TOWN
OF PROVINCETOWN
VISITOR SERVICES BOARD
MONDAY, JULY 11, 2005
Chairman Lynne Davies convened the
meeting at 11:04 a.m. noting the following attendees:
VSB members: Lynne Davies, Chairman; Peter Bez; Kathleen Fitzgerald; Laurel
Guadazno; Michael Peregon; Mick Rudd; Hersh Schwartz
Other attendees: Bill
Schneider, Acting Tourism Director
Recorder: Cynthia Curran
:
The following are meeting minutes, in
brief:
Lynne
Davies congratulated Bill Schneider on becoming the Acting Tourism Office
Director.
Approval of minutes of 6/21/05. Minor
corrections were noted.
MOTION: Move that the minutes from the June 21, 2005 VSB meeting be
approved as amended.
Motion by: Kathleen Fitzgerald Seconded by: Mick Rudd
Yea 3 Nay 0 Abstain 4
Chairman Davies presented a budget
update. Ms. Davies noted that per her
records, the Restroom budget line from the VSB Municipal budget, was overdrawn.
The VSB was charged for receipts over the allocated amount. Ms. Davies has set up a meeting with DPW
personnel to clarify and resolve this issue.
Ms. Davies also noted that $50,000 has
been committed to the Shuttle, but in the past the full amount was not
used. After the bill has been audited,
the difference will be put back in the budget. The refund from the previous year (approximately $32,500), which
is not shown on the budget, will revert to the VSB Municipal budget. Some of these funds have possibly already
been allocated. Ms. Davies said she
will review the situation with Bill Schneider.
Regarding grants, approximately $19,000
committed dollars has not been spent and will roll over into the FY 2006 budget
to reimburse receipts from FY2005 grants.
The issue regarding the referral of
travel writers to local guesthouses was next on the agenda. Bill Schneider said that when he receives a
request from Michael Patrick, he forwards it to the PBG and the Chamber who
send out an email blast to their members.
Mr. Schneider said that he tried to get a list of guesthouses from the
Licensing Agent, but wasn’t able to.
Ms. Davies said that she and Mick Rudd will work on a list of places
willing to give comps for rooms, meals, etc. from the Chamber and PBG
respectively. Bill Schneider will check
the list with the Licensing Agent. They
plan to have this done within two weeks.
Ms. Davies suggested and the VSB agreed that the issue be revisited
later in the season.
Marketing Update
The discussion continued with some ideas
for Bill Schneider to research.
1. The Board is interested in reaching a
younger audience of potential visitors (18 to 30).
2. Ms. Davies would like Mr., Schneider
to research Travel Expos in Canada
3. Ms. Davies is interested in more
shows for the general public, in addition to trade shows.
4. She would like Mr. Schneider to find
out what the amount of the Association Dues is for the budget.
5. Mick Rudd also brought up the idea of
advertising in magazines to reach people interested in nature. Some possible areas are kayaking, bird
watching and fishing.
The next topic was the co-op ad grants
for the Chamber of Commerce and the PBG.
Last year they were each given $10,000.00. In the past these have been matching grants. Mick Rudd said that it has been difficult
for the Chamber to match the grant and asked that the matching aspect be
removed from the grant. After some
discussion a motion was made.
MOTION: Move to approve grant contracts with the Chamber of
Commerce and PBG for co-op ads for $10,000.00 each (with no matching
necessary).
Motion by: Peter Bez Seconded by:
Laurel Guadazno Yea 6
Nay 1
Lynne
Davies brought up the possibility of last minute deals on ads. Sometimes an advertiser drops out and the
VSB is offered space. There was some
discussion about whether the ads should be only in periodicals where the VSB
already advertises or if new magazines should be tried.
MOTION: Move to create a reserve marketing fund for FY2006 to
provide additional advertising within the fiscal year as recommended by the
Office of Tourism.
The
motion was tabled until the next meeting so that the amount of reserve money
available is established
The VSB
website was the next topic of discussion.
