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Marketing committee works plan
Published Tuesday, August 5, 2008
NATCHEZ — The marketing advisory committee is working together to come up with the best financial plan possible.
The committee came together for the first time at a meeting called by the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission Monday afternoon.
The meeting allowed for the lodging industry to have a question and answer session with Larry Allen of the state tax commission.
Allen fielded a few questions regarding the $2 occupancy tax which went into effect Friday.
Afterward, commission member Tammi Gardner introduced the 12-member committee.
Once the lodging attendees had trickled out, Gardner spoke to the committee and gave them several pointers.
While the committee has already submitted a financial plan — a plan the commission sent out and they OK’d — they need to submit a true plan by Aug. 20, Gardner said.
The plan allots $350,000 for leisure tourism, $150,000 for conventions and meetings and $100,000 for heritage tourism.
It is the same plan that was created even before the occupancy tax was voted on.
But in addition to that, Gardner asked them to tap into their creativity and come up with unique ways to market the city.
“It’s not just spending on ads, it’s really coming up with our new image and our new brand,” she said.
Wendy Grandin, committee member representing the hotel industry, asked where the $600,000 figure came from and if that’s a reliable amount.
Walter Tipton, convention center director, said the number comes from the approximate 900 to 1,000 rooms in Natchez that have about a 65 percent occupancy rate.
Subtract a small percentage of that for compensated rooms coming from the casino hotel and that’s where the number comes from.
Rene Adams, committee member representing the hotel industry, said it’s imperative for hotels and bed and breakfasts to start accurately and consistently reporting their occupancy each month.
“This is the only way the committee can accurately spend your money,” she said.
Many questions were raised following this discussion, mostly in regards to things the Convention and Visitors Bureau needed to provide to the committee.
Gardner said they needed to meet soon so the CVB can help answer their questions.
“I suggest that (you) meet as quickly as possible, go through the plan, make notes, when you meet get a laundry list of what you need from the CVB,” Gardner said.
The committee then moved into a meeting to do exactly that.
Comments
Posted by gemccull (Gary McCullars) on August 5, 2008 at 6:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
In order to generate $600,000, the occupancy rate will have to be over 75% with all the new hotels operating.
What is the state's cut for collecting the bed tax?
For the first time, we should be able to accurately determine the occupancy rate. It should be as simple as taking the bed tax dollars and adding back the state's cut and dividing by $2 to determine the number of rooms occupied. Rooms occupied divided by the number of rooms available for an accounting period should be the occupancy rate (%).
Posted by sodar (anonymous) on August 5, 2008 at 9:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If you are in the hotel business or tourism industry you should know you can get the exact occupancy numbers from a company call Smith Travel Resources which collects occupancy numbers from tens of thousands of hotels across the country. All major franchise chains require reporting to this company and most franchisors (Marriott, Holiday Inn's, IHG, Best Western, Choice Hotels, etc.) report the numbers for the individual hotels.
Posted by Warcraftfan (anonymous) on August 5, 2008 at 4:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Marketing Natchez huh? Well make sure potential tourists know that this is not a family friendly town on the account of there not being anything to do. I live and work here but i have to drive away on weekends just for something to do or to find a decent restaurant to eat at.
Posted by Riffian1964 (anonymous) on August 5, 2008 at 7:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It seems to me there are many things to do in Natchez. This past weekend, for example, I counted about twenty different things plus water sports, camping, hiking, biking, kite flying, and gathering with friends. I can't believe that with as many restaurants as we have in the area you couldnt find one to suit. If you can't, we are equidistant (90) miles from three major cities who have every cuisine under the sun...... I think we have a pretty good thing going on here.
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