by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
When the quarterly meeting of the Duval County Tourist Development Council was called to order Thursday, three of its members believed it would be their last time sitting at the table.
City Council President Jack Webb, who was defeated for a second term in Tuesday’s election; Council member Ronnie Fussell, who did not seek a second term; and Michael Corrigan, who was term-limited and elected to the office of tax collector Tuesday, all believed that their 41 days remaining in office on the Council would mean they’d miss the next TDC meeting scheduled for Aug. 18.
They decided there would be one more TDC meeting on their calendar after hearing a request for additional funding for advertising and marketing from Visit Jacksonville, the marketing organization contracted by the TDC to execute the growth of business and leisure tourism in Northeast Florida.
The request was for the appropriation of an additional $219,000 for Visit Jacksonville’s marketing fund, $100,000 from the Convention Grant Fund for a 90-day sales push and a Business Development Fund of $200,000 to expedite Visit Jacksonville’s marketing plan to increase occupancy and room rates throughout Duval County.
At its meeting Aug. 24, the TDC authorized funding Visit Jacksonville’s marketing initiative at 5 percent ($219,000) immediately and consider the additional 5 percent six months later
Dan King, general manager of the Hyatt Downtown and Visit Jacksonville board chair, said the proposal represented “investing to generate rooms for all market segments.”
According to data presented by Visit Jacksonville, the previous investment of $875,000 in May 2009 resulted in an economic impact of $29 million from convention and leisure travel business, including $5.3 million in room revenue.
“Visit Jacksonville has identified the strengths of the market,” said King.
Daniel O’Byrne, president and CEO of Visit Jacksonville, said the market had been analyzed region by region, including the Beaches, Southside, Westside and Northside. He proposed to present a specific marketing and expenditure plan at the next TDC meeting in August.
TDC member Fred Pozin questioned O’Byrne about why Visit Jacksonville is “over budget by $50,000 on staff expense” and “why you’re so weighted on payroll costs that you don’t have money to spend on marketing.”
O’Byrne, who took over as president and CEO in November, said payroll represents about $1 million of Visit Jacksonville’s $3.2 million budget.
“We’ll have a chance to address those issues next fiscal year,” said O’Byrne.
“We brought Dan here to do something. He has a challenge and we need to give him the tools to do the job,” said TDC member and hotelier Sonny Bhikha.
The TDC voted to approve the request for funds with the condition that O’Byrne hold a special meeting prior to June 30, the last day in office for the three council members.
O’Byrne was directed to present at that meeting specific details of the marketing plan and a plan to reduce the payroll expenses at Visit Jacksonville.
“We’ve got to get this industry moving as fast as we can,” said Corrigan. “It’s important we get this done before we leave.”
O’Byrne also provided his quarterly report to the TDC. “We have to get back to being a sales organization,” he said.
The TDC approved a grant of $90,000, the customary annual allotment, to help defray the costs of banners, decorations and “Student Safety Zones” for the 2011 Florida-Georgia college football game.
It was noted that this is the first year of a new six-year agreement between the schools and the City to continue to play the annual neutral-field game in Jacksonville.
“We have the six-year agreement, but let me tell you, there are already cities looking to get this game,” said Michael Bouda, the City’s sports and entertainment coordinator.
Also approved was a $128,717 grant to Florida’s First Coast of Golf, an increase of 5 percent over last year’s appropriation.
Organization President David Reese said golf tourism in North Florida in the first calendar quarter of 2011 was up 8 percent over the same period in 2010 and golf tourism from New England and Chicago to North Florida is up by 20 percent.
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