that's great and we want you to come back for that, I love being able to tell them about that is, you know, just a little bit. Yeah, that's 11 days out of the year, the whole year. Let me tell you about what happens, those other 300. And like I said, I'm not good at math, but all those other days.
Partnerships And We Speak Perry
SPEAKER_00That's right. Yeah. So you talked about partnerships and things like that. So, what role do partnerships play, especially with the city and local businesses with Visit Perry?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so we have community partners, and I would say that our strongest community partnership is with the City of Perry. We are housed inside of Perry City Hall. That is where our welcome center operates out of, and we're very grateful to be in that facility, especially in the heart of downtown, where we can be really close with our local businesses downtown and partners. The City of Perry also helps us with, you know, our day-to-day task operations in terms of um personnel, finances, and those types of things. But in terms of physical, you know, how are those partnerships presented to the average local person? We work very closely with the economic development department, with Perry Main Street. We try to promote all of the things that the city of Perry does for their special events. All of those assets are huge things that we would not be able to promote Perry if we did not have a strong downtown, the special events calendar that the city of Perry puts out, the different restaurants, retail shops that economic development help to support. We also work very closely with the Georgia National Fairgrounds to promote things that are happening out there, their activities. I think it's I think it is a constant statement that we hear from people that they have no idea just how much goes on in Perry. Uh, whether it is something, you know, happening out at leisure services, whether it's something happening out at the fairgrounds, whether it's, you know, a restaurant downtown that just decided to host a bingo night or a karaoke night, there truly is so much that's going on that even if you are just the visitor who's passing through on a Tuesday night, connect with us and we will more than likely be able to connect you with something to do or something to enjoy while you're here. So those partnerships are very important. And we also work very closely with not just our official community partners, but the businesses, the restaurants, the attractions, and try to make sure as much as possible that we have the most accurate information so that we can tell their story to the visitors and make sure that they're getting the best impression of Perry when they come.
SPEAKER_00So you mentioned before that everyone plays a role in tourism. So what does that look like for residents and what are some simple ways that they can help support tourism in Perry?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a great question. So I would say going back to talking about how small our team is, like I said, we are a team of two and we've got a board of nine. And even with that number, there's no way that we are going to interact with every single visitor who comes here, or maybe people who aren't even here. You know, you might be on vacation somewhere and talking with someone about where you're from. And I think it really does just coming back to knowing about your community, being engaged, having the information that you need to speak confidently about Perry. Um, we offer a free program called We Speak Perry, and it is a three-hour course that we lead in combination with some of our community partners. And it is, it's meant to help people combat what we call the nothing response because there is nothing that we it breaks our heart when we hear people say that there's nothing to do in Perry. And so we want to make sure that people are armed with the resources that they need to confidently answer questions about why should I visit Perry? What is there to do in Perry? What should I do while I'm here? I'm gonna be there for a week, you know, visiting my family, or I'm gonna be there for a week because my husband has this job in central Georgia and I'm tagging along. What can I do? The last thing we want to hear is people say nothing. Exactly. So everyone who comes through that course, it is completely free. They leave with a t-shirt, they leave with a certificate, but they become certified local linguists. And what we do is we teach them to confidently speak about Perry, just speak the language of where they live. And so we would encourage everybody to sign up for one of those courses. But really, at the end of the day, it's just being involved and then being open to learning about your community and following social media, website, those types of things, but really just kind of tuning into what's happening around you because there is a lot of noise out there. Sure. It's very hard, as you know, to cut through that noise. But the more informed you are about what's happening in your community, the better you are going to be able to advocate for why people should live here, move here, visit here, all of the things that we want to see Perry continue to grow and thrive.
New Hotels And Changing Travel Trends
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And we will in the show notes, we'll link, of course, to your social media and your website and everything. That way people can get, you know, the download as far as when the next We Speak is. It's a great program. So looking ahead, what are you most excited about right now when it comes to tourism in Perry?
