ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190018
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
Salem City Council may be asked to reduce its annual support of the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, according to a city official who has raised questions about the agency's work.
"We will review our participation in the bureau to gauge whether we think it is effective or not," said Carey Harveycutter, who runs the Salem Civic Center and the city's football and baseball stadiums and also represents the city on the visitor bureau's board of directors. "There are some questions about the effectiveness of the bureau."
His comments come just after it came to light that the Roanoke Airport Marriott hotel, which provided some of the funds to found the convention and visitors bureau, also reduced its annual contribution from $10,500 to $2,500. The hotel's general manager said he felt the money would be better spent on in-house marketing.
The bureau is a 12-year-old tourism marketing organization created by area hotels and other businesses to advertise the Roanoke Valley's attractions primarily to leisure travelers, tour operators and groups holding conventions and meetings.
It operates a visitors center on the Roanoke City Market. Roanoke provides nearly 70 percent of its current $738,000 budget and Roanoke County has provided 15 percent; Salem's contribution of $25,000 represents 3.4 percent.
Martha Mackey, the bureau's executive director, defended the organization's performance with the money it has and said Thursday that Salem is getting its money's worth. The business that the bureau steers to Salem generates at least enough taxes to cover the city's contribution, she said.
Any reduction in Salem's financial support "would be unfortunate," Mackey said. "We have been trying for several years to get Salem to increase their funding."
The bureau's executive leadership, a subgroup of the board of directors, probably will discuss Harveycutter's concern at an upcoming meeting, but the matter is not on the agenda for today's board meeting, Mackey said.
Harveycutter declined to detail his complaints, saying Salem administrators will get them first in mid-May as they decide the amount of the subsidy.
Trust is part of the issue. Harveycutter teamed late last year with managers of four valley hotels - the Roanoke Airport Marriott, Patrick Henry Hotel, Sheraton Inn Roanoke Airport and Holiday Inn-Airport - to tell the bureau's board that they had "lost all faith and trust" in Mackey and the bureau's director of convention sales, Kelly Burd-Adams, according to their Nov. 30 letter.
Jim Sears, president of the board of directors, said Thursday the board backed Mackey and Burd-Adams after hearing and talking about the complaints.
"We aired the problem ... the matter's closed," Sears said. He said he hopes Harveycutter gives a fair report to the Salem council.
Salem merchants have said they want the city to have its own visitor center, but the issue is not a front-burner item. Salem City Council members have said the proposal left too many questions unanswered.
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