Tourism in Johnson County Made Major Strides in 2021
Festival Country Indiana, Johnson County’s official tourism agency, set records for key indicators during 2021, including website traffic, social media reach, advertising campaign impressions and generated revenue.
Festival Country also invested in the community to improve the quality of life for residents and visitors. Festival Country partnered with Johnson County Parks and Recreation to build a 1.6-mile obstacle course with 20 fun, challenging obstacles. The course will officially open this spring.
Festival Country also provided the funding for New Whiteland to add a 50-foot programmable tree display, for Franklin Heritage to do a garden tour, for Greenwood Parks & Recreation’s expanded pickleball event, and for the creation of the Festival Country Kickoff event.
Among the highlights from Festival Country Indiana’s 2021 annual report are:
- Hotel revenue in the county was nearly 50 percent higher than any previous year.
- The highly targeted digital and outdoor ads reached a record 36 million people.
- Festivalcountryindiana.com attracted a new high of 14,167 unique users each month.
- Festival Country’s Facebook page grew from 36,728 page likes to 41,290, and Instagram followers grew from 1,763 to 2,408.
- The Festival Country Indiana visitor center in downtown Franklin saw visitation growth, serving 5,320 people during the year.
- Festival Country partnered with Aspire for a joint campaign to attract visitors, workers, and residents. The campaign reached 1.5 million people. The organizations also advertised to attract attendees of the NCAA football championship in Indianapolis.
“Each year we advertise our communities and attractions to people looking for day trips and overnight stays, and we now use billboards to attract drive-through visitors,” said Festival Country Indiana Executive Director Kenneth Kosky.
“Our focus on festivals and concerts, as well as the festive vibe in our communities continues to resonate and allow us to increase the impact of tourism on our hotels, restaurants, stores and attractions.”
Looking ahead to the rest of 2022, Festival Country is working to bring temporary ice-skating rinks to our larger communities to test the demand for winter recreation.