Local tourism is THAT bad (Steve Vaughan Virginia Gazette

Local tourism is THAT bad By Steve Vaughan Published: Saturday, August 29, 2009 2:20 AM EDT http://vagazette.com/articles/2009/08/31/news//doc4a98653566dc5039476487.txt The Historic Triangle is lagging behind most of the nation in hotel occupancy, according to a special report from Smith Travel Research requested by the Williamsburg Hotel-Motel Association.Among 617 destinations that Smith Travel monitors nationwide, the Williamsburg area ranks 613th at 36.9%. The good news is that we're not Branson, Mo. The only notable tourism hotspot that ranks below Williamsburg is Branson at 33.7% because the country-western theaters have lost their charm. Norfolk ranks 187th at 56.7% occupancy and Virginia Beach is 217th at 55.6%. Hotel-Motel Association president Chris Canavos said his group asked Smith Travel for the report to get a sense of how the last two down years have Williamsburg situated compared to other markets. Canavos said that although the economy has slowed tourism nearly everywhere, Williamsburg has suffered more than competing destinations. "If you have somewhere like Orlando, where they'd been growing 5 percent a year for 20 years and you have two down  years, that's different," he said. Orlando ranks 224th at 55.3% occupancy. The Hotel Association leadership contends that we suffer a systemic tourism problem that is not addressed by the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance or the Williamsburg Area Destination Marketing Committee. That led 30 hotels and restaurants to withdraw from the Alliance last month. The hoteliers believe that the Alliance and WADMC have not paid enough attention to the hotel occupancy rate as a measure of the health of our tourism industry and have not done enough to help increase the number of "heads in beds." No one was available Friday at the Alliance to respond except the hired spokesman. Linda Stanier said, "The Alliance shares the concern of our area's lodging properties concerning Historic Triangle occupancy levels, which are a function of both demand and supply, the latter of which has continued to expand here while demand has not." She added, "We are working with our many travel partners, including major marketing drivers for our area such as Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens and WADMC, to promote our destination to individuals and families.  The Alliance has been the largest private investor in WADMC each year of the committee's existence." Because Great Wolf Lodge, Colonial Williamsburg and the Williamsburg Hospitality House don't report their numbers to Smith Travel, the company extrapolates their occupancy. WADMC numbers are typically 4-7 percentage points better than the extrapolation, but that would barely get Williamsburg out of Smith Travel's bottom 20 nationwide. http://MissouriNetizen.com http://www.bransonedge.com http://bransonmissouri.missourinetizen.com