Altemus: More business, not more people

Vermont Business Magazine, Mar 01, 2000 by Marcel, Joyce

Vermont as a site where warring world leaders can come to discuss peace? That's one of several new ideas generated by the Department of Tourism and Marketing in an effort to bring group travel, including conventions and conferences, to the state.

"We're very conscious of the need to develop more convention business in the state, and particularly in the area of small meetings and conventions, where more of the state, outside of the Burlington area, may participate," said Commissioner Tom Altemus.

The rationale for going after group business, Altemus said, is that while Vermont wants to increase the use of its tourism infrastructure, it doesn't want to overload the state with tourists.

Group business is the perfect solution.

"We have 8 million tourists and a $3.7 billion industry, but we're using only approximately 40 percent of our inventory," Altemus said. "So we have about $2 billion in unused capacity. The national occupancy rate is 63 percent. We don't believe we can get to the national average, because we're more of' a travel and tourism destination, because we don't have big cities. So we're aiming for 60 percent. If we can reach that, we can generate another $2 billion for the state's economy and add $250 million to the state's tax base. Obviously, there are a lot of things we can do with $250 million, including helping with health care."

But to do that, Altemus said, "We don't want to bring in 10 million tourists. We want to extend the length of stay of the tourists we have and give them more things to do. One way to do that is to look at the convention business, because they stay longer and spend more. It's really a look at how we adjust our tourism profile in our global markets to achieve results without creating more traffic, more congestion, and the other things Vermonters don't want to see out of tourism."

One initiative is to create "satellite" tourist offices around the state.

"We work very closely with the Vermont Convention Bureau," Altemus said. "In fact, we finance it through an on-going grant. Although we don't direct its activities, we do have standards, and one is that it represents the whole state. We have increased support to $120,000 a year for the next two years, and one of the projects that has resulted is the setting up of an office in Rutland. Eventually, we want a series of satellite visitors bureaus around the state, so we get broader representation of attractions. That will be done in the next year under this new grant."

Another initiative is to increase marketing in Europe.

"Our London office, should the Legislature vote the governor's budget, will do a campaign to British businesses to hold small meetings across the state of Vermont," Altemus said.

That leads to the most radically innovative idea, marketing Vermont as a hideaway where the negotiations and decisions of corporations and even nations can be made in peace, quiet and serenity.

"Like West Virginia did for the Syrians and Israelis," Altemus said. "It's the idea of going away to some remote getaway that's quiet and conducive to business in small groups. The idea is becoming quite popular. and we think there's a real role for Vermont. This his state has the brand attributes of the hideaway - many people came here for that, from Rudyard Kipling to Alexander Solzhenitsyn to the Trapp Family. We've become known as the kind of place where people can escape and come to decisions about their personal lives and about politics. That's going to be the emphasis of the campaign."