March Meeting Notes

March Meeting Notes
3/24/09 Hotel/Motel Meeting Minutes Introduction: Everyone Committee Organization Hospitality for the Homeless packets were presented. They have been distributed to homeless centers. Continue to solicit for donations. Elected: Gary- Holiday Inn Market- Treasurer Audra- Beau Rivage- Secretary Kim Huffman with the CVB: Working together Battling Consumer Confidence Numbers- 10 of 12 months have been down For 9/11 only a couple of months were down then things bounced back It’s not just happening here Room Occupancy Tax Receipts- Entire county down 7.92%- 5.8% for July-Jan Brunswick County ROT down 7.5% CVB has had budget cuts because numbers are down; however nothing has been taken from marketing and more money has been put into advertising Nationwide radio campaign has been started (never done before) Pushing affordability & value Aggressive giveaways Upcoming: Mikie-Attending Travel South for motorcoach media May 9th-17th- National Tourism week CVB will provide ribbons for front desk employees to wear that week. They will provide them at the next meeting. Meeting numbers are down nationally. There is a positive campaign being ran that recreates a positive feel about companies allowing meetings. Convention Center Update: Still on track to open Summer 2010 Additional 11,000 square feet decision to be made soon $250,000 to market convention center No staff in place, yet Participating in the Raleigh Trade Show & Destination Showcase in Washington, DC Media plan starting in June Antonio Saviano with Cape Fear Soccer Association: May Tournament coming up August tournament the last week of the month Send anyone requesting availability to the CVB. They have researched and out together a list for easy referral. Daniel Burke with IMEC Productions: Introducing the opportunity of a new possible marketing tool on U-Tube If you are interested please contact him at: Dan Burke IMEC dan@imecus.com www.imecus.com 910.622.6094 Kip: Name stays the same Treasurer/ Secretary/ President will visit previous president to retrieve account info prior to next meeting * April 17: Business After Hours at the park Legion Stadium in Bar Garden * April 14: Hammerheads Game * Monique: Passport Program Handouts