With mountains, lakes, parks and trails that many locals often take for granted, the natural beauty of the Upstate is a compelling argument that it is located in a favored corner of the planet.
Sharing that message with the wider world is the job of several tourism promotion organizations whose success is gauged by the number of visitors who come to the area for events or attractions, stay in hotels, eat at restaurants and spend money in local shops.
It sounds like a straightforward idea, but a lot of thought, time and effort is expended by the teams at Visit Anderson, VisitGreenvilleSC and OneSpartanburg, Inc. – the three largest Upstate tourism-related economic development organizations – to translate that idea into visitors seeking a meaningful experience.
The leaders of each of those organizations recently shared insights into their work and the necessary level of collaboration between them to get tourists and tourist dollars to the Upstate.
Sell what you have
It may seem glaringly obvious, but successful tourism promotion has to begin with an understanding of what assets you have to offer.
Visit Anderson Executive Director Neil Paul said for his team it meant recognizing Lake Hartwell as the single greatest recreational and quality of life asset in Anderson County.
During his decade-long tenure at Visit Anderson, this fact has been the focus of much of his agency’s efforts and has been the foundation of their success. That success was underscored by the February announcement of the 2027 return of the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic fishing tournament to the region.
The event is being co-hosted by Visit Anderson and VisitGreenvilleSC and recognizes what assets both organizations and the communities they represent bring to the table.
As Paul explained, Anderson County offers anglers access to a beautiful lake through the 33-acre Green Pond Landing, both anchored in an enthusiastic and supportive community. Greenville offers large venues like the Bon Secours Wellness Arena and the Palmetto Expo Center plus hotels, restaurants and a vibrant downtown.
That combination proved irresistible to tournament organizers.
“There are boat ramps all over the country, but there’s only one Green Pond,” Paul said. “That, in itself, has been a tremendous economic driver for us from a tourism standpoint.”
For VisitGreenvilleSC President and CEO Heath Dillard, landing the fishing tournament represented the power of collaboration.
“I’m a big believer that we are greater than the sum of our individual parts,” Dillard said.
He pointed to another collaboration between his agency and OneSpartanburg to recruit amateur baseball and softball tournaments to Tyger River Park in Duncan.
Billy Dunlap, OneSpartanburg’s chief tourism officer, said the joint effort has proven highly successful as it pairs Spartanburg County’s ballfields and facilities with the Greenville area’s greater number of hotels and restaurants.
Dunlap said about half of visitors coming to Tyger River Park for a tournament will stay in Greenville hotels.
“So we’re recruiting events as a region,” Dunlap said.
Paul added that one important reason such collaborations are successful is how incredibly mobile modern society has become. Visitors may land in the region because of a fishing or softball tournament but are willing to drive for 30 or 45 minutes to find a great restaurant or park or countless other points of attraction.
“We’re so much more mobile now, which has provided an experience in itself that people don’t see those (boundary) lines and are willing to move,” Paul said.
‘Visitors don’t see boundaries’
A native of Moncks Corner, Paul said just as Charleston is the “cool” tourism magnet that draws people to the Lowcountry, Greenville is often the draw that gets people to the Upstate.
Dillard said his team recognizes the role Greenville plays in amplifying tourism across the region and strives to create a positive halo effect, namely that a good experience in Greenville can help foster a favorable view of the broader Upstate.
“Visitors don’t see boundaries, they see experiences,” Dillard said. “And so when we’re able to think bigger than the municipal lines, we’re able to put together a more attractive destination to recruit events to our region.”
Dillard and Dunlap also pointed to another increasingly key aspect of attracting visitors to the region – talent recruitment and economic development. Both said they’ve had many conversations with their economic development counterparts and heard stories of people who came to the region as tourists, fell in love with the area and decided to move here.
In many cases, those people not only brought their families but also their companies.
“Tourism can be a catalyst for broader economic development and economic growth,” particularly as our communities continue to evolve, Dillard said.
“I think the future of economic development is a chase for talent,” he added. “And the things that people want in a place to call home, a place to raise a family, to start a business, to start a career, are oftentimes many of those same amenities that people want in a great travel destination.”
Tourism dollars and sense
Much of the logic behind tourism promotion is economic and success is defined, in part, by the financial impact for local communities. Here are some of the numbers tourism promotion agencies have reported as a testament to that success:
- Tourism generated $2.5 billion in economic impact in Greenville County alone in 2024, according to VisitGreenvilleSC’s 2025 annual report.
- The 2022 Bassmaster Classic tournament pumped $25.5 million into the regional economy and drew nearly 155,000 visitors to the region for that single event.
- Direct spending by visitors contributed $40 million to Spartanburg County’s economy in 2025, according to OneSpartanburg Inc.
Good to know: Tourism taxes
There are two main taxes designed to capture revenue from visitors, and state law requires revenue from those taxes be spent on tourism-related promotion and infrastructure like parks, trails and other recreational amenities that benefit visitors and residents alike. Those taxes are:
- Accommodations tax — collected by state and local governments on hotels and lodging
- Hospitality tax — collected by state and local governments on food and beverage establishments
