As the summer tourist season enters its final weeks and bed tax revenues remain flat, Okaloosa County plans to be more aggressive in advertising local beaches as a fall destination.
After a recommendation from the Tourist Development Council, county officials increased the fall advertising allocation from $100,000 to $300,000.
County Commissioner Kelly Windes, who sits on the TDC, said it makes sense to boost the shoulder season.
“You don’t need as much draw in the 90 days of summer as you do in the pre-season and post-season,” he said.
The funds will be added to the original $2.2 million marketing plan designed to advertise local beaches from March to September. The plan was drafted by the county’s advertising firm, Peter Mayer Advertising of New Orleans. It calls for marketing Okaloosa Island and Destin as top leisure destinations, selling the area to the meetings industry, revamping the county’s tourism websites and promoting the Emerald Coast as a Christmas destination.
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That marketing plan amounts to almost half of the tourist development department’s $5.1 million advertising budget for the current fiscal year. To date, the department has spent $1.7 million on a variety of print and digital advertising and has a remaining balance of $3.4 million in bed tax funds.
A little more than $1 million of that balance is a reserve to be used in an emergency such as a hurricane, said Dan O’Byrne, director of the tourist development department.
“When a storm hits, we have to tap that money to bring back our customers,” he said. “When the storm hits somewhere else, we have to have the money to go get their customers. ... And when the storm is projected to hit here and doesn’t, we need to go out and assure everyone that we’re fine and to come back.”
In his proposed 2013-14 budget, O’Byrne increased the annual marketing plan to $2.6 million. Commissioners will take a final vote on the proposed budget in September.
In recent weeks, some in the hospitality industry have criticized the tourist development department for not spending enough to market local beaches.
O’Byrne said the perception that his department is moving slowly is due to the new financial controls put in place by the county following the Mark Bellinger fraud scandal.
“We are no longer allowed to pay for any goods and services in advance of receiving them, so by definition, we will always be under budget,” he said.
O’Byrne said the new rigorous accounting procedures are “correcting the weaknesses of the past.”
“The new reality is we do things the right way in the right order,” he said.
Commission chairman Don Amunds agreed, pointing out that bed tax money is public money that is highly regulated.
“I don’t believe that just because you have the money that you should spend it,” Amunds said. “I believe in getting the best return for our money.”
Windes said during Bellinger’s tenure, bed tax money was spent “loosely” but now is heavily scrutinized.
“We’ve made lots of big changes,” he said. “I feel lots better about the TDC.”
Under the county’s tourist development plan, tourism advertising is funded through one-fifth of the revenue generated by the 5-cent bed tax charged on short-term rentals in south Okaloosa County.
According to the most recent budget data, Okaloosa County has a total balance of $17.8 million in bed tax in its tourist development fund.
The 5-cent tax generates five separate revenue streams specifically allocated for uses that include convention center debt and improvements, lifeguard services, beach restoration and beach park facilities. The various uses are highly regulated under state statutes and county ordinances.
O’Byrne said all of the bed tax money is used to market the area, whether it’s upkeep on the welcome center to the cleaning of beaches.
“I’d argue that the fact that we have lifeguards is a marketing effort,” he said. “If we didn’t do it, we’d be out of business.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.