Andy Clinton has been tapped as the permanent CEO of Visit York County.
Clinton — a York County native — had served as interim president and CEO since February, following the departure of former chief executive Billy Dunlap. Clinton joined Visit York County in 2012, holding a number of positions during his tenure, including senior vice president of sales.
“York County is home for me, and I’m honored to lead this organization and continue to promote this community,” Clinton says. “I think we’re in a great position in this post-Covid era to really thrive.”
Visit York County works to raise the profile and boost the economy of York County through tourism and destination marketing, while also contributing to the quality of life for residents.
As interim CEO, Clinton developed a strategic plan for Visit York County that looks to streamline marketing efforts and recruit events in new sectors. It will continue to develop strategic public-private partnerships. That includes building connectivity with higher education institutions to help address workforce needs, and utilizing strong partnerships with Fort Mill, Rock Hill and the chamber to target destination development.
Clinton says the area is trending toward needing more hotels; a number of projects stalled during Covid.
Clinton recently spoke with the Charlotte Business Journal about his CEO role. Following are edited excerpts:
How do you put your stamp on the organization as CEO?
I recently did a strategic plan that we have in place for the next three years. I really want to focus and hone in on a lot of our digital marketing efforts. Marketing changes daily. We need to be able to continue to evolve. We’re putting a lot of effort from staff — and financially — into that digital marketing and especially video-based content. We understand that workforce needs to be a priority, not only with our organization but working with the chamber and working with the municipalities to make sure that we’re doing our part to help build the workforce within the restaurant and hospitality industry as a whole. We’re finally starting to come out of Covid, where you’re starting to see some meetings and conferences starting to take place. So, focusing on that and focusing on other sports like cross country, is an initiative for us. Esports has become a focal point of everybody in that sports tourism realm as well.
What role does Visit York County play?
We’re kind of the hidden ingredient that people don’t necessarily see when you’re in a community. When you speak of larger destinations — Charleston’s a good example — you think tourism. You might not think tourism when you first bring up York County, but we have 30-plus hotels in this area. We have lots of restaurants. We have lots of meetings and conferences and sports events that come throughout the year to our county. Our role is to get visitors to come to York County and then once they come here, give them ideas on what they’re going to do. We’re on pace for $100 million in economic impact and 200,000 total room nights for the entire county this fiscal year.
How does sports tourism fit into your efforts?
It’s definitely a big driver. A lot of credit goes to (the) city of Rock Hill and its Parks, Recreation and Tourism. They’ve done a great job building facilities. Another good one to tout is the United States Disc Golf Championships. People don’t even realize that Innova is one of the largest Disc Golf manufacturers in the world and their East Coast location is in Rock Hill. Opportunities like that continue to really support that sports-tourism effort. Cornhole is similar to Innova where America Cornhole League has their manufacturing headquarters in Rock Hill, and they also host their championships in Rock Hill.
Any opportunities for growth?
We’re working with municipalities to figure out the best way to take advantage of the Catawba River, whether that’s tubing or kayaks. We want to harness that more. I think there’s a lot of growth potential and I think that’s a need as far as how to we continue to develop and promote the Catawba River and how to do that appropriately. Another one I see as a huge opportunity, the county purchased Catawba Bend Preserve. We want to continue to work with them. I think they see it similar to a greenway, where you’re going to have hiking and biking and camping opportunities, and it’s right off the Catawba River. I see cross country there. I see a lot of opportunities where we can market mountain biking and hiking. There’s tons of opportunity.
Thoughts on the Carolina Panthers decision not to move forward with their Rock Hill facility?
We understand that the Carolina Panthers are a huge asset to this entire region. We continue to support them. We still realize that we have a lot to offer — York County as a whole. It’s growing. The Charlotte metro region is growing so much.
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