ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 14, 1996 TAG: 9604120062
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
THE PATRICK Henry Hotel in downtown Roanoke isn't closing after all, but its alert about a fall-off in visitors to the valley can't be ignored.
Indeed, the hint that the lovely old hotel might be in jeopardy - quickly taken back - is just another sign amid evidence everywhere you look that the Roanoke Valley is failing to take its tourism potential seriously.
A good place to start getting serious - and it would be just a start - is with support for the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. So far, it hasn't been adequate.
Granted, a decline in leisure and corporate travel in the first quarter of this year can be explained by the repeated, severe winter storms that frequently kept people from traveling across town, much less to the Roanoke Valley from out of town. But the visitors bureau also noted a 5 percent drop in leisure travel last year, after six years of steady growth.
Valley localities have kept funding for the bureau level for the past three years - after giving it a significant boost, to be sure. The city of Roanoke's contribution more than doubled, from $200,000 to $500,000; Roanoke County didn't do as well, nudging its allocation by $25,000, to $107,500. While the county doesn't reap as much tax revenue from the hospitality industry, the disparity is not as wide as its contribution would indicate. It should do more. So should the city.
All the region's localities, in fact, should increase their effort - as should businesses that benefit from tourism. Many priorities compete for dollars in both the public and private sectors, but bucks spent on promoting tourism are sure to come back and multiply. City revenue in 1994-95 from meals, lodging and admissions taxes added up to almost $6.5 million; the county's total exceeded $2.75 million.
Hotels, motels, a couple of banks and a few restaurants pay membership dues to the bureau. Many more businesses should. Restaurants benefit greatly from tourism, as do retail stores, banks, even Realtors. (The visitors bureau gets 30-40 inquiries a month for relocation information.)
The valley visitors center had a total budget of $738,300 for the 1995-96 fiscal year, far less than the $2.4 million the center in Asheville, N.C., had to pull in visitors. We think we're better than Asheville. It's time to take a hard look at the numbers.
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