The Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau is one of three organizations that present the annual Secret City Festival. ORCVB President Katy Brown is pictured above, fifth from right, at the opening ceremonies for the 2012 festival along with other state and local officials.
Its budget has been cut 25 percent, but there will be no layoffs at the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Instead, the four-person staff will focus on attracting more weekend visitors to the Secret City and bringing in more events, possibly including those that generate fees. The organization could “own more events,” ORCVB President Katy Brown said, and rely on more grassroots efforts. That could include using more social media and travel writers.
“It’s going to be a shift,” Brown said Monday after the Oak Ridge City Council approved—in a voice vote with no opposition—a new one-year $300,000 contract for the ORCVB, the city’s main tourism organization. The funding is down from $410,000 last year.
The ORCVB will also cut travel and change its public relations strategy, Brown said.
The organization, which is one of three that present the annual Secret City Festival in June, is taking it “quarter by quarter,” Brown said. The ORCVB has set aside some money in reserves in the past few years, and there is the potential for a state tourism grant, she said.
The Oak Ridge City Council has already agreed to cut funding for the ORCVB by 25 percent under the budget approved in May. Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson has told Council members there is an urgent need for new ways of marketing the community because of government travel slowdowns and the promotional needs of local hotels.
The ORCVB wasn’t the only organization to have its funding cut this year. The budget approved by Council in May spends $175,000 on expenses related to the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce—so-called “hard cost marketing”—but does not let the Chamber use any city resources for staff expenses.
The Chamber contract had previously been valued at about $260,000 per year, and the Chamber was able to use some resources for economic development staffing. But funding cuts led to a few layoffs, and the Chamber’s support corporation, the Oak Ridge Economic Partnership, which is most well-known for office and industrial recruiting and retention, is being made dormant.
richard says
had seen some comments on FB about SC Festival and wanting more longer and more frequent concern events; and about the City Council saying for more weekend business/stays…notice on TV ads for Kingsport having weekend music event during the summer (with big/well known groups) and a possible idea for OR, but don’t know if that much interest & turnout.