SPEAKER_02I think I'm definitely most excited about the growth. Uh, specifically in the past year, we've had three new hotel properties open and that's super exciting. Two of those properties have meeting space adjacent to or in their facility. And so that opens a new door for recruitment of meetings, conventions, professional conferences, and things like that. Those are assets that we definitely need in Perry and we love to see that direction growing. I also just think in general that travel is always changing and travel is evolving. And so we are constantly monitoring trends in travel. And right now, what we are finding is that given the general economic situation, a lot of people are looking for either off-the-beaten path travels, more rural destinations, or just easier visits. Maybe not everybody can afford or want to go international right now for travel. Or maybe they've already done those things and they're looking for something a little bit different, a little bit more authentic. And so we are really excited to take full advantage of being that rural, authentic, off-the-beaten path, but still convenient, still safe, still very accessible, very affordable. A trip to Perry is not going to break the bank. It's not going to require months and months and months of research. And it's going to be very personal from us helping you plan your trip to the restaurants. Their chefs are going to be there. The owners are going to be in the retail shops. A lot of our downtown shops have somewhat celebrity type people in it. But you can come and actually meet them and talk to them. So everything about a trip to Perry is very accessible. And I'm excited to see that, you know, more rural travel is getting a spotlight right now. And we've planned to take full advantage of that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I notice I sound like this, but you know, the older I get, I always go down to Florida. We love Florida, you know, we love the beach, things like that. But I realize that especially in Georgia, I I haven't really, except for like Atlanta and the occasional things, you really need to explore what you have right here, too.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Yeah, definitely. We hear that all the time that a lot of people take advantage of what's right in their own backyard. It's very easy to take it for granted. Yes. Uh, but yeah, even to our locals who are listening, go and explore our neighbors. We work very closely with a lot of destination marketing organizations across the state of Georgia. And one of the things that I love about travel is that for the average person, it is not a finite resource. Most people can take more than one weekend trip a year. Most people can take a day trip every month if they just want to get out and explore. So to our local listeners who live in Perry, go out and explore our neighbors, support the cities around us and go, you know, explore what's near you. To our listeners who may be listening to neighboring cities, come see Perry, come shop in our shops, eat in our restaurants. But tourism is one of those things that you don't have to pick this or that, especially whenever it comes to localized tourism like this, where you're not spending thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02We want people to come to Perry and we want them to come again and again and again. Don't just do this once because this is a constantly growing and evolving community that I've only lived here for going on eight years, and it has already changed so much. And there's so many new and exciting things. There are places that I still have yet to eat at or shop at. So don't just come to Perry one time, check it off your list and say, Well, did that. Don't have to do that again. All right. Come back. It's so different in the fall than it is in the spring. It's so different during this event versus that event. So come back and experience it in different seasons, try different restaurants, stay in different hotels. We've got a lot of different options. So each trip can feel a little bit different.
SPEAKER_00I love it. So as we're closing up, let's talk a little bit too about the Welcome Center. Um, so tell me about where people can find it, what the experience they have when they walk in there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So the Welcome Center, if you're a longtime visitor to Perry, you probably think that our Welcome Center is still located near the Georgia National Fairgrounds, directly on 75. We were out there for a while, but like I said, travel is a constantly evolving thing. And so that space just got a little bit too large for our needs. And we were invited to move into downtown Perry with the city of Perry inside their city hall building. And so we took advantage of that opportunity to be right in the heart of downtown. And we love it. It's so accessible. It's inside of Perry City Hall. It's open Monday through Friday from eight to five. It matches city hall hours. And inside of it, we have public restrooms in there, air conditioning, which is a great exit in Georgia. Yep. But we've also got a small seating area. If you just need to take a break, if you're trying to figure out where to go next, we've got a ton of local brochures. If you want to look at our local restaurants, things to do. We've obviously got our destination guide, the state of Georgia travel guide. We've got a lot of really great publications, both from Houston County organizations as well as, you know, community partners and things like that. And then if you're a local who maybe you want to plan your first trip to Jekyll or you want to go up to the North Georgia Mountains and visit our friends in LJ, we have information on that too. So we definitely do service the visitors first and foremostly. But we also want to make sure that our locals know that we are a resource for them as well. We love seeing people who come in who are looking to possibly move to Perry. We have a lot of people who stop by and are just like, hey, we're just kind of exploring the community, meeting with a real estate agent later. Figured we'd stop in and have lunch in downtown. You know, while they're in our welcome center, we're hearing their whole story about how did you pick Perry and tell us about that journey. We also meet a lot of people who are, you know, coming back to Perry. Oh, I grew up here and now I don't even know where to start because it feels so different. So different. Yes. So the Welcome Center, it's completely free to visit. We have a lot of really great resources. We do have people who will come in and say, Oh, I'm a real estate agent and I want to pick up some special events magnets for putting on the fridges when people buy a house in Perry. Or, you know, we have groups that will come in, family reunions, meetings and events and things like that. We've got some stickers, some buttons.
