PANAMA CITY BEACH — The Bay County Tourist Development Council (TDC) approved a $14.3 million spending plan for the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) at a meeting Thursday, paving the way for the agency’s marketing, special events and other efforts for the 2015 fiscal year.
“The CVB budget is up from where we started last year,” said TDC Director Dan Rowe, attributing the increase to Panama City Beach’s fiercely loyal visitors. “Bed tax revenues are at an all-time high.”
The CVB operates as the TDC’s official destination marketing organization, utilizing about 3.5 percent of the 5 percent Tourist Development Tax, or bed tax, collections in Panama City Beach to fund activities geared toward promoting tourism. The remainder of the tax is used to fund “hard hat” projects, like maintaining and renourishing the beach.
A large chunk of the spending plan, about 40 percent, will go toward marketing efforts, which includes developing the “Real. Fun. Beach.” brand through various advertising campaigns throughout the year, Rowe said.
The $5.7 million marketing budget for 2015 is about $100,000 less than was budgeted this time last year, and about $1 million less than the CVB’s amended spending plan for marketing in 2014.
Also included in the approved spending plan is $1.6 million in the special events budget for the coming year. Other CVB department expenses include those for operations, sales, visitor services, sports marketing, beach management and personal services.
In addition to the $14.3 million discussed Thursday, the board expects to receive about $1.5 million in additional revenues midway through the fiscal year following the TDC’s annual audit. The budget last year started out at $13.5 million but later was amended to about $15.4 million.
During the meeting, board members discussed potential plans for those additional revenues, and agreed a portion of the money should be used to beef up the $3.3 million set aside in the CVB’s budget for future tourism development projects. Another $4.3 million is set aside in reserves from the TDC’s settlement with BP for lost revenues from the 2010 oil spill.
Board member Yonnie Patronis suggested the board channel any additional revenues into growing the reserves.
“I really want to protect that value and allow that value to grow if our budget grows,” Patronis said.
Rowe recommended the board continue the discussion when the funds become available, and he also suggested filtering additional dollars toward marketing in 2015 to better match the 2014 marketing spend.
Overall, Rowe said, the CVB’s 2015 program of work is not focused on new programs, but instead on developing and executing programs already in place.
“This year, we’re focused on event execution and campaign execution,” Rowe said.
