In the community development and destination marketing ecosystem, when we see an opportunity, we can't wait to pounce.
But, as Axl Rose once sang, it often takes a little patience. Hell, look at Madison. Frank Lloyd Wright proposed Monona Terrace decades before I was born. His Cathedral Vision was realized some 60 years later.
A client DMO has been advancing a concept of a Room Tax increase for over 6 years; an increase that provides new, non-resident revenue for increased promotion and asset development. The County Board was all in on asset development...but they were fearful that voters would turn on them for increasing a tax. Never mind that it wasn't a tax on residents...they were more concerned about their political future than what was right for the community.
Well, 6 years later, they're mostly gone; died or no longer in office. And the new County Board is, as the CEO shared with me last week, "younger, understand tourism and are fans of what we do and understand our mission."
Sometimes you just have to wait the old guard power structure out.
Hang in there. You'll get there.
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