THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996 TAG: 9602130095
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Virginia Beach is playing catch-up in the golf packaging game and plans to shell out $40,000 or more in advertising this year to attract greater numbers of touring golfers to local courses next spring.
Greater marketing emphasis will be placed on encouraging more ``repeat'' golf-related visits, and course offerings will be expanded beyond the city limits to as far away as Williamsburg.
That was the latest word from the city's Department of Convention and Tourism Development in a report to the Virginia Beach Resort Area Advisory Commission recently.
Virginia Beach has only three quality public links to offer visitors - Hells Point, Honey Bee and Cypress Point - and city innkeepers are encouraged to expand their course offerings to incoming golf tourists, said Hester Waterfield, tourism and marketing manager for the city.
The Beach normally spends $40,000 to $50,000 in yearly golf advertising but will up the ante to $90,000 or more this year to boost its spring golf packaging business, she said.
Figures compiled by the Convention and Tourism Development Department indicate the number of golf packages, golfing rounds and hotel stays booked by touring golfers has declined steadily over the past six years despite city marketing efforts.
Ron Kuhlman, city marketing director, said the increased spending is an experiment to cultivate greater numbers of ``repeat'' golf-playing visitors. More one-time visitors have been signing up for the packages - which are arranged through local hotels and motels - than repeat visitors, Kulhman said. So, more money is being allocated to newspaper and magazine advertising in Northeastern markets.
A few commission members questioned the wisdom of increasing the advertising budget. ``We might be hurting ourselves if we're spending all our money for promotions and we only have three courses,'' said commissioner Dawson Taylor.
``The only positive thing said is that more golf (packages) and (hotel) room nights are taking place during the shoulder seasons,'' added resort commission member James H. Capps, referring to fall and early spring. Capps also is a resort hotelier.
The Convention and Visitor Development Department coordinates the local golf package program, said Waterfield. This year the department signed up 28 local hotels and 17 golf courses throughout Hampton Roads to participate.
The fee for hotels is $550 and $150 for golf courses, and the money is used to defray the cost of printing brochures and for arranging tee times for visiting golfers.
A recent study conducted by an Alexandria consultant called for the construction of at least five more ``quality'' golf courses in Virginia Beach to put the city on the East Coast golf map.
The study cited the city-owned Lake Ridge property as a prime golf development site. The consultant's recommendations are under study by a city committee, which is to come up with development strategy, but the results probably aren't expected for months, said Councilman Linwood Branch.
At Branch's insistence advisory commission members voted to prod the city into seeking development proposals for the Lake Ridge property before the committee results area in.
The move ``could shave a year or a half-year from the process,'' Branch contended. by CNB