Stacy Shaw
Discover Prince William and Manassas, Va, Convention and Visitors Bureau held its National Tourism Week Luncheon on May 10 at the
Hylton Memorial Chapel and Event Center. This year’s theme was “The future’s so bright, I've got to wear shades.” Coming off a successful sesquicentennial reenactment of the Battle of First Manassas/Bull Run, the CVB is hopeful that they can capitalize on their prior successes, bringing more visitors to the area this summer and over the next five years. However, the bureau is not just going to hope for a bright future, they are actively creating that future, planning a five-year strategic plan which they will announce next month. Since Ann Marie Maher became the new Executive Director, she has dedicated the Bureau to increasing tourism in the county and cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. This year’s National Tourism Week luncheon was a preview of that plan and hinted at the kinds of changes, initiatives and goals the bureau will detail in its plan. It also focused on keynote speaker Joe Lathrop of OCG, Inc., who was hired as a strategic planning consultant for the bureau. According to Maher, the questions Lathrop posed to the members of bureau, “What business are we in?” and “How do we measure success?” helped the bureau to focus and author its own strategic plan. However, one change that is evident from listening to Lathrop and Maher is that the CVB will be run much more like a corporation.
"We didn’t have the kind of strategic plan and data we needed to track and measure the return on investments.” Maher said. “Now that we’re moving in that direction, they will see the benefit for their own businesses.”
Like a business, the CVB will make more data-driven decisions, set goals and measure their success. And Lathrop suggests that they publicly announce these goals and strategies, and then hold themselves accountable to the outcomes. To reach these goals he suggests an aggressive, yet targeted marketing plan, targeted at the very people most likely to visit Prince William and Manassas. Maher agrees that for marketing, they need to start by investigating the people who are visiting now, finding about them in terms of geography, demographics, and finances. Then, they need to target people just like them. “It’s a business model, looking at trends, looking at real data and research,” Maher said. Lathrop also suggests that Prince William and Manassas consider its strengths: the history, proximity to D.C. and the diversity of offerings for tourists. He also told the room that tourism is on the rise from a national perspective as well, with hotel prices up in major U.S. destination cities, such as Washington, D.C. and New York. The elected officials who spoke at the event were supportive of increasing tourism efforts as a way to boost to the local economy and relieve the burden of taxpayers. They asked everyone to promote tourism in their own way, talking up the great aspects of Prince William and Manassas and welcoming visitors.
Officials who spoke at the event included Richard Anderson, 51
st House District, Virginia General Assembly; Stephen Nelson, Board Chairman, Prince William and Manassas; Martin Nohe, Vice Chairman of the Board of County Supervisors and Coles District Supervisor; and Mark Wolf, Councilman of the City of Manassas. Awards were also given to Prince William County and the City of Manassas at the beginning of the luncheon on behalf of the Virginia House of Delegates, the National Park Service and the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Steve Nelson, the CVB board chairman, also got a leadership award for his service; he will be stepping down after three years as chair. Del. Anderson presented Maher with a commendation from Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell that recognizes the Convention and Visitors Bureau for its contribution and execution of Sesquicentennial activities and its tourism efforts and overall extraordinary leadership throughout the year.
