Here is part 2 of the article about the Destination Marketing Fund (or DMF). Part 1 is here…
From the Niagara Falls Review:
What Happens Here Stays Here. I Love New York. Virginia is for Lovers.
Chances are, if you’ve been around for the past quarter century you’re familiar with the famous tag lines for Las Vegas, New York State and Virginia.
Like all good slogans, they’re short and to the point. And in the case of New York and Las Vegas, they’ve moved beyond their intended purpose -diving headlong into the pop culture realm, generating billions in free advertising. But catchy, quirky and clever comes at a cost.
Although the price tag of the campaign by Vegas-based advertising and marketing agency R&R Partners was not disclosed, the city’s convention and visitors bureau will spend $36.2 million this year to market Las Vegas to the world, according to its budget posted online at www.lvcva.com.
Another $86.7 million is set aside for advertising -the cost to execute those plans in North America and beyond.
“Oh, don’t even show me,” says Anna Pierce, executive director of Niagara Falls Tourism, when presented with Las Vegas’s 2008 and 2009 budgets.
The $2.36 million the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau will spend this year to add 37 new staff to its current roster of 537 employees is a little more than Niagara Falls Tourism’s entire 2008 operating and marketing budgets. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
There is a fantastic article in today’s Niagara Falls Review about the Destination Marketing Fund (DMF). Apparently there will be another article tomorrow.
Guests staying at Fallsview hotels like the Embassy Suites and Hilton, as well as motels like the Blue Moon and Candlelight Motor Inn a little further afield, see a three per cent destination marketing fee added to the pre-tax room rate on their bill.
Guests at the Great Wolf Lodge and the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort, however, do not.
Diners at Applebee’s and TGI Fridays in the city’s tourist sections have the extra charge added to their bills.
Those who eat at Niagara Parks Commission properties only pay the applicable government taxes.
Pick up a T-shirt or trinket at Souvenir City on River Road or the Fallsview Mini Mart and pay a premium; be spared the extra change at Jo-An Souvenirs on Victoria Avenue.
Golf at the Grand Niagara, Eagle Valley or Willowdell and there’s no charge added to your green fee.
At Thundering Waters, you’re charged three per cent more.
Ask what the charge is for, and expect to be told anything from, “It’s a Niagara Falls tax” to “It pays for the lights and the fireworks at the falls.”
Or get the correct answer - given only once in about 40 requests for an explanation: “It’s a fee added to bills in the tourist district used to improve the streetscape, pay for part of the new convention centre and advertise Niagara Falls outside the area.”
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Ken Wald has experienced virtual reality rides before, but he says few compare with Niagara’s Fury.
“I’ve been to Disneyland and Disney World, but (Niagara’s Fury) had everything you would want in a ride,” said Wald, who was visiting Niagara Falls from Fairview, Alta., Tuesday with his mother and two children.
The family tested out the Niagara Parks Commission’s $7-million moving-theatre attraction, built over the past year as part of an overhaul at Table Rock.
“It was informative, entertaining and had awesome special effects,” said Wald.
That’s pretty much what Joel Noden, the parks commission’s executive director of revenue operations, marketing and business development, has heard about the attraction since its official opening June 22.
“Attendance (to Fury) has increased 20 to 30 per cent every week,” said Noden, who didn’t provide The Niagara Falls Review with exact attendance figures.
This isn’t specifically about Niagara Falls, but the information is pertinent.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
A summer of record oil prices, a strong Canadian dollar and a slowing world economy are creating a “perfect storm” that’s putting a dent in Canada’s tourism market this summer, industry officials say.
Canada’s three major tourist destinations - Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver - all reported noticeable declines in visitors in July, and experts say it’s because of a myriad of factors.
From the Niagara Gazette:
An expanded advertising and marketing campaign helped the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. offer Niagara Falls a 16-to-1 return on its funding investment in 2007, according to a presentation made this week by NTCC President and CEO John Percy.
Though NTCC represents the entire county, the bulk of its $2.8 million annual operating budget comes from hotel bed tax revenue and casino money in Niagara Falls. In exchange, Percy said the tourism agency helped generate approximately $46 million in tourism dollars in 2007. That estimate is based on the total number of visitors serviced by NTCC and results of a survey asking tourists how much they spent during their stays.
In addition, more than 3,600 hotel rooms and 15,000 tours were sold by NTCC information centers resulting in nearly $1.5 million in revenue.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Niagara’s convention centre is borrowing a page from 7-Up. The soft drink company marketed itself once upon a time as the “un-cola” to separate itself from its competition.
Now the Niagara Convention and Civic Centre will promote itself as “unconentional,” putting an emphasis on delivering “unconventional experiences” to thousands of annual delegates.
“We are going to make sure the world knows Niagara Falls has a convention centre,” manager Kerry Painter said at a reception Wednesday to unveil the logo and slogan she’ll use to drum up business.
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