Yesterday, we shared the boneheaded comment that tourism marketing is superfluous because "everybody knows (fill in the name of the destination)."
Monday night, the CEO of the Niagara Tourism & Convention Corporation was scheduled to make a 30-minute presentation on the economic impact his agency continues to have on the region to the City's Tourism Advisory Board. And, with occupancy down just 3.7% this summer (when the national average is closer to 10%) and web traffic up 50%, he should have had a compelling story to tell.
Except the 30-minutes turned into a heated 2-hour debate on the effectiveness of the organization, challenges that the NTTC is playing favorites in marketing destination hotels (they're not) and whether the DMO is targeting "niche markets." Too funny...if it wasn't so sad.
At the end of the grilling, one City Councilman told the CEO to not take the criticism personally. And then uttered another classic line that we've all heard before:
“The only reason we’re on you is we have to be the watchdogs for the taxpayers."
Bullshit.
If you were a watchdog for the taxpayer, your residents would pay far less in taxes than they do today. You're using the NTTC to make yourself look good to a public that doesn't understand the critical need for destination marketing in building the economy of a region and enhancing its quality of life.
You can stop now.
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