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return on investment of that magnitude, there’s no reason why we
shouldn’t invest more.”
The Restaurant Industry
study committee on tourism recommends that the money be redirected
toward tourism marketing. There
has also been proposed legislation
that would create a $5 rental car fee
that would go toward tourism.
However, Hardman believes the
state has done a great job promoting tourism with the limited funds
available. “Yet we’re not growing at
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the rate other states are growing.
If we continue to lose these large,
citywide events, our industry will
start to crumble. We need to stay
ahead of that curve.”
For every dollar spent on tourism marketing, there is a guaranteed $8 in return, Hardman says.
“That’s not an economic impact.
That’s actual. When you have a
The COVID-19 pandemic really
did a number on the restaurant
industry because it’s much more
sensitive than many businesses to
changes in the economy.
“Restaurants are on the front
edge of indicators of what the
economy is going to look like,” says
Scott Bierman, vice president of
government affairs of the Georgia
Restaurant Association. “Stability is
the number one need for our folks.
They are all resourceful. They are
all smart but they want to know
what they are dealing with.”
The pandemic was, of course,
the complete opposite of stability
when the entire economy literally
shut it down. The industry in Georgia was coming off two good years,
2018 and 2019 before the bottom
