The Sedona City Council proclaimed the city of Sedona to be its own destination marketing organization at a special meeting on April 12.
The declaration followed the Sedona Chamber of Commerce’s April 5 decision not to renew its service contract with the city. The current contract runs through June 30.
Mayor Scott Jablow claimed that the chamber and Sedona Lodging Council tend to “forget about the residents here,” while Vice Mayor Holli Ploog said “it seems to be a trend to bring tourism bureaus back under city management.”
Councilman Pete Furman and Councilwoman Jessica Williamson told their fellow members that they did not need to make an immediate decision on the city’s DMO status, but Councilwomen Kathy Kinsella and Melissa Dunn and Councilman Brian Fultz said that doing so was necessary in order to move forward. Dunn argued that they needed to emphasize that “the city’s in this all the way.”
Council members also discussed the potential formation of a committee composed of citizen and business representatives to advise the council on tourism policy.
The council’s objective, as laid out in the draft tourism management vision that council considered on March 29, is to “manage tourism to limit traffic delays and parking issues to 2019 pre-pandemic levels.”
City Manager Karen Osburn predicted that having the city take over the role of destination management would require “probably a new department.”
During public comment former Sedona Vice Mayor Ernie Strauch warned council, “If you bring the function in-house, I foresee the eventual development of the largest single department in the city.”
The final vote was unanimous. Council tasked Osburn with developing an in-house marketing and management program. Osburn indicated the city’s first step will be to hire a consultant to tell it what to do.
The council also expects that the chamber will continue to run the Uptown Visitor Center and VisitSedona.com, which are chamber assets, and that the city will continue to benefit from those chamber programs.
The chamber’s DMO accreditation with the Destination Marketing Association International is unaffected by the vote.
