With so much uncertainty these days, the way the Sedona Chamber of Commerce promotes tourism in the area will look a bit different over the next year.
The first step was to get its 2020-2021 budget approved by the Sedona City Council, which it did on Tuesday, June 23. Council approved the budget by a vote of 6-1. Councilman John Currivan was the dissenting vote, saying that he wished to have seen additional belt tightening by the chamber and thus a lower amount requested.
Approved was a base budget of $2,446,060 and a contingency fund of $544,440, which could be used for destination marketing throughout the upcoming fiscal year, if needed. The chamber had proposed a $2.99 million budget request, which includes its Destination Recovery Plan.
According to a city report, the $544,440 will be reviewed at two mid-year checkpoints. The first checkpoint is proposed in late July or early August to leave adequate time to release funds for a fall marketing campaign, if necessary.
The second checkpoint is proposed in January when the chamber and city meet during a retreat session. The second checkpoint is proposed to review the need for a spring marketing campaign and to decide on remaining sustainable tourism program funding.
The adjusted base budget approved is $46,440 less than the current fiscal year budget, which ends June 30.
When chamber officials met with council just two weeks ago, President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff said with air travel still uncertain at this point, they were focused on marketing to visitors who live within driving distance, specifically those in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego. The presentation called for spending $105,000 in July, August and June [2021] of next year, $75,000 a month in September through February [for Phoenix and Los Angeles marketing only] and $60,000 in both March and April for a total of $960,000.
But since that June 10 council meeting, the number of COVID cases has increased in Arizona and California. So for now, all advertising in those areas has been put on hold.
“When we presented to you our Destination Recovery Plan, it was critical that the components of the plan were flexible and adaptable and very easily modified,” Wesselhoff said. “As we saw cases increasing in Phoenix, we did halt programming there because clearly now is not the time to invite people from Phoenix to our area. We’ve also paused all advertising in California. Rest assured that we are not currently advertising — period.”
