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ConVis Concerned Allocation From City Could Be Cut

ConVis Concerned Allocation From City Could Be Cut

Hotel’s Sewage Spill Prompts Visit From the City’s Environmental Unit

TOURISM & HOSPITALITY

by Connie Lewis, Staff Writer

Unless the San Diego City Council increases the transient occupancy tax allocation for the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau in the coming fiscal year, it will have to cut back on the some of the advertising that has helped to make the city a leading tourism destination, one ConVis official said.

But since the city has not increased the allocation since 2000, ConVis spokesman Sal Giametta said it isn’t likely to do so now, considering the budget challenges it faces.

“The reality is we don’t expect to see an increase in our allocation. But would the city decrease it? We don’t know,” said Giametta. “We know the council recognizes that investing in marketing San Diego as a destination gives a significant return.”

In the weeks leading up to City Manager Michael Uberuaga’s budget proposal, expected in mid to late spring, ConVis intends to lobby council members on the importance of its job.

“It’s not ConVis that will be hurting if we have to decrease our ad budget, it’s San Diego,” Giametta added. “You can see how the city has grown over the years. And that is a direct result of a wise investment it has made in continuing to promote San Diego as a premier convention, leisure and travel destination.”

Even if the allocation remains the same in the coming fiscal year, cuts in ConVis’ “product initiatives” will likely be made since advertising costs have risen from 5 to 10 percent, depending on the medium, each year for the last few years.

Product initiatives, Giametta said, are niche marketing campaigns aimed outside the usual realm of leisure tourism. Such marketing targets visitors who come not just for the beaches and sunny weather, but also to partake in cultural attractions, the arts, museums, golf, biking, hiking, running and even yoga.

“At the same time, finding success in today’s highly competitive visitor marketplace requires more than advertising our wonderful climate and topography and major attractions to leisure tourists,” he said. “So cutting back would surely result in a reduction in our tourism-related businesses and the revenue it brings, including the transient occupancy tax, which the city relies on.”

The 10.5 percent TOT collection, which stays in San Diego, was originally designed to fund tourism promotion. But local government has become reliant on the tax to also underwrite municipal services, including police and fire protection and street repair.

For the current fiscal year ending in June, the city’s TOT collection was $98.3 million, of which ConVis received $13.9 million. The projection is the city will collect $108.2 million for fiscal 2003.

This year, the city’s allocation represented 85 percent of ConVis’ $16.3 million advertising budget. Another 12 percent came from membership dues, 2 percent from the county and 1 percent from the Unified Port District of San Diego.

– – –

Spilling Out: Sewage spills happen.

But the San Diego City Attorney’s Office wants business owners to know that ignoring sewage and grease spills that originate from their property could lead to dealing with more than just a smelly mess.

The business owner may have to face the city attorney’s Environmental Crimes Protection Team, which is what happened to the Quality Inn on Nimitz Boulevard in Point Loma.

The owners pleaded no contest in San Diego Superior Court to violating the city’s storm water ordinance for a sewage spill that occurred over a 16-hour period last March. As a result, about 14,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled onto city streets, into storm drains, and then into San Diego Bay.

Under a settlement agreement reached Feb. 19 with the City Attorney’s Office, Quality Inn will pay more than $8,100 in fines and costs.

“If any business fails to act quickly, once a sewage spill from their property is identified, they will be held accountable,” said City Attorney Casey Gwinn.

Send tourism and hospitality news to Connie Lewis via fax at (858) 571-3628 or via E-mail:

clewis@sdbj.com.

Call her at (858) 277-6359, Ext. 107.

County Outpaces Rest of State For Number of New Hotel Rooms

BY CONNIE LEWIS

Staff Writer

A new survey shows in 2002, San Diego County topped all others in the state with number of new hotel rooms that came on line. The county also led in the number of rooms under construction.

According to Atlas Hospitality Group of Costa Mesa, San Diego County saw the addition of eight new hotels with 1,512 new hotel rooms last year. It outpaced Orange County in the No. 2 spot with eight hotels and 1,451 rooms. Santa Clara County came in third with nine hotels totaling 1,157 rooms.

San Diego County also outpaced other counties with 2,102 rooms in nine hotels under construction. Orange County was second with seven hotels having 1,440 rooms, and Santa Clara third with five hotels and 970 rooms.

“We have more demand than other markets in California,” said Bob Rauch, director of the Center of Hospitality and Tourism Research at San Diego State University. “For that reason, we’re also one of the few markets in the state that can afford to build.”

Rauch predicted that countywide, the occupancy rate will average 70 percent in 2003 due to increased bookings for the expanded San Diego Convention Center and the continued strength of the drive market for leisure tourism. Last year, the average was 68.4 percent, off 2 percent from the previous year.

“The occupancy rate should go up this year because demand will outpace supply,” he said. “The supply will be up about 2 percent, but demand will be up between 3 percent and 3.5 percent.”

And there’s more.

The survey also showed that San Diego County led the state in the number of new hotels planned, with 50. However, as Rauch pointed out, only a fraction of that number will go under construction.

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