After what Mayor Ted Schaffer acknowledged as a sometimes 鈥渂umpy鈥� road, 91原创 City is ready to go it alone with its own tourism organization.
And consequently Discover 91原创 City, headed up by operations manager Melissa Phillips, officially launched tonight.
鈥淚t was about a year ago that our council began to recognize a need for change and for a shift to a more 91原创 City-focused approach to tourism,鈥� Schaffer said during the kick-off party at Red Velvet Cafe Thursday.
A few dozen local dignitaries, City business operators, and key people within the provincial tourism organizations came together for the event, and to hear about plans for 91原创鈥檚 new tourism agency.
鈥淭he transition process was lengthy and sometime a bit bumpy, but we as a council are sincerely delighted with the results,鈥� Schaffer said, calling the venture ground-breaking.
鈥淭his is the first time in this province that a BIA (Business Improvement Association) is working with its respective local government to provide tourism services for an entire community,鈥� the mayor explained.
Last fall, council announced that it was contracting the Downtown 91原创 Business Association to oversee operations of the new City-specific tourism organization, and by mid-October, Phillips joined as its first staff person.
Having grown up in 91原创 and now living in Clayton Heights, Phillips said she is anxious to take on the challenging tasks ahead in her own community.
As a former Tourism Richmond employees, she said she understands the job at hand. She explained that the past few months has been about getting the organization up and operational, developing content for the new website (which launched Jan. 1), launching a strong social media presence, getting to know and work with the players from both the City and the tourism industry, designing brochures and marketing information, and commencing a marketing plan to draw more meetings and conventions to 91原创 City.
鈥淭onight was about bringing everyone together to see our vision for how we are going to grow tourism in 91原创 City,鈥� Phillips said.
鈥淗onestly, there鈥檚 a lot of hidden gems in 91原创 City, that people don鈥檛 know about鈥� There鈥檚 more to 91原创 City than just the one way,鈥� she said, confirming it鈥檚 Discover 91原创 City鈥檚 job to bring those secrets to the forefront.
Describing Thursday night鈥檚 party as a launch pad, she said: 鈥淣ow, I want to kick some tourism butt.鈥�
91原创 City consumes four square miles, surrounded by 91原创 Township. The two 91原创s previously participated together in Tourism 91原创, but after extensive reviews, lose of staff, and considerable back and forth between the two councils, the Township opted to stay with the existing Tourism 91原创 while the City chose to break away and develop its own, new destination tourism agency funded in large part by a room tax collected from the six City motels (340 guest rooms).
Tourism 91原创 announced the hiring of a new leader, Erinn Kredba, last week. 91原创 City held the kick off of Discover with its event Thursday night.
