The James City County Board of Supervisors had more questions about a proposed tourism coordinator position at a Tuesday work session, delaying a decision on whether to create the position and how to spend $256,500 in unallocated tourism funds.
James City County’s Acting Administrator Doug Powell recommended the board put $60,000 toward hiring a tourism coordinator, pay nine months of the new employee’s salary and give some start-up funding for new projects.
The money would come from $256,500 in unallocated tourism funds. Powell also recommended $100,000 of those funds be given to the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance.
The county currently pulls resources from its economic development, parks and communications staff to handle tourism-related duties, but does not have one point of contact for outside agencies and event planners.
Rather than dedicating funding and giving a nod to create the new position, the supervisors asked for additional details about the job function and salary, and for comparison information from York County, which has an employee who focuses on increasing tourism. The supervisors also wanted a better idea of whether the position would require a full- or part-time employee based on the number of hours current employees spend working on tourism. While Powell said the employees do not currently separate the hours they spend completing different tasks, it could be tracked to provide better insight.
Powell’s recommendation came with a draft job description, but did not set out a salary range or detailed list of job duties. The requirements to fill the position included a degree in tourism, communications or promotions and the ability to perform basic office functions and coordinate large events.
The Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance handles much of the duties associated with tourism and marketing the Historic Triangle, but a new James City County tourism employee could help connect local businesses with upcoming events to increase revenue, Alliance President and CEO Karen Riordan said.
Riordan was present at Tuesday’s meeting to back Powell’s suggestion to create the new position, and request another $100,000 in funding from the county. The Alliance already received $775,000 from the county, which included $100,000 for Christmas in Williamsburg and $25,000 for sports marketing research. The supervisors previously decided against giving the Alliance $50,000 for Arts Month.
From “the 50,000-foot level,” some of the additional funds could be put toward bringing in larger sporting events, Riordan said. She said the next five to six weeks will be spent narrowing down uses for the requested $100,000.
For the remaining tourism funds, Powell suggested using $15,000 for transportation services and $81,500 for costs associated with tourism-boosting events held in the county, such as the National Softball Association’s Class B World Series that came to the area the past two summers.
The region needs to have a purpose for spending money to promote tourism and a clear idea of how to measure returns, said Supervisor Jim Kennedy (Stonehouse). The other supervisors agreed, and said they were not sure creating a new tourism coordinator position would solve the greater issue.
The Historic Triangle is currently a mess of competing events scheduled for the same day, Kennedy said. Details like portable bathrooms and emergency services are often overlooked. The area does not have a clear idea of what type of tourist destination it should be or with which other markets the Historic Triangle should compare itself, which Riordan said she is working on.
“We’re discussing a lot of things, but I don’t have a lot of information. We’re throwing a dart at a moving target, and I don’t know that we’re going to hit it,” Kennedy said.
As the supervisors have discussed putting a greater focus on tourism, they have also discussed their hopes for seeing a greater economic return for the county. During budget discussions earlier this year, the supervisors talked about formulating a plan to track tourism investments and returns to evaluate future funding requests.
On Tuesday, Riordan presented a draft scorecard for the Alliance, which she said could be narrowed to track about six numbers for each of the Historic Triangle localities. She included 11 possible measurements: number of hotel rooms; number of timeshare rooms; number of bed and breakfasts; number of occupied hotels/bed and breakfasts; number of occupied timeshare rentals; room night demand growth; average length of stay; room sales tax; meals tax; retail sales tax; and total expenditures.
The proposed scorecard, though lauded, sparked conversation among the supervisors about what it should actually monitor to evaluate the county’s tourism health.
Supervisor John McGlennon (Roberts) said the county should step outside of traditional tourism numbers — meals taxes and the number of guests staying overnight — to determine what would provide the best return on an investment.
“When I think about tourism, there’s a big piece of this that we really haven’t talked about at all … it’s the sales taxes that our retail is generating,” McGlennon said, referring to the number of shoppers who travel to the county for outlet shopping. “It’s probably more significant — without seeking to offend anyone — than the amount of money we could ever potentially generate out of hotel taxes.”
The supervisors put further discussion on hold, requesting Powell bring back the requested information before the supervisors decide on additional tourism spending.
Powell will bring the information back to the board at a future work session, but a specific date has not been set.
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