On today’s episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam sits down with Thomas Salley, the director of Great State of Wilkes, Tourism in North Carolina. Thomas joins the podcast in the wake of the impact of Hurricane Helene and he discusses his experiences with the storm and what role DMOs play when this kind of natural disaster takes place. He also provides important takeaways for other DMOs to use as a future reference when dealing with a natural disaster, such as the importance of reliable communication methods, establishing yourself as the travel spokesperson for your destination and building strong relationships with local government and emergency services.

“I woke up Sunday morning after the storm had kind of come through, and I saw all these images and heard people saying, you know, we need all of these things, and just seeing the destruction, I knew I had to do something. So, I felt like in my role, what I could do was to go and be of service to my neighbors.” – Thomas Salley

Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

Great State of Wilkes, Tourism: https://www.wilkescountytourism.com/

Hospitality Relief Workers Fund: https://www.ncrla.org/foundation/nc-hospitality-workers-relief-fund/

Visit North Carolina | State Tourism Director Wit Tuttell: wit.tuttell@visitnc.com

State Government Emergency Fund: https://pay.payitgov.com/ncdonations and https://www.nc.gov/disaster-relief-fund-faqs

State Hurricane Resource Page: https://www.ncdps.gov/our-organization/emergency-management/hurricane-helene

https://www.visitnc.com/advisory/cAdA/hurricane-helene-travel-advisory

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The Destination Marketing Podcast is a part of the Destination Marketing Podcast Network. It is hosted by Adam Stoker and produced by Relic. If you are interested in any of Relic’s services, please email adam@relicagency.com or visit www.relicagency.com.

To learn more about the Destination Marketing Podcast network and to listen to our other shows, please visit www.thedmpn.com. If you are interested in joining the network, please email adam@relicagency.com.