Aiming High

Peninsula business owners will be smiling if the Door County Visitor Bureau meets the lofty goals laid out in a new marketing plan approved by the board at the end of May.

“We’re extremely confident we can reach our goals,” Visitor Bureau Marketing Director Jon Jarosh said of the plan for the fiscal year spanning Aug. 1, 2007 – July 31, 2008.

Those include increasing visitor expenditures in the county to $474 million, a 12.84 percent increase over 2006. Other ambitious goals include raising the county’s share of state tourism expenditures from 3.3 to 3.7 percent and increasing average annual occupancy to 38.9 percent.

Making the jump in a single year is quite a challenge. In comparison, Brown County’s share of state tourism expenditures increased to 4 percent from 3.9 percent between 2001 and 2004, a period in which both the Resch Center and the renovated Lambeau Field Atrium opened. Brown County’s share has held steady at 4 percent since.

In dollar terms, Brown County tourism expenditures grew from $445 million in 2000 to $518 million last year.

Visitor Bureau is aiming high, but Jarosh said the time has come for big expectations.

“Sure, it’s a very ambitious goal,” he said. “But, frankly, we have to have that and I think our members expect it. It gives [the staff] all the incentive in the world to work for.”

The county tourism expenditures peaked at $467 million in 2000 before falling to $391 million in 2002 in the post 9/11 tourism downturn. But it has yet to recover, holding steady at near that level until last year, when expenditures jumped to $420 million. If tourism expenditures in the county had kept pace with inflation since 2000, expenditures in 2006 would have been approximately $546 million using the consumer price index.

The plan is the Visitor Bureau’s first since the 5.5 percent room tax went into effect in 10 area municipalities May 1. Those communities formed a tourism zone which will increase the organization’s marketing budget from about $250,000 to an estimated minimum of $1.2 million this year. The estimate is based on an average annual occupancy rate of 35 percent and average room rate of $80 per night. According to the Visitor Bureau, the average occupancy rate in 2006 was 36.9 percent.

The plan, produced by the bureau’s staff and Executive Director Karen Raymore, calls for a focus on niche marketing to travelers who will appreciate the peninsula’s natural environment.

Growth is to be attained through lengthening stays and increasing quiet season activities aided by new and greatly expanded marketing programs. The cornerstones of the new effort are significantly increased Internet marketing and use of public relations.

“The Internet is a critical component,” Jarosh said. “That and the public relations work of Geiger & Associates will help bring awareness of our destination. It will put us back in the minds of travelers who have been here and not returned, as well as those who haven’t experienced what we have to offer.”

Geiger & Associates is a firm specializing in public relations work for tourism destinations. They have organized a press tour to bring 30 travel writers from around the country to Door County in July at a cost of $40,000, taken from the Visitor Bureau’s old budget.

As part of the new marketing plan, Geiger will be retained to organize four press tours next year at a price tag of $250,000.

Jarosh said the radically increased budget is the most important new component in the marketing plan.

“We haven’t been able to compete because of our budget constraints,” he said. “We’ve been able to maintain our position because our product is so strong, but now we can go much more in-depth with the Internet and PR end of things than ever before.”

Jarosh said it’s important those writers, and all visitors, have a great experience when they get here.

“I’m confident our plan will attract more visitors than ever, but when they get here they have to have a fabulous experience,” he said. Without that, he said, no marketing will bring them back.

To ensure business owners recognize this importance, which Jarosh said most do, the Visitor Bureau is holding seminars this month on how to train staff to enhance the overall experience of visitors. The final seminar is scheduled for June 28 from 9 – 11 am at the Bertschinger Center in Egg Harbor.

There will also be a presentation July 6 by Debbie Geiger, founder of Geiger & Associates, to inform businesses on how to best handle travel writers coming in the July press tour and in general.