Augusta's growth rate leads Columbia, SC; Chattanooga, TN; and Cobb County, Athens, Macon and Savannah in GA in 2008 (Albany: sales, hotels)

[matrixguy]

Visitor and tourism spending up: More visitors spent more money in Augusta in 2007, helping fuel the area's economy. According to Smith Travel Research, Augusta's hotel occupancy rates increased 4 percent over the previous year.

Combined with a strong increase in average daily rate, hotel revenue grew by more than 10 percent, generating the same growth rate in local sales taxes on hotel rooms. When compared to our competition, Augusta's growth rate leads Columbia; Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Cobb County, Athens, Macon and Savannah in Georgia. Lucrative numbers such as these, supported by increased market demand, are driving new hotel construction in the Augusta area. Four new hotels are scheduled to open or complete major renovations in 2008, with capital expenditures topping $29 million.

The Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau worked with more than 350 conventions, meetings, reunions and events in 2007 whose delegates contributed more than $45 million in direct visitor spending to the Augusta economy.

The money visitors spend in our city supports businesses and employs an estimated 4,000 people in the local hospitality industry. The greatest benefit of visitor spending, however, is its contribution to Augusta's tax base, which reduces the local tax on every household in Augusta.

[Katsmeeyow]

I wish Albany had those kind of stats! They built the Civic Center here about 20 years ago, and honestly, I wonder if it ever even recouped the money spent on it! Oh well.

[mattdog]

Wow! Augusta is really doing good for itself. To beat chattanooga which is larger than augusta is a great acomplishment. Beating Columbia is not really a big deal since they're about the same size. But to crush White water in marietta, savannah a tourist town, and uga games in athens bringing thousand of visitors. That's shows augusta has a large number of people who visit and spend money in the city. Outside of master's week. There are alot of new hotels in the washington rd, riverwatch pkwy area. So there is a increase in the market demand for hotels in augusta.

[DisgustaTruth]

OK.. first of all.. there is no link to any article or reputable study or survey that supports or confirms this assertion..
A City's Convention and Visitors Bureau is hardly an unbiased and reliable source for this type of information... as it is in their interest to inflate numbers to make themselves look good.
And anyone who is suggesting that Augusta is receiveing more tourism dollars than Savannah is spouting off pure BS.
If you are going to make such grandious proclamations.. please back them up with some reputable sources. I find it interesting that none of this is mentioned in the Augusta Chronicle Business section.. I would think that such big news would deserve to be in the Augusta newspaper.

[DisgustaTruth]

Once again another misleading headline from the usual suspects..
Anyone who actually cares to do a little bit of research will see that Augusta's growth rate is not leading Savannah, Cobb County (are you kidding??),and Chattanooga.
It's one thing to be proud of your city.. OK we get that.. but it's another thing to post misleading and downright false information. I notice when these ppl keep making these boosterism posts they never back up their claims with "CREDIBLE" sources.

[matrixguy]

Originally Posted by DisgustaSucks

OK.. first of all.. there is no link to any article or reputable study or survey that supports or confirms this assertion..
A City's Convention and Visitors Bureau is hardly an unbiased and reliable source for this type of information... as it is in their interest to inflate numbers to make themselves look good.
And anyone who is suggesting that Augusta is receiveing more tourism dollars than Savannah is spouting off pure BS.
If you are going to make such grandious proclamations.. please back them up with some reputable sources. I find it interesting that none of this is mentioned in the Augusta Chronicle Business section.. I would think that such big news would deserve to be in the Augusta newspaper.

Get a life please you're never right about anything dealing with augusta. Here is the article since you love augusta chronicle so much.
Economic development notes 011408 - The Augusta Chronicle

[matrixguy]

Originally Posted by DisgustaSucks

Once again another misleading headline from the usual suspects..
Anyone who actually cares to do a little bit of research will see that Augusta's growth rate is not leading Savannah, Cobb County (are you kidding??),and Chattanooga.
It's one thing to be proud of your city.. OK we get that.. but it's another thing to post misleading and downright false information. I notice when these ppl keep making these boosterism posts they never back up their claims with "CREDIBLE" sources.

Bitter post about augusta from the usual suspect as always. Im starting to think you have never lived in augusta before. Or haven't live here for about 20 years or something. You said most of the new stores at augusta mall weren't open in a earlier post. Which is false by a long shot. You said augusta west pkwy is abandoned when it only has 2 vacancies. You said downtown was a ghost town which it never is. You're repeating a pattern of false bitterness.

[MayorOfMacon2019]

Im not sure what your saying is accurate matrixguy, I can understand Macon, and Athens, but I gurantee Augusta is not growing faster than Savannah, Columbia, Cobb County, GA and Chattanooga, TN.

[DisgustaTruth]

As usual.. numbers from the convention and visitors bureau which are not reliable and are often inflated. But lets say that hotel/motel occupency numbers did increase by 4% in Augusta in 2007 from 2006.. you can't use that and say that Augusta's tourism economy is stronger than places like Savannah and Chattanooga.. which have significant tourist economies.. Augusta does not.. with the exception of the masters for one week... so it doesn't take much to have a 4% increase in a place Augusta.. maybe a there were a couple of more family reunions that year in Augusta.. A better indicator would be to look at overal occupency rates.. What percentage of Augusta's rooms were filled in 2007 as compared to Savannah and Chattanooga?. that gives you a clearer picture of which cities have stronger tourism economies. BTW, I don't hate Augusta.. I hope one day it actually gets its act together and stops squandering its potential. Augusta can learn alot from similar sized cities like Greenville, SC and Chattanooga.. and maybe they will follow their lead. But I do detest when ppl post exaggerated and false claims to make their cioty look good and disparage others.

[DisgustaTruth]

I don't think it's a stretch to assume that matrixguy is our good old friend Johndoeboy.. pretty much the same exaggerated claims about Augusta. I know MayorofMacon is a big Macon booster and he is proud of his city, but atleast he keeps his posts accurate and doesn't make grandiose exaggerations. YOu can still be proud of your city without posting false information.