Peachtree City’s Tourism Association is no more.
Instead, the city has put together a group with similar function and a new name: the Peachtree City Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
The bureau, like the tourism association, will remain a pass through for city hotel motel tax funds to organizations such as the city’s Falcon Field Airport. And it will also continue its mission of attracting visitors to town to help fill up hotel rooms, particularly on weekends when local hotels and conference centers have more vacancies compared to their weekday operations.
While the mission remains the same, the makeup of the board will change somewhat under the new bylaws approved last week by council.
The board will remain at a total of seven members, but one member each will be selected from:
• The City Council;
• The Development Authority of Peachtree City;
• The Peachtree City Airport Authority;
• The Peachtree City Recreation Commission;
• A representative of the hotel industry;
• A retail business owner; and
• A representative from a recreational venue.
At last week’s city council meeting, Councilman Eric Imker questioned whether a person representing a hotel-motel company should be sitting on the board. Imker based that question on the theory that the bureau collects hotel motel tax as revenue.
City Attorney Ted Meeker replied that as long as that person’s role doesn’t benefit the person or his or her company moreso than any other hotel or motel companies, there is no ethical problem with the arrangement.
The board now consists of Councilmember Doug Sturbaum, recreation commission chairman Mark Ballard, development authority member Sherri Brown, airport authority member Bill Rial, local retailer Becky She, local hotelier Kai Wolter and Canongate’s Tim Dunlap as the recreation facility member.
Wolter has been serving as acting chairman of the tourism association and now the CVB through the transition process.
“One of our first orders of business will be to begin pursuing accreditation as a Georgia CVB,” Wolter said. “This is a program that is developed through the Georgia Convention and Visitors Bureau organization. By completing this process, it will give us instant recognition and credibility as a professionally run destination organization.”
The CVB operates the city’s visitors center in its new location inside the amphitheater building off McIntosh Trail. That arrangement allows CVB and the city to share employees between the CVB’s mission and the operation of the amphitheater, which is the city’s responsibility.
The visitor’s center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The CVB plans to expand the hours to Saturdays in the future.
The center is located at 201 McIntosh Trail and may be reached at 678-216-0282.
