Orlando gets it, are we ever going to get it in DC?

One (just one) of my frustrations is the ad-hoc nature of developing cultural resource management and tourism development and management plans for DC. Maybe we have them, but I would argue we don't, at least, not in a fundamental way.

A good cultural management plan, comparable to something like the Management Plan for the state-designated Baltimore Heritage Area, would identify assets and opportunities, and would create a plan for setting priorities, come up with a fair and transparent process for funding asset (a/k/a "product") development, etc. Now, Baltimore is in the process of trying to get designation as a National Heritage Area. I don't think we necessarily need to do this in DC, BUT we do need to have a similar, as comprehensive, plan. WE DON'T.

In DC, most of this is ad-hoc, and I think the elected officials like it that way. For example, in next year's budget is $500,000 for the Heurich Mansion. That's fine, I'm all for it, but the reality is there should be a transparent process for the submission and vetting and prioritizing of such proposals.

Same goes with the funding to be provided to the Corcoran Museum of Art for roof repairs. I'm probably cool with that too. But why no help for the Washington Glass School or the Washington Sculpture Center, entities displaced by the Washington Nationals baseball stadium, and entities likely to leave Washington, DC forever.

Class, Washington Glass School.

The Washington Glass School is being welcomed by Arlington County, Virginia, after being actively displaced by the DC Government in favor of baseball.

Etc.

So, I find this piece about a proposal to raise Orlando's tourism tax interesting, "Area Leaders Support Increasing Tourism Tax ." From the article:

The giants of Central Florida tourism have thrown their support behind a plan to raise the tourism tax to help pay for major projects in the area. Airing television ads and promoting Orlando worldwide eats up most of the budget for Orange County's Convention and Visitors Bureau.

[In DC, most of the tourism taxes pay debt service for the Convention Center, and for the operation of the Washington Convention and Tourism Corporation, for marketing, but as I have written before, they could do a much better job marketing the city.

Tourists in Washington, Constantin Alajalov, Saturday Evening Post, 8/7/1948.

DC has two different tourism products: (1) the Federal Experience-National story, centered upon the U.S. Capitol, White House, Washington Monument, Smithsonian Museums and the National Gallery of Art, Georgetown, and Alexandria; and (2) the local cultural heritage tourism experience centered about the historic architecture of neighborhoods and local attractions, such as the Lincoln Theater, Dupont Circle, 7th Street, etc.

The WCTC pretty much only markets the first, and in my opinion they don't do a very good job of it.

Compare DC's tourism website to say, Visit Florida--and I don't even think this is the greatest tourism promotion website, but it allows for reaching multiple market segments.]

More from the article:

In a rare show of solidarity, the top bosses of the region's major parks: Disney, Universal and SeaWorld, and other tourism leaders are supporting a plan to raise the tourism tax by a penny. Under the plan, half of the roughly $22 million each year from the extra penny-on-the-dollar, which would be collected on hotel rooms, would be spent on tourism promotion.

That would double the amount of money that can be spent advertising the area's attractions. The other half would be spent building a new performing arts center in downtown Orlando and on renovating or replacing the T.D. Waterhouse Centre for the Orlando Magic.

This is called investing in and extending your assets. Tourism development and promotion should be about developing assets that are great for residents, that also have great appeal to visitors. Places that are great for residents are also great places for visitors.

Tourists in DC during Cherry Blossom time. Photo by Rajneesh Krishnamurthy.

Index Keywords: cultural-heritage-tourism