Although FIFA activities will be centered around Atlanta, Destination Augusta jumped on the opportunity to sell the Garden City to those millions of tourists visiting to watch the World Cup competition. It is part of the “Make Yourself at Home in Georgia” campaign.
“We participated in a cooperative advertising placement, digital advertising placement in the United Kingdom, which is one of our biggest international markets for the state of Georgia, alongside Canada and Germany,” Karen Lee Davis, Chief Marketing Officer with Destination Augusta, told ABD. “Those who are going to be enjoying matches in Atlanta are going to have some time on their hands between matches, and so we’re hoping to inspire those people to take these day trips, or these weekend trips, as they explore the state and the region, and check out Augusta.”
In less than a week, the Georgia General Assembly 2026 session gets underway in Atlanta. In the countdown to the session, members of the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee looked at how investments in marketing impact the state’s ability to attract tourists.
Currently, Georgia invests $11 million annually in tourism. Of that amount, just $4 million is spent on marketing.
By comparison, Michigan spent $40 million for its Pure Michigan national marketing campaign. That resulted in a $5.50 return on investment (ROI) for every dollar invested.
“It’s time for Georgia to be bold,” Joe Marinelli, president and CEO of Visit Savannah, told committee members. “Just think about 2026 for just a minute. We have the (FIFA) World Cup coming to Georgia. We are celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, and we will go into 2026 basically underfunded at the state level to promote those massive events. Think about in the future, Super Bowls, Final Fours, The Masters, and so forth. Every opportunity that we have to promote this state, we should be doing that. If Georgia invests boldly, we will grow, and if we don’t, we’ll stand still.”
Aggressive marketing is one thing that moved Augusta forward to attract tourists, resulting in $890 million in tourism spending. The most recent report found marketing campaigns by Destination Augusta resulted in four billion views, from online, print, and website visits.
Augusta will impose an 8% tax on charges for hotel, motel, and rental stays under the “Garden City Charm and Tourism Act” approved by the state legislature during the 2025 session.
The proceeds of the tax will be allocated as follows:
- 75% of collections will be expended for promoting tourism, conventions, and trade shows through the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau, Inc. (Destination Augusta).
- 75% of collections will be expended for tourism product development through the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority.
- 5% of collections will be available for allocation by the Commission during the annual budget process.
Davis said some of the funds are invested in campaigns specifically targeting the Atlanta metro audience.
“This year, we’ll be expanding more into the Charlotte audience. But we do all that based off of research. We get a lot of data, and so we’re constantly running digital campaigns, magazine campaigns, all those types of things that keep August on people’s minds,” she explained. “But the international market has been one that we dipped more than a toe in this past year, just because we were anticipating FIFA and America’s 250 kind of putting us all in the spotlight.”
Davis said they have also partnered with other cities, including Macon, to market the idea of regional tourism. The goal is to attract visitors traveling from Atlanta to Savannah to explore more of Georgia, to experience more of the authentic, smaller-town or small city feel of Georgia.
Aiken is seeing impressive growth in its tourism and hospitality industry. ABD will break it down in our Wednesday story.
