THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, June 25, 1995                  TAG: 9506230173
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON    PAGE: 08   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines

SPECIAL FEE WOULD BOOST CITY'S ADS FOR TOURISM

City hoteliers and tourism officials are backing a self-help plan to raise more advertising revenue to ballyhoo the virtues of the Beach in potential markets to the Northeast, Midwest and abroad.

If approved by the City Council, innkeepers would kick in $1 per room night to a special fund that would be used strictly for advertising and promotions.

For instance, if a customer rents a hotel room for one night for $100, his tab would include the usual 10 percent in city and state taxes, plus a dollar fee for advertising. His final bill would be $111.

The plan was approved last week by the membership of the Virginia Beach Hotel and Motel Association and has the support of James B. Ricketts, head of the Convention and Visitor Development office.

Henry Richardson, association president, said the advertising fund would be supplemented by revenues from an existing half-cent tax on resort hotel and restaurant sales to produce over $2.6 million in extra advertising dollars.

It would operate in much the same way as the existing Tourism Growth Investment Fund. TGIF is a revenue pool fed by a special half-cent tax on hotel and restaurant sales and is dedicated to special tourism construction projects such as the 20,000-seat amphitheater now under way and the $35-million addition to the Virginia Marine Science Museum. Another half-cent tax on hotel room rentals helps pay for Oceanfront events.

Ricketts and Richardson contend that a bigger media splash is essential now in grabbing a bigger share of the tourist business. ``Competition is becoming immense,'' said Ricketts, citing the growing allure of the city's chief East Coast competitors like Ocean City, Md., and Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The 1994-95 advertising budget, which comes from the city's general fund, totals $2.7 million, said Ricketts. Next year - under the same municipal funding scenario - it would rise to $2.93 million.

Of the current budget, $1.3 million is spent on media advertising. Under the new plan, revenues would grow each year as the local tourism business grows. Efforts by local hospitality experts to squeeze more advertising funds from the city have been moderately successful at best in the past decade. Inflation, higher advertising costs, a slowing national economy and demands for city services have left little money for marketing and promotions.

Raising the advertising ante to $5 million would boost tourism revenues by about $19 million a year, Ricketts predicted.

KEYWORDS: TOURISM VIRGINIA BEACH by CNB