03-01-07 CVB Would Promote Regional Tourism and Involve Fredericksburg as well as Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline and George Counties
Published Thursday, March 1, 2007 in Free Lance-Star
BY KAFIA HOSH
The Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce is exploring the idea of expanding regional tourism efforts to Caroline and King George counties.
The chamber wants to look at the feasibility of creating a Convention and Visitors Bureau.
A CVB is a public-private partnership between local governments and the hospitality and tourism industry.
Current efforts to promote regional tourism mostly involve Fredericksburg and the counties of Stafford and Spotsylvania.
But a CVB would include Caroline and King George, as well.
"With all that they bring to the table for visitors to our area, they also need to be included," said chamber President Robert Hagan. "The primary reason is to improve regional tourism, and I don't think we do that with just 60 percent of the jurisdictions involved."
But it is still too early to tell if Caroline County would join a prospective CVB, said Gary Wilson, the county's director for economic development and tourism.
"We'd have to do an analysis to determine our views on a regional effort," he said.
While Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania and Stafford market their tourist destinations together, Caroline operates independently.
The county promotes its own attractions, such as the State Fair of Virginia (which is scheduled to move there in the near future) and a 40,000-square-foot sports complex.
"We're pleased with the progress," Wilson said. "We don't have the population that our neighbors do, but our tourism revenues are not dramatically far off [from] those around us."
Tax revenue, such as the levy on meals and hotel rooms, is a locality's main source of tourism money.
But the creation of a CVB would help local governments and private businesses combine some of their tourism dollars to market the entire region's attractions.
"It would be a way to improve regional tourism without going back to taxpayers to do it," Hagan said.
A CVB is usually a "pay-to-play type structure; that if you are involved in helping fund the organization, you get representation and materials," added Karen Hedelt, Fredericksburg's tourism manager.
The Fredericksburg Expo & Conference Center already works closely with the city's tourism office.
But Expo Center owner Tom Ballantine said his business could be open to joining a local CVB.
"It depends on the collaborative marketing effort," he said. "If everyone is going to get together and we all throw money in a pot, that can never be a bad thing."
Hagan is asking localities if the chamber can conduct a feasibility analysis for a CVB.
He said if he receives an agreement from all five jurisdictions, then the chamber will move forward with creating a formal proposal for a CVB.
"I think at the end of the day, the most important part is to make sure that everybody gets more out of it than they're putting into it," Hagan said.
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