Thursday night the Peachtree City Council unanimously approved the $532,021 proposed budget for the city’s newly-named Convention and Visitors Bureau, formerly known as the Peachtree City Tourism Association.
The proposed budget shows the CVB spending $273,204 on sales, marketing and promotion efforts for the city. A large part of the CVB mission is to focus on events that boost the city’s local hotels and motels, which in turn provide revenue for CVB via the city’s hotel-motel tax.
CVB plans to spend $127,000, or 24 percent of its budget, on local tourism events such as the Great Georgia Airshow and the International Dragon Boat Festival.
Another $65,000 of the CVB budget is pegged for advertising and marketing, which is a significant boost this year, said CVB Chairman Kai Wolter.
The budget includes funds for the city’s July 4 parade and fireworks, Wolter noted.
The CVB also has agreed with the city to consolidate staff at the new visitors center, which shares space with the amphitheater box office. That has netted a savings of $48,000 as the CVB is paying for the equivalent of 1.4 full-time employees in part by merging duties among positions, Wolter said.
CVB is also reducing its legal expenses by nearly $11,000, he added. Councilman Eric Imker said he was very impressed with the CVB budget.
In the past two years the CVB has relinquished operations of the city’s amphitheater, which is now being run through the city recreation department, and the city’s tennis center, which is now operated through a private contract between the city and Canongate.
