Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 2, 1994 TAG: 9404040179
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It will charge $4 admission for adults and $2.50 for children and be open Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays through October, said Richard Burrow, park engineer.
The park will feature the first satellite office of the Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, he said. He also said it is being proposed as a site for a national archery competition in August.
Burrows' update was one of several given at a news conference the convention bureau held this week.
Martha Mackey, executive director, used the occasion to outline the bureau's plans to expand its marketing efforts and to point out that it needs more money to do that.
The bureau's 1993-1994 budget is $694,794. She said it needs a $1 million budget so it can bring in new business to make sure there will be enough to go around when the Hotel Roanoke and conference center opens in the spring of 1995.
It is anticipated that the hotel facility, for which the bureau did the initial marketing, will lure some groups now using other valley hotel, motel and meeting locations.
"We don't want to displace business we're already getting," Mackey said.
To drive home her point about money, she noted that the budget in Greensboro, N.C., is $1.1 million; Asheville, N.C., has $2.8 million; Richmond, $2.025 million; and Norfolk, $1.4 million, "plus $3 million for advertising."
She said the bureau's growth has meant a corresponding growth in revenue from tourism. For example, she said, the bureau's 1987-1988 budget was $147,858 and hospitality tax revenue that fiscal year was $4.5 million. Last year's budget was just a little more than $600,000 and hospitality tax revenue was $10.4 million.
Mackey said promotion goals include more satellite offices, particularly one in the Interstate 581-81 area, and another staff person to promote sports. She said the regional sports marketing person likely would become part of the staff of a separate corporation promoting sporting events.
Carey Harveycutter, manager of the Salem Civic Center and a member of the convention bureau board and its sports subcommittee, said the bureau has been a partner in the Salem center's efforts to bid for sporting events, including the NCAA Division III Final Four, the Virginia High School League tournament and the Big South Conference tournament.
The bureau also is working with Explore to help it capture the archery event and it is helping handle public relations for the Tour DuPont bicycle race in Roanoke on May 9, he said.
Harveycutter said the sports committee for the bureau has sent a proposal to 1996 Olympics officials in Atlanta asking that the Roanoke Valley be selected as a pre-Olympic training camp. The sites would be used for training for about a year before the games.
Also at Thursday's gathering, Wendi Turner-Schultz, executive director of Roanoke's Festival in the Park, said this year's event, to begin May 26, is its 25th.
Peter Lampman, executive director of Virginia Amateur Sports, said the Commonwealth Games of Virginia his group operates will be July 15-17 and will include new events such as power climbing.
by CNB