As we have reported many times in this space, convention bureaus face a never-ending task of educating their communities and their funding sources on the value of the work they do. Historically, that education has centered on providing statistics relating to how many visitors the destination marketing organization (DMO) has helped attract. At the just-concluded annual meeting of the Destination Marketing Association International in Atlanta, a new approach to measuring the value of the visitor industry was suggested thanks to research compiled by the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau. The research, released through the Destination & Travel Foundation (the 501(c)(3) affiliate of DMAI and on whose board I serve), gives DMOs another way of proving the importance of keeping conventions and meetings coming to their cities.

Rather than taking the traditional approach of focusing solely on the amount of money contributed to public coffers through hotel occupancy taxes, the Greater Phoenix CVB embarked on a survey of its hotel properties to determine how much each of them pays in property tax and sales tax above and beyond hotel occupancy taxes. What the bureau discovered is that hotel occupancy taxes represent less than half of the total tax contributions its hotels make to city, county and state governments. Surprisingly, the $115 million the 38 hotels included in the survey paid in property and sales taxes in 2008 equates to an astounding $10,123 in tax revenue per hotel guest room annually. If that number does not sensitize political leaders to the importance of travel, I don’t know what will.

“For too long, we have focused and been evaluated by government on just hotel occupancy taxes when in fact it is only half of our impact,” said Steve Moore, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix CVB. “Keep in mind this also does not identify what hotel employees and vendors spend in one’s local economy nor what the hotel guests spent outside the hotel.” In comparing the taxes paid by hotel owners to the taxes paid by other local businesses and homeowners, Moore also makes the point that visitors don’t tend to use many of the things those taxes pay for, such as schools, libraries, prisons and police and fire departments. “Visitors keep our own taxes lower and we need to make that clearer to our policy makers,” said Moore.

Detailed results from the Phoenix CVB’s study are being provided by the Destination & Travel Foundation as part of the foundation’s Destination Excellence campaign, which Moore chairs. As I noted in our March issue, the campaign set a goal of raising $4 million during this very difficult time for the travel industry. As of the meeting in Atlanta, more than $3.5 million has been pledged by supporters of the Destination Excellence campaign. For more information on the Phoenix study and the Destination Excellence campaign, please call Camille Johnson at DMAI at (202) 835-4088.

Regardless of the goals and objectives of your association, reevaluating the way you make your case has the potential to shift the way in which your key constituencies view the value of your organization.

Tim Schneider
Schneider Publishing Company

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