The Board has been given an estimate of $6300.00 by KISS Computing. Ms. Davies advised allowing extra money in
case it is needed.
MOTION: Move to approve a contract with KISS Computing for up to
$7500.00 for the design, development, and hosting of the VSB website (estimated
at $6300.00).
Motion by: Lynne
Davies Seconded by: Mick
Rudd Yea 7 Nay 0
MOTION: Move to approve the amount of $1500.00 for Tour Guide Appreciation Day.
Motion by: Peter Bez Seconded by:
Hersh Schwartz Yea 7
Nay 0
Discussion
of the E-newsletter was tabled pending additional cost information from
Constant Contact.
MOTION: Move to approve $6000.00 for the 2006 Calendar of Events
cards and posters.
Motion by: Peter Bez Seconded by:
Laurel Guadazno Yea 7
Nay 0
Bill
Schneider then presented information about advertising leads. Mr. Schneider recommended advertising in Bay
Windows.
MOTION: Move to approve $4875.00 for a contract with Bay Windows
for the insertion of quarter page ads for 26 weeks.
Motion by: Lynne Davies Seconded by:
Laurel Guadazno Yea 7
Nay 0
Mr.
Schneider suggested placing a full-page ad in the January/February 2006 issue
of Curve magazine, which will feature weddings and romance. The Board asked Mr. Schneider to contact Curve about doing a
related article on Provincetown. They
also requested that he issue a press release about the fact that 1000 gay
couples have been married in Provincetown.
MOTION: Move to approve the insertion of two one-third page ads in Curve
magazine ($2406.00 for each ad) in the January/February and March/April issues.
Motion by: Lynne
Davies Seconded by: Peter Bez
Yea 7 Nay 0
Bill
Schneider brought up 411 Magazine, but did not recommend it. He did think that the VSB should consider
advertising in the 2005 Destinations Network Travel Guide. This comes out in the fall and has a shelf
life of one year.
MOTION: Move to authorize the Tourism Office to negotiate an ad in
the 2005 Destinations Network Travel Guide for an amount up
to and including $1500.00.
Motion by: Mick
Rudd Seconded by: Hersh Schwartz Yea 7 Nay 0
Lynne
Davies suggested possibly using a different URL for the website address in
order to gauge the response form this ad.
Next
GLEEBOSTON, a trade show in Boston, was discussed. Because it is right after the New York show
and in Boston, it was decided that someone should attend the show as a visitor,
but that the VSB would not have a booth there.
Peter
Bez brought up 411 Magazine again. He said that since the VSB wants to target Florida, it might be a
good place to advertise. After some
discussion a motion was made.
MOTION: Move to authorize the spending of up to $4600.00 for
advertising in 411 in FY2006.
Motion by: Lynne
Davies Seconded by: Peter Bez
Yea 6 Nay 1
Michael
Peregon suggested exploring the possibility of marketing to college students in
Metro Boston. Mick Rudd said that
although they don’t usually have much money to spend, they may return when they
are older. After some discussion, the
Chairman asked Bill Schneider to investigate rates for the Boston Phoenix and
to find out information about similar free publications in Providence.
OLD
BUSINESS
Lynne
Davies brought up a list of “Things to Do.”
1. Solidification of
Tourism Support Plan for the BOS.
2. Grant Committee
3. West End bathrooms
4. Heritage Trail
5. Marketing Plan
Ms.
Davies said the Board should establish goal dates and determine when proposals
need to be presented to the BOS. She
also said that a public meeting should be scheduled to get feedback about the
Heritage Trail. Mick Rudd said that it
might be efficacious to have one-hour meetings every week in order to keep the
process moving along and to give more support to Chairman Davies. It was then decided to meet again next week
for a one-hour meeting.
NEXT MEETING: July 18th, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
MOTION: Move to adjourn the meeting at 1:05 p.m.
Motion by: Kathleen
Fitzgerald Seconded by: Michael Peregon Yea 7 Nay 0