The recent controversy surrounding plans by the Flagler County Tourist Development Office to update its website with a new vendor is less a real issue than the 21st century equivalent of a tempest in a teapot.
Any time a local government agency proposes to spend a chunk of money – in this case $284,000 over four years – it is sure to raise some eyebrows. Making sure government spending serves a legitimate purpose is always an important consideration. But in the wall of noise that big expenditures often create, it is easy to lose sight of what is really at stake.
In the case of the tourism website, a lot of the debate focused on the cost alone at the expense of the reasons for making the change in the first place.
According to Amy Lukasik, Flagler County’s tourism marketing manager, the agency’s website agreement is set to expire at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Rather than simply renew the agreement with the current vendor, officials decided to review the functionality of the current website and see what changes and updates are necessary to keep Flagler County competitive as a tourist destination.
“That was the first trigger of the process,” she said.
With the agreement set to expire, Lukasik said a lot of “background, homework, conversations and dialogue” took place to determine how best to position the website.
“The purpose and role of a destination marketing organization website has completely evolved,” Lukasik said. “We’ve had this website for seven years and if you just think about how technology has changed, it’s pretty drastic.”
In those seven years, computer use has shifted from the desktop and laptop machines to mobile devices. In addition, marketing practices in the travel and tourism industry have shifted to a more personal approach, offering inspiration and a story rather than simple lists of attractions and businesses, Lukasik said.
“We wanted a lot of flexibility because as things change we want to be able to go in and move things around (on the website) as we are really restricted right now,” she said.
So when it came time to negotiate a new agreement, cost was only one of several factors, and not even the most important one.
Lukasik said when vetting different proposals, a point system was employed to rate the different companies.
“What people need to understand is the cost is not the highest value of points,” she said. “It’s actually the third. What gives you the highest level of points is the vendor’s background and experience. We were very adamant that they have a very strong hospitality and tourism background.”
But cost is still important, as are how those costs will be paid.
Lost in the debate is the fact that the website will be paid for with revenue raised from bed tax collections, not property taxes. That means the money to pay for tourism-related expenditures such as special event grants, infrastructure projects and websites comes from taxes collected at area hotels, campgrounds and vacation rental properties.
Keeping Flagler County in the game as a travel alternative in a region with major tourist destinations in St. Augustine, Daytona Beach and Orlando requires constant review and tweaks, including the county’s online presence.
“It’s a competitive industry and peoples’ attention spans are less and less,” Lukasik said. “And we don’t have a lot of money, so we have to look awesome right out of the gate.”