Over the Past 15 Years, Tourism Promotion Within the Alleghenies Has Been a Paradox: Much

Over the past 15 years, tourism promotion within the Alleghenies has been a paradox: Much has changed, yet little has changed.

Before the new millennium, each county’s tourism-promotion agency scraped together operating funds through memberships and the pittance granted them by Harrisburg each year.But around the turn of the 21st century, that all changed when the General Assembly enabledall counties to levy three-percent lodging taxes on overnight guests.

Counties collected the proceeds then turned most of them over to their designated tourism-promotion agencies.The agencies – now known mostly as “convention and visitors bureaus” or CVBs – became noticeably healthier. Staffs grew, and promotional programs became more diversified.

Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau (LaurelHighlands.org), the designated tourism-promotion agency for Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland counties, worked with the counties’ commissioners to develop tourism-grant programs. Now, each year, dozens of hotels, attractions, and festivals in each of those counties collectively receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing grants to promote themselves.

But the administrative burden of the tourism grant program is significant: Hundreds of applications must be reviewed, the grants must be carefully processed, reports on how the grants were used must be submitted and examined – and everything gets audited.

Because of its three-county scope, Laurel Highlands has been able to grow its staff to effectively operate the grant program – while still marketing the Laurel Highlands. Individual county CVBs would have great difficulty doing both though.

The Greater Johnstown/Cambria County CVB (VisitJohnstownPA.com) has sunk most of its resources into event production and promotion. Along with the massive Thunder in the Valley motorcycle rally that occupies much of the region in late June, the GJCCCVB helps to produce and promotes several other festivals and sports events in the Johnstown area.

Armstrong, Explore Altoona, Indiana and the Raystown Lake Region market their respective counties by promoting a mixture of attractions and events. Each takes a somewhat different approach.

Armstrong County (ArmstrongCounty.com) is selling an “Armstrong County Golf Trail,” featuring seven courses, including six that are open to the public. The most intriguing, Foxburg Country Club, claims to be the oldest course in America and the home of the “American Golf Hall of Fame.”

Explore Altoona/Blair County (ExploreAltoona.com) groups its attractions into collections of “adventures,” including Arts & Culture, Family Fun, History, Outdoor, Railroad and Unique Treats – quite a departure from the days when Altoona’s railroad heritage was its shining star.

Indiana County (VisitIndianaCountyPa.org) is aggressively trying to draw motorcoach tourswith suggested itineraries that build upon the facts that Indiana Borough was famed actor Jimmy Stewart’s hometown, that Indiana University of Pennsylvania has generated a rich collection of fine- and folk-artists, and that this small county has an impressive number of wineries and even an artisan distillery.

Then there’s Raystown Lake Region (Raystown.org) which promotes all of the attractions connected to Pennsylvania’s largest inland lake; a robust series of bicycling attractions for mountain bikers, roadies and rail-trail enthusiasts; and artisan trail shopping clustered along U.S. Route 22 and PA Route 45.

However, as much as things have changed, they’ve stayed the same here within the Alleghenies. Each CVB markets alone and largely within the context of its own county.

While innovative efforts have evolved over the past 15 years – the tourism grant program, event production expertise, thematic and motorcoach marketing – best practices aren’t being shared or replicated elsewhere.

Just last year, the General Assembly approved an additional two percent lodging tax for counties. Now most of our counties are receiving five percent, and their CVBs are taking a fresh look at what they’re doing and what these new financial resources might enable them to do differently.

This would appear to be an opportune time for our CVBs to consider new levels of cooperation and the sharing of best practices. Now that a 21st century funding mechanism is in place, the Alleghenies’ tourism-marketing agencies should leave the 20th century.