former president and CEO, Southeast Tourism Society
How does it feel to be retired?
Retirement is wonderful, but I haven’t fully retired. I stay busy every day working on my business projects. Some of the great benefits of being retired are that you set your own pace, you can get up when you want to, you can spend more time with your close friends on trips and dinner dates, you can become more involved with projects at your church and with community projects, and most importantly, more time with your family.
How has the industry changed?Internet technology has made a complete change in the way we market our industry. Even with this technology, it still takes a personal touch to create the needed publicity and promotions in our newspapers, magazines, radio and television. You still can’t put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to travel advertising and promotion.
Where did the idea of a regional tourism association come from?The idea was formed in the middle 1960s, at the DATO meetings (Discover America Travel Organization, now the U.S. Travel Association). We had a chance to meet the travel directors from other Southeastern states. We were always in conversation about budgets and building welcome centers, mainly about projects we were doing to promote tourism to our respective states. At our Georgia Governor’s Conference on Tourism in 1965, I invited several Southern travel directors to be our guests at the conference. The day after the conference, we began planning for the travel directors to start a regional association.
At the end of that day, six of the states were ready to sign on the dotted line, and invitations were ready to go to other states asking them to join. A nominating committee was selected to find a name for the organization to be discussed at our next meeting. The name that was selected was the Southern Travel Directors Council, and the organization was formed. The STDC was later named Travel South USA, the name we were using as our advertising theme, and the name still used by the tourism directors in the South for their organization.
I always attended the Pow Wow’s that the U.S. Travel Association sponsored. The travel industry leaders from the Southeast there regularly asked, "When is our industry going to start a private sector organization?" I had a company named Hardman Productions, which produced the Atlanta Camping and R.V. Shows, and travel exhibitors were asking the same question. Many of those asking that question served on the private sector advisory board of Travel South, which we created in the early 1970s. Travel South had discontinued its advisory board, and we saw the need for the private sector to start a new organization.
At the 1983 PowWow, I started contacting some of those who had expressed their interest, including Ed Stone, an old friend from Callaway Gardens in Georgia who then was with Opryland. After many calls, we convened a meeting in Atlanta at the Atlanta Hilton Hotel. Sixteen travel executives from the southeast attended. The Southeast Tourism Society was born at that meeting. It was a great beginning for the STS family.
What was the biggest challenge creating Southeast Tourism Society?The biggest challenge was the many projects we were involved in our first year, with only Dorothy (my wife) and me in the office, which was in the basement of our Atlanta home. During the first 12 months at STS, we had two meetings for our members, organized the Hoedown in Washington and created the Top 20 Events in the Southeast. We worked with USTTA and started familiarization tours for foreign journalists, created the Dixie Gold Circle and created a marketing slogan and plan called the Stunning Sunning Southeast. We also created the largest photo contest in history. Kodak and Southern Living Magazine were partners in that contest. We also created a Community Development Award and a research and marketing committee. We had excellent cooperation from all of our committees.
What do you feel the industry is currently missing the boat or lacking?As far as the travel industry in the South, we need a better plan to lobby our cities, counties, states and Congress on the needs of tourism. The private sector and the public sector should lobby to revive our budgets for tourism marketing.
It was SICKENING to see the huge percentage the Southeast state budgets that have been cut by our legislators. It was also worrisome to see the dollars for some of our welcome centers being cut back and our state parks being closed. Our legislators should be told daily that the tourism dollar changes hands seven times. I know that we got our legislators in Georgia back in the 1960s to enact a local bed tax to be used 100 percent locally by CVBs and local chambers to promote tourism in their towns or counties. Now, much of the tax revenue is been eaten up by local governments for other needs. What a shame! The travel industry should never have permitted that to happen.
You are considered a giant in travel and tourism circles. You were the Chairman of the Board for TIA/U.S. Travel Association, you were the first State Tourism Director for Georgia and you helped create the Georgia World Congress Center. What was the secret to your efficacy and longevity?AMBITION – I love to create projects and follow through until that mission is accomplished. As Georgia’s first tourism director, one of the first projects I wanted to do was to build welcome centers at Georgia’s borders. My job was to get the help of the governor and our legislators.
For years, our governors and the legislators were very helpful in financing our projects, including our marketing campaigns in Georgia, the U.S. and overseas. Knowing who to work with to make things happen is of prime importance.
My job as a lobbyist for the Georgia World Congress Center was the result of knowing the leaders of the legislature. It took three years to convince them of the needs of the World Congress Center and to get funding.
I was the first Georgian to serve on the board of a national tourism organization, the Travel Industry Association of America (now U.S. Travel). For two years I served as board chairman, but I worked my way up the ladder, serving as a committee chair, treasurer and vice president. I believe you get back from an organization what you contribute to that organization.
I love being on the board of U.S. Travel and have been on the board for 45 years, which I understand is a record. Some of my closest friends are the members I have served with on that Board.
For those new to the industry, what words of advice would you offer?Give 100 percent attention and love to your job in the travel industry. Record your great thoughts and carry a yellow pad of paper with you everywhere you go. Leave it by your bedside table, because you never know when a brilliant thought will come! Continue with your tourism education – for instance, our great STS Marketing College. Get involved in local, state, regional and national tourism organizations. You can learn from others every day. Love your work 365 days a year.
You basically started a whole new chapter in your life at the age of 80; comment on that if you don’t mind.When I turned 80, I inherited 14 new family members plus a dog named Jazz! The reason – I married Helen Fincher, a past chairman of the board of STS. Helen was one of Dorothy’s closest friends. Being by myself for four years was a lonesome feeling after Dorothy died, and Helen brought a new beginning of happiness in my life. Since both of us have always been involved in the tourism and hospitality field, it was a perfect match. We love to travel, and some of our favorite trips have been to Las Vegas, the Kentucky Derby, the Southeast beaches and seeing Broadway shows.
How do you fill your time now?Time is precious. Retirement time means relaxing; retirement time means enjoying every minute of the day and not operating under pressure.
I belong to several boards and involve myself in community and church projects. We love outdoor grilling on our “Big Green Egg,” having guests in for dinner and enjoying our family and the grandkids.
We are still thankful for our great STS family, who call and visit us. It is very meaningful to see the up-and-coming leaders of the Southeast tourism industry in our home in Dahlonega during STS Marketing College each year, and we are thankful for the STS staff, small though it is, which continues to do so many great projects for tourism in the Southeast.
You may reach Bill and Helen Hardman at fincher1@alltel.net.
Bill will be roasted by the The Dahlonega Sunrise Rotary Club and the Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber of Commerce in May. For mor information click here.