Silly Season
An industry friend messaged me the other day to say, “it’s silly season.” As in, State Legislatures are in session.
One of the flare-ups is hardly a surprise. Florida’s House of Representatives has historically searched for ways to cripple or end Visit Florida. It's just who they are. But this time, the sheer audacity of some of these lawmakers is breathless in its scope.
It’s one thing to try to defund Visit Florida (and the State’s Economic Development agency)…but this time, House Republicans are suggesting that a portion of local county hotel taxes be used to fund the State’s Tourism program.
It’s a classic “if it’s so important, then you fund it” shot across the bow. Florida’s DMOs and Counties have responded rapidly to the potential redirection of locally collected taxes. But, emboldened by a Governor that seems to delight in punishing Disney (which still has cunning on their side), legislators are intent on targeting Visit Florida even when it reduces DMO funding in their own Districts.
It's just another case of ideology overtaking sound financial opportunity for the State's citizenry.
And then, there’s Ohio. A perennially underfunded State Tourism Office (when compared to many of its Midwest competitors), the Administration there has recently announced it intends to combine all agencies that promote the State in to one big Marketing Office. In doing so, it assured everyone that might be paying attention that the $10 million it invests in Tourism promotion would remain. But, if there’s no Tourism Office, who’ll be spending the money? And toward whose marketing plan?
Administration officials initially feigned their support for the Tourism industry…but as Ohio’s travel industry was not consulted during the contemplation phase of this process, many insiders believed this fait d’accompli had nothing to do with Tourism and everything to do with Economic Development. That seemed to be confirmed when the State Tourism Director was dismissed last week.
In the announcement of his departure, the Director of Economic Development said: “I know there have been some discussions among travel and tourism insiders as to whether the proposed budget will diminish the DeWine-Husted Administration’s commitment to the industry. That view could not be further from the truth. Governor DeWine, Lt. Governor Husted, myself, and the entire team at the Ohio Department of Development, remain fully committed to the travel and tourism industry.”
But, if you were “fully committed,” wouldn’t you have strategized this bold new initiative with the engagement of at least some of the “insiders” of which you speak? Thus, this was an Economic Development play from the start, because Economic Development believes they’re the smartest kids in the room.
But, when it comes to B2C communication, they’re not, as Destination Cleveland’s David Gilbert opined when he was a guest on the DMOU podcast.
Get ready, boys and girls…because we’ll be seeing more of these incursions by Economic Development agencies into the Destination Marketing sector. We’ve been successful in proving our relevance in community development. We’ve driven home that we’re the first date for Economic Development. Now Economic Development wants to work together.
On the outside, that looks downright collegial and collaborative. In reality, if Destination Marketing professionals aren’t leading the crafting of these joint messages from within these new initiatives, this is nothing more than a money grab.
It brings to mind a fraternity initiation ritual that served me well through my life. The details of one of the most profound nights of my life will remain a secret…but I will share the words with which I was left: On the Road of Life, there will be those who seek to steal from you by guile and others by force. Watch for these individuals.
Guile (Ohio) and Force (Florida), indeed.