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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAO-07-046 - KW Tourism - Future Service Delivery Model~' ^ ~ , ^ :hf~f ~~c~`r~ir~i~tr~~~~c~~` Report To: Councillor Berry Vrbanovic, Chair and Members of Finance and Corporate Services Committee Date of Meeting: September 24, 2007 Submitted By: Carla Ladd, CAO Prepared By: Carla Ladd, CAO Wards}Involved: All Date of Report: September 18, 2007 Report No.: CAO-07-046 Subject: KW TOURISM -FUTURE SERVICE DELIVERY MODEL RECOMMENDATION: That subject to final approval of the City's Operating Budget, Council approve the additional funds required for the reallocation of KW Tourism staff resources to support Customer Service, Economic Development -downtown and communications and marketing programs commencing in 2008. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY With the creation of the regional Tourism Destination Marketing organization, Council was advised that the function of KW Tourism would need to be significantly changed to focus solely on Visitor Information services supported by the regional Tourism organization. Over the past four months, staff have been exploring the future of K~V Tourism and believe there is an opportunity to include tourism within the mandate of Economic Development allowing us not only to provide tourism visitor services but also enhance our resources and capacity in our Economic Development/Downtown program. BACKGROUND: In May 2007, City Council supported the creation of a new region wide Destination Marketing Organization to promote tourism throughout the Region. The new organization was supported by all Municipal Councils in the Region and is now incorporated as Waterloo Region Tourism Marketing Corporation (WRTMC}. It is fully operational with a Board of Directors and a General Manager. The primary purpose of the new organization is to market the Region in an effort to attract more tourists, and once here, to keep them in the area longer. In order to achieve this mandate, the WRTMC is responsible for all marketing activities including print materials, a website and other activities to raise the profile of the region such as attendance at trade shows. In addition, the WRIVITC will be responsible for developing a framework to support visitor fulfillment which includes an interactive website and a 1-800 number for broad based enquiries. While visitor services will be coordinated by the new tourism organization, Visitor Information Centres continue to be the responsibility of each of the municipalities. In this regard, Council was advised that a review of the function and operation of K~V Tourism would be undertaken should the new organization proceed. KW Tourism currently undertakes a number of activities related to tourism, including the development of marketing materials, visitor services for walk in traffic as well as telephone and web enquiries, and the operation of Your Kitchener Store. In addition, staff at KW Tourism also organize and conduct of a variety of tours throughout Kitchener Downtown, produce orientation packages and assemble a number of gift packages for new downtown residents and employerslemployees. These latter activities are undertaken in conjunction with Downtown staff and are invaluable in supporting and advancing the Downtown Strategic Plan. In considering the future of Visitor Information services related to tourism, an opportunity presented itself to combine these activities with a number of activities currently provided or planned to be provided by the City. The first of these alignments is the opportunity to combine the activities of the proposed Customer Service Welcome Centre to be established in City Hall as part of the Customer Service program. This program would see the establishment of a Welcome Centre in the Rotunda of City Hall which would provide general City information to residents and businesses including fielding general enquiries and providing written information related to City business and services. This centre would be operated with one staff member although back up for absences and daily breaks proved to be a challenge. In addition to the dissemination of tourism information, the combination of these services would allow a one stop shop for businesses, residents and tourists and would provide backup in staffing by having tourism staff cross trained in all these services. Additionally, it would reduce costs related to tourism services by having this service delivered from city space rather than paying lease costs for a separate facility. Strong signage will be paramount for the success of both of these operations. The second opportunity presents itself in the use of additional staffing capacity from Tourism in the Downtown and Community Development Division of Economic Development by continuing and growing activities related to downtown programming, much of which has already been established in the relationship between Tourism and Downtown. Current services fostering downtown development provided by Tourism include the organization and delivery of tours to new downtown businesses and residents as well as the assembly of packages for new employerslemployees and students coming into downtown Kitchener. A most recent example of these activities is the downtown dining tour organized by KW Tourism for students from the University of Waterloo Arts program to develop a stronger link with the University students and heighten the profile of dining and entertainment opportunities in Kitchener's Downtown. Additionally, a stronger liaison can be developed with the KDBA to support the activities of this organization. The combination of these activities also allows us to focus on tourism activities focused more specifically on Kitchener as well as the downtown. Finally, the current Tourism Marketing Associate would refocus its attention and support away from tourism and towards Economic Development and the Downtown. This focused and dedicated resource would allow the City to better plan for, develop and implement a more focused and proactive communications and marketing strategy related to two of the City's key priorities -economic development and the downtown. As more new projects are developed in the downtown, including significant new residential projects, new businesses and the University Campuses, it is important that the downtown environment support and foster the success of these projects. Ensuring that we have committed resources to develop strong relationships with our new downtown occupants to meet there needs and increase our market exposure, will guarantee that we are successful in the long term. Financial Implications The City of Kitchener's share of the funding for the new organization is $90,000 on an annual basis for the first 3 years, 2008-2010. Currently the City of Kitchener spends approximately $161,000 on tourism for both destination marketing and visitor services. While some of our current funding is directed to destination marketing, almost all of this funding is offset by revenues received from memberships and advertising which will now be directed to the proposed new organization. A reallocation of funds and resources from tourism to support the various programs required for the new tourism model and to support existing City programs is proposed as follows: WRTMC (City of Kitchener share) 90,000 Wages and fringe benefits (existing tourism staff) 94,189 Net levy Impact 184,189 Current tourism program funding 161,844 Net levy impact of proposed program funding 184,189 Shortfall 22,345 Therefore an additional budget requirement of $25,000 is requested to proceed with the reallocation of tourism resources to support Customer Service, Economic Development - downtown and communications and marketing services. Conclusion The combination of tourism with our Customer Service, Economic Development-Downtown and Communications and Marketing programs will allow us to use existing resources more efficiently and bolster programs in all these areas resulting in the enhanced and successful delivery of our programs. Carla Ladd ,CAO