Visitors Bureau Assisting Businesses Draw Tourist

By DENNIS PHILLIPS

7/16/2006 - Andrew Nixon, Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau director, is making plans he hopes will get tourists to visit Chautauqua County and spend money.His job is to feature unique tourist destinations like Lake Erie, Chautauqua Lake and Chautauqua Institution. However, next year he’ll have a new feature to work with — more money.This year, the Visitors Bureau received about $245,000 from the county. In 2007, the Visitors Bureau will receive more than a 30 percent increase of $80,000 — totaling $325,000 — in money from the county. Nixon said the money is used to operate the I-86 rest area information center, which opened in 2005, promoting sports fishing and hunting, promoting group conferences/ sales conventions and marketing and advertising. ‘‘We buy media advertisements, we do the travel guide — quarter of a million printed — we do a program with the Allegheny region to purchase ads and do our Web site and answering inquires and mailing packets,’’ Nixon said.

The money the county gives the Visitors Bureau is from the bed tax. The Visitors Bureau received about 40 percent of the county’s bed tax revenue this year, but will receive 50 percent in 2007. Nixon said the additional money will be mostly used on marketing and advertising. ‘‘We want to produce electric marketing presentations like pod cast and video to use on our Web site and handout for sales purposes,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re going to do a video of Chautauqua County on our agritourism and summer recreation. This way people can look at them on the Web site or we can send DVD and CDs to media and group function planners.’’Nixon said the Visitors Bureau also wants to use the additional money to make its Web site a direct marketing tool and to add additional pages to the travel guide highlighting birding and cycling.‘‘We want to emphasis birding. It’s a growing national activity. We have to find what makes us unique,’’ he said. One unique attraction in Chautauqua County that Nixon discussed is Peek’n Peak. ‘‘There are a lot of ski areas and golf courses in the country, but, pretty soon, Peek’n Peak is going to be a top attraction,’’ he said. ‘‘So we are helping them in marketing. There product is going to be bigger and better, which makes our job easier.’’Businesses can become members of the Visitors Bureau and will receive a newsletter, link on the Visitors Bureau’s Web site and brochure placement at the Chautauqua Institution’s main gate and the I-86 welcome center. Nixon said the biggest source of income for the Visitors Bureau this year was from county businesses, which supplied $260,000. ‘‘We are the only organization that promotes the area as a tourist destination on a year-round basis. What we do drives occupancy rate,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t want to sound like we’re the only reason. We do receive $260,000 from the private sector. That is quite an investment from the private sector. They make heavy investments through us in promoting the area as a tourist destination.’’Nixon said the Visitors Bureau spends about half its funds on personnel. The Visitors Bureau has three full-time employees and three part-time employees. The Visitors Bureau also has two independent contractors — one to promote fishing and hunting and to promote conferences/sales conventions, which the organization started promoting in 2006.In full-and part-time employees, the Visitors Bureau spends about $196,000 a year and spends $62,000 on the promotional contracts.The Visitors Bureau also has 25 volunteers who work at the I-86 rest area.‘‘They are retired senior volunteers through Lutheran Social Services,’’ Nixon said. ‘‘They just want to be part of promoting the county through the rest area. They try to relay the message to people that stop ’You need to plan a vacation in Chautauqua County.

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