Town of
Provincetown
Visitor
Services Board
Meeting
Minutes of
Tuesday,
January 9, 2007
Chairman Lynne Davies convened the meeting at 10:05 AM noting the following
attendees:
Members Present: Lynne
Davies, Chairman; Peter Bez, Vice Chairman; Kathleen Fitzgerald; Laurel Guadazno; Michael Peregon;
Mick Rudd and Hersh Schwartz.
Other attendees: Bill
Schneider, Administrative Director of Tourism; David Gardner, Administrative
Assistant II; Candice Collins-Boden, Chamber of Commerce; Dan Hort, Somerset
House.
APPROVAL
OF MINUTES
MOTION: Move to approve the minutes of the December
5, 2006 10:00 AM VSB meeting as submitted.
MOTION: Hersh
Schwartz; Seconded: Peter Bez; Yea: 4; Nay: 0; Abstain: 1 (LG)
MOTION: Move to approve the minutes of the December
5, 2006 10:30 AM VSB meeting as submitted.
MOTION: Hersh
Schwartz; Seconded: Peter Bez; Yea: 4;
Nay: 0; Abstain: 1 (LG)
Kathleen Fitzgerald joined the meeting at 10:10 AM.
Mick Rudd joined the meeting at 10:15 AM.
WINTER
GUIDE INITIATIVE
Dan Hort from the Somerset House has
published a Winter Guide for their guests.
The guide currently covers restaurants but could be expanded to include
cultural institutions and retail establishments. Dan is proposing a centralized database of the information be
maintained during the winter season which can be available on the PTO website
to encourage visits during the shoulder and winter season. The Chamber will ask its members for updated
information. The ADT will ask the
Banner to do a feature article on the initiative and request businesses to
provide updated information regarding events and winter hours. The guide should be published from November
to March to cover the shoulder seasons.
The guide will need to be updated monthly to allow visitors up-to-date
information on restaurant and retail off-season hours. The ADT will update the guide for February
2007. Next year, the guide should be
made available to second homeowners to encourage them to patronize and support
year-round businesses.
MOTION: Move to request the Licensing Agent update
the business list in town because it is vital information for the promotion of
tourism in town.
MOTION: Peter
Bez; Seconded: Kathleen Fitzgerald; Yea: 7; Nay: 0; Abstain: 0
MOTION: Move to request the PTO working with Dan Hort, PBG and the
Chamber to develop a winter guide on a monthly basis with the February 2007
guide to be compiled before the end of January.
MOTION: Peter Bez; Seconded: Michael Peregon; Yea: 7; Nay: 0;
Abstain: 0
TOURISM SUMMIT
Draft memo announcing the summit
was discussed and the goals of the summit were identified. The VSB scheduled the summit to convene on
Thursday, February 8, 2007 at 10:00 AM.
The Board discussed ways to make the summit an event to bring together
stakeholders to provide feedback and identify the issues that impact the
visitor service industry and identify the infrastructure needs in town to
enhance tourism.
FY08 GRANT
APPLICATION UPDATE
The deadline for submission
of FY08 Grant Applications is 4:00 PM on Tuesday, January 16, 2007. Review hearings are scheduled for Tuesday
and Wednesday, January 23 and 24, 2007 beginning at 9:00 AM.
ANNUAL
REPORT
A draft Annual Report was
circulated that summarizes the accomplishments of the VSB over the last year and
the goals for the upcoming year. The
report is due to the Town Clerk on January 17, 2007. Comments on the draft should be provided by email to the
Chairperson as soon as possible. The
report will include the data collection initiative, which includes overall
attendance in cultural institutions, events, transportation venues, lodging,
room tax revenue, water usage, parking revenue, National Seashore Visitor
Center visits, etc.
TOURISM
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Candice
Collins-Boden presented the Historic Ports in Massachusetts Cruise Ship
initiative. Provincetown is one of
seven historic ports in Massachusetts with a proposal to market to small cruise
ships companies. Also included in the
discussion is a proposal to reintroduce Gloucester-Provincetown Ferry service.
FOCUS Communications
provided a draft of the lead press release for 2007, highlighting the ways in
which the VSB and PTO are building on 2006’s successes by seeking to foster new
strategic alliances that not only attract new tourists to Provincetown, but
also enhance the Provincetown experience for the visitor. In addition,
the agency is finalizing a list of opinion leaders and decision makers in the
tourism industry, as well as economic development organizations, to receive our
first VNR focusing “An Art Colony Called Provincetown.” The goal of this
initiative is to raise awareness of the new ways the Town is showcasing its
cultural assets, and also continuing to raise awareness of the Provincetown art
colony. FOCUS is planning a subsequent mailing of the VNR to media in
February-March.