SPEAKER_00I was about to say, you have to talk about the really fun stuff because I love how creative you are. Thank you. We have a lot of fun with it.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah, we we've made a whole line of what we call localisms. And it's things that kind of if you know, you know, but it's meant to inspire curiosity and kind of cultivate those conversations of I I love the way this looks, but I don't quite get what it means. And so, you of all people, you know Bob the Buzzard. We love telling his story. We love talking about the buzzards on the water tower, but it's really just a way that we draw people to our table with free things. Everybody loves free swag, but we learned very quickly that we didn't want to give out the same cheapies that people are that people are importing from overseas. And while all those things are great, sure. didn't want to kind of get washed out, especially when we go to trade shows, because once you've gotten 10 koozies or 10 chapsticks or 10 pens that tell no story, you've kind of forgotten. But if people come to our table and they pick up a couple buttons and are like, I don't understand what this means, next thing you know, they're standing there for 15 or 20 minutes and you're laughing, you're telling a story. It's a really, really great opportunity to kind of keep them longer and make sure that they walk away learning something about Perry. Whether they are locals, we've had a lot of people who are locals come up and still not understand some of the references. And it is always so fun when someone does get it and we're like, oh yeah, you're certified by local. You you earn that one. Yep. That's right. But yeah, all of those assets that we provide are completely free and we we love being able to give those out. And once again, that all circles back to it's not you as the residents paying for these services, it's hotel-motel tax, and that is given by the visitors, and so we want to give back to the visitors by giving them a free postcard, a free button, a free sticker, something to take home with them at the end of the day.
Where To Follow And Subscribe
SPEAKER_00Well, Anya, y'all do an excellent job over there, and people don't really understand or really think, you know, if they're not involved in it, about how important tourism is to the city of Perry and making it, you know, a destination for people, like you said, even if it's just a day trip. So as we close out, tell me where we can find you and how to follow you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so we're on social media. We are on Instagram and Facebook, just at VisitPerry. Our website's very easy. It's visitperry.com. We have a YouTube channel, VisitPerry. And if you're a local, I would encourage you to either come to the Welcome Center or the next time the city has an event downtown, we typically do set up at those. We bring our mobile welcome center out, we activate a whole bunch of different, you know, giveaways and information, and we love talking to people. That's literally what we do. My personal favorite button and sticker that we have is one that says introverted but willing to discuss Perry Georgia. Same. Because both of us at the Visit Perry team are definitely introverted personalities. But when you get us talking about Perry or tourism, we will light up, we'll talk your head off.
SPEAKER_01It's a passion.
SPEAKER_02It is, yeah. So all day come and talk to us about Perry, ask us your questions, give us your feedback, especially if you are local and you have ideas about tourism assets in our community. You have an idea for a new localism button, or you want to get involved in WeSpeak, or you want to volunteer in some capacity, we can put you, we can match you with the right people. We have people reach out and say, hey, I want to be a vendor. We don't necessarily host events, right? But we are more than happy to connect you with the right person. We love playing matchmaker. So yeah, follow us on social, but also just come see us in person. We love talking to people.
SPEAKER_00And then, of course, you need to give a shameless plug for your own podcast.
SPEAKER_02I wasn't gonna steal anybody's function.
SPEAKER_00We're gonna leave that as well. So tell me about the podcast.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so we we do have a podcast. It's called Let's Go, and it is a Visit Perry podcast on a lot of the whatever platform you're listening to. This one, I would hope that we're on that one as well. But it's it's a little bit different. We don't have a consistent it releases, you know, every single week or anything like that, but we have covered all sorts of different topics from restaurants to retail shops to hotels to special events. Um, we just really enjoy kind of telling the story of the assets that Perry has. So some of them are evergreen. You can go back and listen, and their story is still the same. Some of them, you know, are evolving. It just depends. But we would definitely encourage you to listen. And if you have an idea of something that you want to hear on the podcast, please reach out and let us know.
SPEAKER_00That sounds wonderful. It is an excellent podcast, and we will link it. So, well, Anya, have a very happy travel and tourism week, and thank you for everything you do for Perry. Thank you for having us. Thanks for listening to the Inside Perry Podcast, your inside look at Perry's local government. Take a look at the show notes for more information about today's episode. If you like Inside Perry, we encourage you to subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family. We look forward to seeing you around in our amazing community where Georgia comes together.