04-11-03: Grand Lake area's tourism revenue likely to drop again

04-11-03: Grand Lake area's tourism revenue likely to drop again

By SEAN RICE
The Daily Standard

    Local convention and visitors bureau members are confident the area will bounce back from a decline in tourism dollars since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
    "It's going to be another tough year, I think we all know this," Auglaize and Mercer Counties Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) President Larry Stelzer told a room of about 50 at the 16th annual CVB membership dinner at Romer's Entertainment Facility in Celina.
    "But this board is set for the future, we've got some great people on it," he said.
    CVB Director Vicki Waterman announced the 2002 figures detailing the economic impact tourism had on the two-county area.
    The area experienced an influx of $39.9 million in 2002 from tourism spending, down from $45.6 million in 2000.
    The CVB uses a travel industry formula based on the amount collected in hotel room rentals to draw figures on how much tourists spend on gas, eating, entertainment and general purchases.
    In 2002, visitors spent $4.1 million on hotel rooms in the two counties. With that figure, the CVB estimated the following: $12.5 million was spent on gas and automobile items; $14.6 million in restaurants and clubs; $3.4 million on entertainment; and $5 million on general retail purchases.
    Also, the CVB estimates that 1,785 jobs were supported by the tourism industry.
    The numbers have slipped since 2000, after steadily increasing since the CVB started receiving lodging tax in 1993.
    In 2000, $4.8 million was spent on lodging. Based on that figure, $14.3 million was spent on gas and auto supplies; $16.7 million on restaurants; $3.8 million on entertainment; and $5.8 million in general purchases.
    Each of the speakers at dinner stressed that the area is feeling the same plight as the rest of the country, and it will bounce back.
    "What you have, what we all have, is what the rest of the country is looking for ... If you treat them right, they will come back, and maybe tell their friends," Stelzer said. "We all win when tourism continues to develop in the two counties."
    As part of the annual festivities, Waterman awarded the Stahr Award, and the Ambassador Award was presented by the 2002 winner, Kathy Keller, director of the Wapakoneta Area Economic Development Council.
    The Stahr Award usually is given to one entity or business that helps the CVB, but this year Waterman presented the award to each of the nine chambers of commerce offices in the two-county area.
    The winner of the 2003 Ambassador Award was Julie Huddleston, a Celina native and currently a regional manager of several hotels.
    She was the first manager of Holiday Inn Express in Celina and has moved on to manage hotels in eight locations. She has been active in planning the Celina Lake Festival and the Christian College Athletic Association Baseball Tourna-ment
    "I couldn't do this without my family. They always ask Oare you doing your real job or something else,' " Huddleston said from the podium.

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