Berea Tourism has proposed spending $ 250,000 on advertising, which is roughly 30% of the tourism operating budget.

In response to a question from Commissioner Rick Thomas, Donna Angel, Director of Business Development and Tourism for Berea City, stated that she had interviewed other cities and that the percentage of Berea’s tourism spending was consistent with other tourism activities.

The percentage spent on promoting tourism in the city of Murray is 40%, Jessamine County 30%, Danville 25%, and Maysville 35%.

The tourism department in Paducah now spends around half of its operating budget on advertising.

Angel noted that she also consulted Vallorie Henderson, director of the Kentucky Small Business Development Center in Berea, who advised clients to set a 33-35% budget for marketing and advertising, Angel noted.

Explaining why Berea would spend a significant percentage on marketing and advertising, Angel explained that the city is trying to target a wider variety of potential customers available on various media marketing platforms. For example, millennials interested in exploring the Pinnacles or Berea’s shared trails are best reached through social media, while consumers interested in the city’s arts and crafts scene can be better reached through print ads or television.

As Berea Tourism is trying to create a wider network to attract visitors, it has to spend more than a traditional small business, Angel explained. Berea Business Development and Tourism contracts with an advertising agency, Right Place Media, to create a message that will attract more visitors to the city.

“It’s more expensive, but every piece of it is important to the grand scheme of tourism,” said Angel. “So I do not think that 25 to 30% is not the norm to use an advertising and marketing agency with everything they do for us, as well as the internal work that we still do for the work on site. ” Said Angel.

Thomas agreed and noted. “It doesn’t seem that far from what other tourism commissions are doing.”

In other developments, Commissioner Charles Arnold reiterated his belief that the commission should withdraw approximately US $ 600,000 in debt on tourism-owned property. “As in the past, I would seek full repayment of this building,” said Arnold. Tourism shouldn’t keep money in certificates of deposit (CDs), which draw less interest than tourism in interest on loans for tourist facilities like the Tolle building. Instead, he suggested cashing out the CDs to pay off the debt.

Other commissioners backed Arnold’s proposal, with Tourism Commission Chairman Patrick Huston saying it would be a great service to the city and its citizens. The realized savings would be approximately $ 35,000 if the loan were repaid early, officials said.

Thomas questioned the timing of the debt repayment and suggested repaying the commission over two years to give the commission flexibility in paying for other redevelopment projects like the Tolle building. Thomas noted, for example, that the city could receive appropriate grants to carry out a project such as building a communal kitchen for which the Commission would need to provide appropriate funding.

“I think these funds give us flexibility in the future about what we might do with the Tolle building, the train depot and the Berea Hotel, and the possibility of receiving some grant funds in the future.” “Said Thomas.

The budget will be re-examined at an upcoming meeting, the date of which will be announced.

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