Miss Volunteer America may be done, but the impact remains

JACKSON, Tenn. — As fans and residents say bye to Miss Volunteer America and congratulate Miss Utah, one local company is doing their part to understand the ripple effects of such a momentous event.

Lorri Nunnery, the Executive Director of the Convention & Visitor Bureau of Jackson, says it is important that they drive as much traffic into the city as possible.

Nunnery says her job is to measure the impact of events such as this.

“Our goal was to help extend the reach and the marketing reach of the event and help to support the event because it brought business to our community,” Nunnery said.

She says the event generated a lot of money for restaurants, hotels, and other local businesses in Jackson.

“It was good for our businesses here locally because it brought in,” Nunnery said. “I believe we generated over 1,700 more room nights than normally what would have occurred in this time period.”

Nunnery says that this event, along with Miss Tennessee Volunteer, could cause a ripple effect that could lead Jackson to becoming a pageant destination.

She says that alone can put the Hub City on the map.

“I think there will be ripple effects from this event. You know we will love to have this event back in Jackson again next year, and the impact was significant. It was significant for the sales tax generation, for the hotel/motel tax generation, and what we called the aggregate output, which is the other money that is spent or is generated because of this event,” Nunnery said.

Nunnery says they also use metrics from social media to track the number of people talking about the event in order to see the full effect online.

“We look at the impressions. The impressions that are received on the internet, through the website, through Google, through all of the different channels that the pageant was talked about. We’re also working to calculate those because those alone can bring Jackson to the forefront of things that normally Jackson wouldn’t have shown up on,” Nunnery said.

Nunnery says this is only the beginning of the pageant season and says she hopes everyone is ready for a summer chalked with events.

You can also learn more about why people should visit Jackson here.

You can stay up-to-date with Miss America Volunteer through their website.

 Find more local news here.