Tourism Argument

Fiscally Irresponsible

First of all, Ms. Swisher's salary is far too high. Almost $58,000.00 per year? That is more than some of our police officers make that have been serving and protecting us by risking their lives for over 25 years. How on earth can this be justified??? It cannot. It's ludicrous.

And Mrs. Graf - - what does she do? There is nothing in any of these meeting minutes that indicates she is doing a lick of work to justify the $21,000.00 plus salary that has its own dark, troubling story behind it, as you well know. (If you aren't aware, please see the "Never Forget" link on the upper right hand side of the web page.)

In addition to other findings, I have done some research on other tourism entities within the state of Wisconsin. I have discovered we also have a Visit Sheboygan County organization, in addition to the Chamber of Commerce, in addition to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. This in itself is excessive.

We are only one small city with a population under 50,000 (and shrinking) and a very limited season where it is truly nice to vacation here. We have limited areas within the city that are worthy of a visit from vacationing visitors. Our best hope is in businesses and again I say, that is best contained within the Chamber of Commerce for very obvious reasons.

Just how much promotion is necessary in a time of budget crunches? Furthermore, a truly good city to visit will promote itself via the best advertising known to mankind -- viral marketing i.e. word of mouth.

In addition, I was able to get a copy of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism publication.

It is a 5 x 7 inch, very well done; yet reasonably-sized colorful document that has to cost a fraction of what the city is now putting out...

This Tourism Department puts out huge 8 x 10 inch booklets, four times a year, with extremely large, outlandish photographs, very little text but very expensive paper all in the name of aesthetics. The little text that is in these pamphlets is way over done to the point it is embarrassing.

To compare the two is like night and day. The City of Sheboygan booklets reek of showiness, little real information, overly-dramatic write-ups that contain only half-truths and an exorbitant fee we need not pay for. Look at these fees:

01/17/07 -- 4-color full page ad – corporate report Wisc. January, 2007
Paid to: Trails Media Group, Inc.
COST: $1687.25

02/05/07 -- Concept/Design/layout/complete graphic prod. Of 16-page magazine w/printing supervision;
2007 Sheboygan Shores – winter/spring invoice (final invoice)
Paid to: Jacob & Clark Marketing Comm., Inc.
COST: $6700.00

02/13/07 -- layout and final graphic production 2-sided events and packages insert 2007
Paid to: Jacob & Clark Marketing Comm., Inc.
COST: $1400.00

02/13/07 -- layout and final graphic production 2-sided restaurants and pubs insert 2007
Paid to: Jacob & Clark Marketing Comm., Inc.
COST: $1400.00

02/23/07 -- Map revisions, final logo art, rest/pubs insert revisions and additional printing supervision
Paid to: Jacob & Clark Marketing Comm., Inc.
COST: $995.00

03/09/07 -- Layout for market place
Paid to: Jacob & Clark Marketing Comm., Inc.
COST: $505.00

03/13/07 -- 2007 winter tourism publication
Paid to: Zimmerman Printing Co.
COST: $9870.00

05/17/07 -- Revise and resize tourism ad US Senior Open program ad
Paid to: Jacob & Clark Marketing Comm., Inc.
COST: $350.00

07/03/07 -- 30,000 inserts for the 2007 tourism guide/charter fishing/July 4th/ rest. & pubs
Paid to: Zimmerman Printing Co.
COST: $2985.00

07/03/07 -- production charges -- updates to inserts/flyers
Paid to Jacob & Clark Marketing Comm. Inc.
COST: $550.00

06/22/07 -- Sheboygan Shores -- summer/fall 2007 brochure; tourism inserts -- restaurants and pubs; 2007 Spring update
Paid to: Zimmerman Printing Co.
COST: $5880.00

06/22/07 -- County July 4th activities flyer layout and final production of 4-color flyer
Paid to Jacob &Clark Marketing Comm. Inc.
COST: $500.00

06/12/07 -- Concept, design and layout -- Sheboygan Shores; layout and final graphic production rest/pubs insert; layout and final graphic prod. Charter
Paid to Jacob &Clark Marketing Comm. Inc.
COST: $14500.00

06/12/07 -- July 2007 special section (Golf insert) pre-payment
Paid to: Milwaukee Magazine
COST: $1557.00

