Organizations work together to promote tourism in Lebanon Valley

(Lebanon) — What could have been a rocky marriage between the Lebanon Valley Expo Center and Fairgrounds and the county’s new tourism agency is starting out with a great honeymoon.

On Thursday morning, representatives of both organizations, along with the county commissioners and members of the Lebanon Area Fair board of directors, were all smiles as they joined together for an event to celebrate their partnership and how it benefits the Lebanon Valley and its agriculture community.

That would have been hard to imagine a year or two ago when the county’s tourism effort was in upheaval.

For about 10 years, the Expo Center and the county’s tourism efforts had been joined at the hip, with the commissioners giving half of the county’s annual hotel tax revenues, about $125,000, to the Expo Center to promote visitation to Lebanon County’s hotels, restaurants, and historical sites.

With thousands of visitors attending its many events each year, the Expo Center is the county’s leading tourism attraction, so it seemed a logical choice to be the tourism promotion agency.

But because a sizeable portion of the county’s tourism money went toward promoting the Expo Center itself, the arrangement did not sit well with everybody.

To determine if there might be a better way to promote the county, the commissioners hired a consultant to conduct a tourism study.

Although never accusing anyone of wrongdoing, the study concluded that it was a conflict of interest for the Expo Center to be at the helm of the county’s tourism promotion efforts. It recommended that an agency, guided by an independent board of directors appointed by the county commissioners, be established.

The commissioners took the advice, and April 2013 it decertified the Expo Center and replaced it a year later with the Lebanon Valley Destination Marketing Organization, which appointed Laura Putt as president of the agency. On Thursday, Putt announced the organization will be rebranded with the more marketable name, Visit Lebanon Valley.

About the same time the tourism agency was organized, the Expo Center refreshed its leadership, appointing Pat Kerwin as executive director to replace Dennis Grumbine.

Recognizing the importance of both organizations in promoting the county’s tourism efforts, the county commissioners have decided to split the revenue generated by the hotel tax, which is a three percent levy placed on every hotel, motel, or bed and breakfast room rental. Last year, that tax generated about $250,000.

Under the current arrangement, Visit Lebanon Valley receives 55 percent of the hotel tax revenue with the Expo Center getting a 35 percent share. The remaining 10 percent is held by the county for other tourism-related uses.

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This article comes to us through a partnership between Lebanon Daily News and WITF.