Our video team is editing
the second VNR featuring Provincetown’s history and heritage. “Traditionally Provincetown” will become
part of a series entitled “Provincetown: Like Nowhere Else.”
New ads have been prepared
for the March, April and May issues of ARTnews (featuring photography,
abstraction and changing tastes), the February/March (home and garden) issue of
Boston Spirit Magazine and the March and May 2007 issues of Curve
Magazine (featuring travel and romance/weddings).
In
addition to Canada and England as international marketing targets, the ADT will
attend a seminar in Boston next week hosted by Tourism Massachusetts to help us
capitalize on the anticipated increase in Japanese tourists during the upcoming
season. Japanese baseball superstar
Daisuke Matsuzaka was recently signed to the Boston Red Sox. Since the announcement, Boston has received
a plethora of TV and print press throughout Japan at an estimated value of over
$2 million. In an effort to position
Provincetown for the influx of Japanese tourists, the ADT anticipates hosting a
series of FAM trips to Provincetown to help bolster awareness.
In late November last year,
Boston Magazine Publications announced they would discontinue publication of
Concierge Magazine with the Winter 2006-07 edition. In an effort to help retain us as a customer of their sister
publications, the PTO has been offered a very attractive alternative, which
includes three insertions in Boston Magazine for the same price as the contract
in place for Concierge $1,500 per insertion) at a savings of 74% of the rack
rate. In addition, we are being offered
value added incentives including cross promotion of events in two issues of
Boston Magazine and New England Travel and Life, a sponsorship of Go-To-Guide
newsletter (a weekly newsletter sent to 30,000 opted in subscribers to let them
know about the week’s upcoming events and premieres during a week determined by
the ADT), a mailing list of 5,000 Boston Magazine subscribers to be used for a
promotional mailing and inclusion on the Boston Magazine quarterly visitor
map. All of these incentives have a
value of over $14,000. In addition, the
publisher has agreed to upgrade our ad in New England Travel and Life from a
one-third page to half-page at no additional cost.
MOTION: Move to approve the media plan to substitute
Boston Magazine for the three remaining issues of the advertising contract in
place for Concierge Magazine at the rate of $1,500 per insertion to be paid from
the FY07 Marketing Budget.
MOTION: Peter Bez; Seconded: Hersh
Schwartz; Yea: 7; Nay: 0; Abstain: 0
Peter Bez left the meeting
at 11:45 am.
On December 22, 2006, the
Licensing Agent, Health Inspector and ADT met with Andy Pollack to discuss his
plans to resurrect the Summer Farmers’ Market.
Mr. Pollack confirmed the preferred date, time and venue for the market
is Saturday afternoons from 1:30 PM until 5:30 PM in the Ryder Street parking
lot (following the Orleans Farmers’ Market, which is held on Saturday
mornings). The schedule will run for 16
weeks, from June 30 until October 13, 2007.
This proposal is subject to Board of Selectmen approval and requires
each vendor to comply with Town and Commonwealth regulatory issues.
Last week, the ADT received
a disbursement request for $2,500 on behalf of the Provincetown Tennessee
Williams Festival, which includes copies of promotional materials that mention
sponsorship by the Tourism Office; however, these materials do not display the
PTO/VSB logo, which is required under the terms of the grant agreement.
MOTION: Move to penalize the Provincetown Tennessee
Williams Festival $750 of the grant award for failure to meet the terms of the
grant agreement.
MOTION: Michael Peregon; Seconded:
Mick Rudd; Yea: 5; Nay: 1;
Abstain: 0
Following the request made
by the VSB at their November 21, 2006 meeting, the ADT obtained a price quote
to reprint 10,000 copies of the 2007 Calendar of Events, which will be
distributed throughout the year.
MOTION: Move to approve the cost of printing 10,000
additional copies of the 2007 Calendar of Events not to exceed $1,200 plus
shipping expenses, to be funded from the FY07 Marketing Budget.
MOTION: Hersh Schwartz; Seconded:
Laurel Guadazno; Yea: 6; Nay: 0;
Abstain: 0
MOVIE HOUSE ADS
The
ADT will look into the possibility of advertising in movie theaters throughout
Cape Cod. The VNR, or an abbreviated
version of the VNR, could be played prior to film screenings to promote
Provincetown.
RESTROOM SIGNS
The
ADT will contact DPW to inquire about the placement of restroom wayfinding
signs to be installed near the comfort station prior to the spring season.
The
meeting was adjourned at 12:20 PM.