And then we have the fees for photographers:

04/22/06 - Cover photo – Lightning Sailboats, North Pier Lighthouse Photo buy out—no resale
Paid to: Keary Kautzer
COST: $400.00

10/31/06 - Sheboygan Winter tourism photos
Paid to Betsy Bie Photography
COST: $37.50

10/31/06 - Sheboygan Winter tourism photos
Paid to Betsy Bie Photography
COST: $37.50

11/30/06 - Winter Tourism Photos Onsite: Victorian Chocolates, Sense of Taste, Stones, How Divine, Nite Shots (no chrg)
Sheboygan Winter Tourism Photos – on site: Skybox, Waterstreet
Paid to Betsy Bie Photography
COST: $52.50

01/17/07 – Sheboygan Winter Tourism Photos – on site: Stefano’s, Safari Pizza, El Camino
Paid to Betsy Bie Photography
COST: $60.00

05/22/07 - Photography of Blue Harbor Conference Center; 05/29/07 – Assignment photographs & 2 Stock Photos
Paid to Jeff Kernen Photographer
COST: $530.00

06/19/07 - Photos of surfing
Paid to Jeff Kernen Photographer
COST: $120.00

07/31/07 – Digital photography of 4th of July activities; Digital photography of “The Britins” concert July 6, 2007
Paid to Jeff Kernen Photographer
COST: $600.00

04/24/07 – Digital photography for Sheboygan Shores Summer/Fall 2007 Tourism Guide
COST: $660.00

PHOTOGRAPHY FEE TOTAL: $2482.50

First of all, two publications a year would be more than enough - - Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. Secondly, according to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, a study shows that winter is the least traveled time to WI with 23 percent of respondents of their study stating as such. Furthermore, people do most of their winter traveling for the main holidays of Christmas and New Year’s. Where they go then is dependent upon where there families are.

In addition to the above fiscal irresponsibility, according to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, 43 percent of our tourists come from out-of-state and result in what the industry refers to as "heads in beds" whereas people that come from neighboring counties within the state only stay for a portion of a day. And of course, this makes perfect sense.

Now, any smart marketing efforts are going to go toward those "heads in beds", meaning they would go after out-of-state visitors so as to get people to stay in the local motels/hotels.

Where has this Dept. been heavily marketing? Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton, Fond du Lac... with some geared toward Chicago. The WI Dept. of Tourism states most of our out-of-state travelers come from Minnesota and Illinois.

They used events such as the U.S Open, which did its own heavy advertising. They also used the Bowling Tournament as a boost to their 2006 numbers when in fact (and for anyone involved this is a well-known fact) it was Denny Moyer from the Chamber of Commerce who worked diligently and very hard to help promote that successful event. We also had the Farm Technology Days which was a boost for the entire county in 2006. Those two events in no way reflect positively on this existing Tourism Dept. yet they would like you to believe that any increase in numbers was to their credit. This simply is not so. Numbers are kept by the county, not by the city.

They often use Elkhart lake, Kohler, etc., to help promote the area in their flyers and such using events outside the city in their marketing efforts, one recent one being at Road America.

I also noted that with this Dept., there are 3 businesses focused on over and over and over again. Those three businesses/attractions are: Blue Harbor, the Stephanie Weill Center for the Performing Arts and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. This heavy promoting of three businesses does an injustice to all the other businesses in the city. Yes, there is mention of other hotels and such, but the focal point is always on these three with next most heavily promoted being the shops on the Riverfront. We have much more than that in Sheboygan. Life and business does go on beyond the riverfront.

In addition, they rely heavily on "coupons". Coupons are absolutely NO good unless redeemed. They are a waste to print up if they are merely tossed after expiration. This coupon idea most certainly has not proved profitable for anyone. They state they have 62 of these "coupons" available -- but they don't state how many have been redeemed.

That brings me to the "packages" offered. As of January 31, 2007, they only sold 14 of the 43 different packages they’ve created. Those are not good statistics.

It is very possible that soon the Chamber of Commerce and this Tourism Dept. will wind up sharing quarters. (Mention of this matter in meeting minutes of Feb. 28, 2007). It would be far more feasible and fiscally responsible to simply have the Chamber of Commerce in the new facility doing the work they should now be doing. It also makes much more sense and would simplify things for tourists that do come here.

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