THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 21, 1995 TAG: 9504200161
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Municipal budget limits may force resort merchants to dig into their own pockets for $2.6 million in extra advertising dollars needed to ballyhoo the city's charms in expanded national and worldwide markets, local tourism gurus argue.
Making a bigger media splash now in areas to the west and northeast, as well as Europe, is essential in grabbing a bigger share of tourist business, they say. Increasing competition from Myrtle Beach, S.C., Ocean City, Md., and even the Outer Banks of North Carolina is forcing the action.
That was the basic message given to city innkeepers Tuesday at a monthly meeting of the Virginia Beach Hotel and Motel Association.
``We're going to have to fill the cup with new customers at some point in time, and the time has come to do that,'' Henry Richardson, association president, told assembled innkeepers.
Local hoteliers reacted accordingly by unanimously endorsing a plea for more advertising cash. However, they were offered no specific plan for pumping up the city's advertising budget from its current $2.4 million level to $5 million a year.
They were assured by Richardson that a detailed strategy was being worked out by the organization's board of directors and would be presented to the general membership for approval at the next monthly meeting.
Efforts by local hospitality experts to squeeze more advertising funds out of the city have been moderately successful at best in the past decade.
Inflation, increased advertising costs, plus a slowdown in the national economy and the many demands for city services on the city's operating budget have left little money for marketing and promotions, said James B. Ricketts, head of the city's office of Convention and Tourism Development.
Prior to 1983 the city contributed increasing amounts to advertising based on a formula involving the annual growth of tourism receipts, Ricketts said.
The practice was discontinued in 1983 and the city's contribution since then has been limited to increased yearly subsidies of about $250,000.
At this point the city's tourism industry needs to expand its market base beyond the Northeast and get a substantial increase in advertising funds, Ricketts insisted. Raising the advertising ante to $5 million would boost tourism revenues by about $19 million a year, he predicted.
There is a major obstacle to getting more money from the city treasury. Municipal budget demands - created by Lake Gaston water court battles and need for massive school funding - may force resort business owners to seek an alternative source - themselves.
Just how this will be done remains to be worked out by Richardson and fellow resort merchants. by CNB