Billy Dunlap, Chief Tourism Development Officer, OneSpartanburg, Inc.

In an interview with Invest:, Billy Dunlap, chief tourism development officer of OneSpartanburg, Inc., discussed the county’s record hotel performance, the expanding role of sports tourism, and the importance of investing in facilities that serve both visitors and residents. “That’s our biggest challenge right now, but it’s also our biggest opportunity,” Dunlap said.

What trends have you seen in Spartanburg County over the past year, and how are they shaping your priorities today?

Spartanburg County had its best year ever in 2025 when it comes to hotel performance. Our hotels had higher occupancy than ever, more demand than ever, and more revenue than ever, so that was great news for all of our hotels. Right now, we are flat compared to that record year, but we are still trending in the right direction, and compared to our best year ever, flat is okay.

A major reason for that performance is sports tourism. We are sports-tourism driven, and as we found out during COVID, sports tourism is recession proof and pandemic proof. It was one of the first things back, and we continue to move the needle with it. That will only continue to grow. One of the main issues we are dealing with now is facilities. We have a great community and some great facilities, including Tyger River Park, which is one of the premier baseball and softball facilities in the Southeast, but we need more of those facilities. We are strategically located, and all of those things drive the sports tourism landscape.

How does quality of life support Spartanburg County’s tourism strategy and broader growth?

One thing we are taking advantage of across all parts of this organization is quality of life. Quality of life touches tourism, economic development, business development, and talent development. What we are finding is that all of the pieces that make Spartanburg a great place to work, live, play, and invest also strengthen its appeal to visitors.

That includes a great trail system, a strong culinary scene downtown, more places to live, growing school systems, and continued investment in infrastructure. The marketing we do to reach visitors also reaches people who may want to open businesses here, relocate for a new job, move their industry here, or even decide where their children will go to college. They are looking at the same place-making marketing. All of those things tie into quality of life.

People are making more money in Spartanburg. People have more choices of places to live. School systems continue to grow and build new facilities. We also just passed a new penny referendum that is going to fund 577 road projects. We are doing the things communities talk about needing to do, and all of that goes into making Spartanburg a great place to live, work, play, and invest.

How do sports tourism investments benefit both visitors and the local community?

When it comes to sports tourism, event organizers are looking for great facilities first. They are also looking for great communities, ease of access, strong hotels, and transportation assets like Greenville-Spartanburg Airport and our location at the intersection of I-26 and I-85. But facilities are where it starts and stops. If one community has a large tournament facility and another does not, the one with the better facility is going to win.

What makes those investments important locally is that the community benefits from them during the week, and then we monetize them on the weekends. If we are building a first-class soccer complex or a new tournament venue, the local community gets to use that same asset Monday through Thursday, while sports tourism events help pay for it Friday through Sunday. It is not a burden on taxpayers in the same way because accommodations tax, hospitality tax, and user-generated spending all support those facilities.

Tyger River Park is a great example. We bring hundreds of softball and baseball teams there on the weekends, but people who live in Spartanburg County can use that same facility for youth baseball and youth softball during the week. That helps build quality of place, and those are exactly the kinds of amenities that industry and corporate headquarters are looking for when they evaluate a community.

How do you balance growing visitation with preserving Spartanburg’s local character?

The way to balance it is to make sure the investments are useful for both the visitor economy and the people who live here. Sports tourism should strengthen the local community, not compete with it. If you build first-class facilities that serve residents year-round and also attract visitors, then you are creating something that improves Spartanburg in a lasting way.

That is how it connects to quality of life. These are amenities that differentiate Spartanburg County from other communities. They support local families, they enhance the place itself, and they help attract new residents and businesses at the same time.

What is the biggest opportunity for Spartanburg’s tourism strategy right now?

Facilities are both our biggest challenge and our biggest opportunity. About 15 years ago, the Upward Star Center was built in Spartanburg. It was one of the first indoor sports tourism facilities in the country, with six basketball courts and 12 volleyball courts. Since then, the market has changed. Other communities are now building 10-court, 12-court, and 16-court complexes. For us, that facility is going away because it has been bought and is going to be repurposed.

So right now, we are in the middle of a feasibility study on what comes next. It is probably not going to be indoor basketball or volleyball because Greer, 25 minutes up the road, is building a 10-court basketball complex. We will still benefit from that because people playing there will stay in our hotels. But the question for Spartanburg is what the next facility should be. Is it soccer, lacrosse, ice hockey, or something else?

Sports tourism produces about $33 million to $34 million in direct spending in the market annually, and about $12 million of that comes from the Star Center currently. That means we have $12 million that we have to make up. We are in the middle of looking at what the next step is and what need we can meet. We also have to balance what the local community needs with what parks and recreation needs and what sports tourism needs. We will marry those together into something that benefits the community and supports our tourism strategy. That’s our biggest challenge right now, but it’s also our biggest opportunity.