Bring Home the Business campaign to conclude in Dec.
If 2005 was any indication, this year will be a very good one for tourism in Clark County and Vancouver.
A report released this week by economic and market research firm Dean Runyan Assoc. shows a nearly 12 percent increase in visitor spending between 2004 and last year. The report shows $334 million in tourism dollars came to the county last year, compared to $299 million in 2004. Beyond those figures, the report shows a regular increase since 2000, when visitors left $150 million behind.
"It’s very gratifying," said Clark County Commissioner Mark Boldt. "If you’ve lived here for a while it’s kind of amazing, but you would have to live outside the area, maybe in Phoenix, to really see how good we have it here."
Local pride aside, Boldt feels even better about the financial effect of the increase.
"Anytime we can get tourists here to buy goods and services and pay the sales tax is good for our county," he said.
Other indications suggest county leaders are on track to make this year even better in terms of visitor dollars. The Southwest Washington Convention and Visitors Bureau in July launched its Bring Home the Business campaign, a program designed to raise the region’s profile and offer incentives to individuals and organizations that refer to the bureau groups or organizations that may bring their convention and group meeting business to the area. The program offers participants the chance to win prizes through a drawing, such as dinner at Vancouver restaurants.
"We have seen an increased awareness of who the bureau is, what we do, and the economic benefits of tourism to the community," said Bureau President Kim Bennett. "A local campaign that involves the community will multiply our sales reach and create local tourism ambassadors to pay dividends in the future."
City of Vancouver Manager of Business Development Gerald Baugh said formation of the bureau in 1999 was vital to tourism growth in the region, and born of a sobering statistic.
"In 1998, Clark County had the lowest per capita number of tourism dollars in the state," Baugh said. "The bureau is a direct result of that realization. This kind of campaign is vitally important for tourism as a whole for the county.
Bennett said 2006 numbers show visitors generate an average annual $84 million in travel-related industry earnings and $23 million in local and state taxes. Also, the 2005 numbers were nearly 50 percent better than she had expected, and that already the campaign is yielding more interest in the area as a meeting and convention destination. "The meetings business is a lengthy process," she said. "But we will be gauging the overall results of the campaign after its completion, when we will have time to culminate our leads."
The campaign is scheduled to conclude at the end of December.
The Clark County Board of Commissioners have opened another front in the push to get more visitors. The board in September launched a nomination-based tourism awards program, which will award the hard chargers in the industry at an annual breakfast sponsored by the Clark County Lodging Association. One reason for the awards program is to show appreciation to the dedicated members of the tourism trade here.
"They’re the ones that represent our community," said program director Kelly Fields. "This is the Board of Commissioner’s taking the opportunity to say thank you."
Fields said the program is also designed to create a higher standard of service to visitors so they will keep coming back.
"At the end of the day, people aren’t going to return to our community if our service levels aren’t held to a high benchmark," he said
