May 25, 2013
News 12 at 6 o'clock / Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Augusta is thriving, and it's thanks to out-of-towners.
"We survive off of out-of-town visitors. Like I said, we don't advertise, so the Marriott does half the work for us," said Boll Weevil General Manager Kane Taylor.
You've heard it before: "location, location, location." Sitting right here across from a popular hotel, the Boll Weevil has a prime spot.
This month, Taylor says their success might better be credited to visitors.
"It represents like a third of our business. We have so many people any given night, we're liable to have two to three guests just at our bar alone who have never heard of us," he explained.
Out-of-towners aren't just helping the restaurant. The whole city benefits.
"About 1.2 million dollars in direct visitor spending for the month of August. Whether it's getting gas for their car or spending the night in a hotel or heading to Pizza Hut. They are spending their money, instead of in their hometown, in our hometown," the Augusta Convention and Visitor's Bureau Peggy Seigler.
So what's bringing them -- and their money -- to the Garden City?
"If you break it down, it gets to be about 13 family reunions, so people are still getting together and celebrating, and then also you have a few meetings and also some sporting events," Seigler said.
Paddlefest brought in more than $10,000 alone.
"We saw a basketball tournament come into town, we've seen a tennis tournament come into town. I mean our weekends have been booming," Taylor said.
Even though that's not as much as last month's Southern National earnings, Boll Weevil says the events have been good for business and even brought them some new loyal diners.
"People that we've never seen before. Got to spend a lot of time talking to customers, and I think it's gonna be really good for us in the future with returning customers," Taylor said.
According to the Convention and Visitor's Bureau, August is considered a slow month for spending. Even though these numbers aren't as high as popular holiday months, it's good to know Augusta's not hurting for business.
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