Business View Civil Municipal - July 2023

109 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 7 big portion of the community limelight, the city does work tirelessly to provide other community events of interest including monthly screenings of films on the Covington Square, weekly Farmer’s Markets, and several seasonal concerts for residents to enjoy. Collaboration is the key to Southern success It can be a fine line to walk for city governments, however, when it comes down to forming strong public-private partnerships to fuel the city’s economic engine, Covington has just the recipe for success. “One of the City’s priorities is to attract new industrial partners and aid expansion for existing partners,” Thomas outlines. “This strategy has been a continuous success for us.” Covington can boast an illustrious number of Large organizations that work hand in Covington. Substantial tax revenue stemming from tourism has led directly to residents putting money back in their pockets to the tune of roughly $200 dollars per household in 2022. “It is expected that a quarter-million tourists come to the area per year, with a record 96,383 people from 57 countries checking in at the Covington Welcome Center in 2022,” Malcolm estimates, going so far as to predict 2023 exceeding these numbers. “Covington has become home to cinema lovers across the world. Some know it as Hazzard County, others know it as Mystic Falls, but people are talking about us,” he notes. “I just learned that the Mystic Falls hashtag has been viewed over 900 million times on one social media app alone, and I hope to see that continue.” Although the film scene may be stealing a COVINGTON, GEORGIA