Town of Provincetown
Meeting Minutes of
Monday, August 7, 2006
Judge Welsh Meeting Room
Chairman Lynne Davies convened the meeting at 11:11 AM noting the following
attendees:
VSB members: Lynne Davies, Chairman; Peter Bez, Vice Chairman;
Kathleen Fitzgerald; Laurel Guadazno
(departed at 12:35); Michael Peregon; Mick Rudd (departed at 12:55) and
Hersh Schwartz.
Other attendees: Bill
Schneider, Administrative Director of Tourism; David Gardner, Administrative
Assistant II; Candice Collins-Boden,
Chamber of Commerce; Don Kunnttila, Provincetown Business Guild.
MOTION: Move to approve the
minutes of the July 10, 2006 VSB meeting.
Motion by: Laurel Guadazno; Seconded
by: Hersh Schwartz; Yea: 4; Nay: 0; Abstain: 3 (PB, KF, MR)
COOPERATIVE
ADVERTISING MARKETING GRANTS WITH THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND PROVINCETOWN
BUSINESS GUILD
Bill
Schneider gave a power point presentation update of the FY07 Media Plan
covering media advertising, travel and trade shows, and cross promotion opportunities. Potential opportunities include: a Town Fair to coincide with 12th
Annual Family Week in 2007, ITB in March 7-11, 2007 in Berlin, TIA is
conducting a GLBT Travel Study. The
Proposed FY08 Media Plan. Candice and
Don were in attendance.
Candice: The Chamber plans their Marketing Plan
around the Tourism Office’s Marketing Plan, and continues to target markets,
media outlets and venues in which the Tourism Office does not participate. The Cooperative Grant provided by the
Visitor Service Board is a very important component and valuable resource in
the Chamber’s marketing efforts. The
Chamber continues to survey businesses in town and plans to report back and
share that information with the VSB.
Don: Reports Carnival planning is going very well. The VSB should do more to create and reach
out to grass roots groups. Website
advertising is most important and should be maximized. GLBT community is very computer savvy, and
the PBG plans to tap into this venue.
Key West has a site that keeps people connected to town even when they
are not visiting, www.pistolandenama.com.
Lynne: Have you seen a change in the demographics
of the types of visitors that come to town?
All
agreed the lack of consumer confidence, rising gas prices and the economy have
all impacted travel patterns and visitor demographics. It is important to understand these factors
even though we have little control over them.
TRAVEL
INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION GLBT TOURISM RESEARCH STUDY
TIA is conducting the
first in-depth study of gay travel preferences, attitudes and behaviors
regarding destination choices, activities for business and leisure travel and
awareness of gay-friendly destinations and brands. The TIA is looking for sponsorship of the study, which would
provide an opportunity to help shape the study, as well as add propriety
questions. The survey will be conducted
with a sample of 2,000 adult travelers, as well as 500 non-gay adult
travelers. Members will review the handout
and table the discussion until the next meeting.
DATA
COLLECTION INITIATIVE
Bill
Schneider is continuing to compile data from all possible sources relating to
the local visitor serving industry during the 2005 calendar year. An annual report will be created and
presented to the VSB every year to allow them to have a greater understanding
of tourism trends on an annual basis.
PROVINCETOWN
VIDEO TOUR – RFP
We
received two responses to the RFP although neither met the RFP criteria. It was agreed to table the discussion and
have the ADT report back with an alternative proposal at the next meeting.
Footage for our VNR,
featuring a look at arts and culture in Provincetown, was shot on Monday, July 24th. Picture perfect weather greeted the crew as
they arrived from Boston, and a rough cut should be available later this week.
In
response to the Banner display ad and email blasts from the Chamber and PBG, 18
businesses have requested links to the Tourism Office website. In an effort to cross-promote the PTO’s
efforts, the ADT recommends businesses requesting a link from the PTO site
agree to provide a link from their site to the PTO’s website, which will help direct
traffic to and from the Tourism Office website.
During
the period from June 20, 2006 through July 19, 2006, the PTO’s web banner ad on
the CapeCodTravel.com website (in collaboration with our advertising contract
with Best Read Guide) had 55,102 ad views, resulting in 188 pass-through hits.
During
the last four weeks, the PTO has responded to 33 requests for information
received via the website, 16 leads from New England Travel and Life, 12 from ARTnews, and two direct requests.
Statistics
from our Town Hall Visitor’s Center, which was staffed with volunteers during
two weeks in July, include 371 visitors from July 10-14 and 496 visitors from
July 17-21.
ADVERTISING AND MEDIA
The new banner ad was
introduced on the Boston Phoenix website last week. Featuring Provincetown as a romantic getaway, the Tourism Office
will be selecting one winner each week through the end of August. Each week the winner will receive two
round-trip fast ferry tickets (courtesy of Bay State Cruise Company and Boston
Harbor Cruises).
New ads have been prepared for
ARTnews (September issue), Boston Spirit Magazine
(October/November edition), Concierge (Fall 2006 issue), Natural New
England (Spring, Winter and Fall edition) and Panorama Magazine (September
issue).
Provincetown is featured on
the cover of the current edition of Panorama (“The Official Guide to
Boston”). The cover story (“Day
Trippin’”), features a glimpse of Provincetown as a day-trip destination.
The contract with Group Tour Magazine expires with the
publication of the winter edition in November.
This publication is sent to 15,000 travel agents, motor coach companies,
group leaders, tour operators, receptive operators and bank club
directors. The ADT has negotiated an
agreement for a one-half page four-color ad to appear in four issues of Group Tour Magazine next year (February,
May, August and November). In addition,
reader service leads (which are active marketing leads) will be provided to the
PTO each month (including mailing labels and a detailed report). Finally, the PTO website will be featured on
a skyscraper ad at www.grouptour.com. The total value of this proposal is $17,440;
however, the ADT negotiated a discount of $7,363 and recommends the VSB approve
the purchase of four one-half page ads in Group Tour Magazine with the added
value components (reader service leads and website skyscraper ad) for
$10,077.
MOTION: Move to approve
$10,077 from the FY07 Marketing Budget for the purchase of four one-half page
ads in Group Tour Magazine with the added value components (reader service
leads and website skyscraper ad).
Motion by: Peter Bez; Seconded by: Kathleen Fitzgerald; Yea: 5; Nay: 0;
Abstain: 0
BUDGET
UPDATE
A
rough draft of the Five Year Plan is ongoing.
Bill Schneider is meeting with the various town departments who have
received Tourism Funds in FY06 and will present the draft at the August 21,
2006 meeting.
BATHROOM
SIGNAGE INITIATIVE
MOTION: Move to
direct the ADT to draft a thank you letter to the owner of the Common’s Guest House
and Restaurant for installing a bike rack at their own expense.
Motion by: Peter
Bez; Seconded by: Kathleen
Fitzgerald; Yea: 5; Nay: 0; Abstain:
0
The meeting was adjourned at
1:20 PM.