6/11/1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

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J U N It 1991 P001( 83 FA' -E 562 Dr. Strong took the floor, noting that he seems to have a foot in many of the different camps involved in this whole area. He has done a great deal of work on beaches and on the kind of work that Save Our Shores would like in Captiva and Marco Islands. At the same time he and his colleagues do the tourism research for the Palm Beach County Tourist Development Council, involving occupancy surveys, surveys at hotels, at tourist attractions, etc. They also have completed a study statewide on economic impact of the Arts; so, he does have knowledge of all of these areas. Dr. Strong believed the broader aspect study that has been discussed today can be done within the funds discussed. It was envisaged that there would be surveys of all the tourists in the hotels asking why they come to the county, as well as surveys at the beach, and they could do surveys at the arts events and some of the other funded events. Provided what is desired is not inflated to an enormous level, he believed it could be done for the requested amount. Commissioner Eggert asked about having mail -in question- naires at the Center for the Arts, Riverside Theatre, etc., and Dr. Strong confirmed that was the way they do it in Palm Beach plus having such forms at the airport. John Bates, operator of the Best Western hotel on the beach, having been in the hospitality business for 19 years, felt he was qualified to speak as to hotel occupancy in the Vero Beach area. He commented that he was here prior to the bed assessment tax. Since that has been approved and we have been collecting the revenues, there seem to be an awful lot of entities that are now professionals as to how to spend dollars to bring tourism to Vero Beach. Mr. Bates stressed that the whole key is to get the tourists here to begin with, and unless the monies are appropri- ated to the proper entities to do this, you are just throwing the money away. Commissioner Scurlock commented that his pleasure would be to accept the budget as proposed with the modification that Item #1 is to be expanded and reviewed by the Committee to come up with a scope of services to consider a variety of things as discussed. Commissioner Wheeler advised that although he is Chairman of the Tourist Development Council, he was called away from that meeting prior to the motion being taken on the recommendation now being considered, and he has some problems with accepting the budget as proposed. First of all, he has a problem with the recommendation of $100,000 for the City of Vero Beach towards their 3 -year paving project instead of the $130,000 requested. He personally felt we are obligated to support that project, and 30