Palm Beach County’s tourism leaders are proposing a $3 million “stimulus” plan they hope will quickly lure tourists and ease the financial bleeding their agencies have faced as a result of dwindling revenue from a tax on hotel stays.
The county’s tourism agencies, including the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Cultural Council and sports and television commissions, want to pull the money from their reserve accounts and spend it on a marketing and media blitz.
The proposal would set aside money to offer one-time grants to sports groups considering holding their events here before the end of the year. The events could add as much as $7.6 million to the local economy, according to a presentation shown to the county’s Tourist Development Council last week.
The agencies also plan to ramp up electronic marketing and advertisement in trade publications.
The money would be spent by Sept. 30 in hopes that travelers will start showing up by the end of the year.
Palm Beach County has seen revenue from its “bed tax” on lodging fall by about 15 percent in recent months. Occupancy at area hotels is also down.
The county’s tourism groups rely on the tax revenue to lure travelers.
But they just aren’t coming, and the fewer that come, the less tax money the agencies will receive to try to bring them here.
“This is a real crisis,” said Jorge Pesquera, CEO of the visitors bureau.
He points to Jamaica, where officials have seen an uptick in travelers after spending millions on television ads. In January, the number of people arriving on the Caribbean island was up by 4.2 percent, county tourism officials said.
The county’s tourist council is considering launching its own television campaign to compete.
“We need to look at the cost of creating the footage and how much bang for the buck you will get,” said Deputy County Administrator Verdenia Baker, who oversees the county’s tourism agencies.
County commissioners are expected to discuss a change to county rules that would allow the tourism groups to pull the stimulus money from their reserve accounts at a meeting in May.
In hopes of some immediate relief, the visitors’ bureau this month unveiled a promotion to mark the county’s centennial year that lets travelers stay at some of the area’s best hotels for $19.09. The county was founded in April 1909.
Tourists who stay at certain hotels for two, three or four nights get an additional night for $19.09.